Oh, NOW they're Democrats?

The Housing Crisis is turning Republicans into Democrats.

For Republican strategists, the change is particularly troubling because, as recently as 2004, high-growth exurban areas like Loudoun County were fertile ground for GOP organizers, who rallied conservative volunteers from churches and community groups to turn out new voters. It was primarily in such areas that Republican strategists beat Democrats at their own game -- registration and voter turnout.

In 2004, Loudoun County voted to reelect President Bush by 56%, compared with 44% for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). The nine-member County Board of Supervisors consists of six Republicans, one Democrat and two independents, both of whom are former Republicans.

With local elections scheduled for today, however, the ranks of independents and Democrats appear to be growing. There are as many lawn placards supporting Democrats as Republicans in Schroeder's neighborhood.

The shift away from the GOP is partly the result of more liberal voters moving into the county from Washington and Democratic suburbs. But the housing crisis is also playing a substantial role, eroding the loyalty of some longtime Republicans.

As Schroeder assays today's vote for members of the county board, she says that for the first time in her life, she is considering voting for a Democrat.

And one of the things she's unhappy about is those foreclosure signs and the threat she sees in them to her family's financial security.

"I don't like seeing that," Schroeder said recently. "We think about moving, and I worry about whether we could sell our house."

John Cole Tim F. over at John Cole's place is properly derisive:

To recap, these people were Republicans when they had a steady job, health insurance, a suburban house and a SUV, but switched to the social welfare party as soon as times went bad. I’m sorry if this sounds insensitive, but that’s pathetic. If you spend your life voting to force people in hard times to get off their ass and take some responsibility for their lives then suck it up and practice what you preach when the bottle stops on you.

My wife's Cuban grandparents were lifelong Republicans (as is usually the case in that community). My grandfather-in-law used to forward to me Republican direct-mail pieces to tweak me. Then he got sick, his medicines were costing over one grand per month, and suddenly, the whole family was railing about the costs and expecting the government to pick up the slack. He'd spent his lifetime sending money to the GOP -- the same GOP that claimed the government has no role in making people's lives better and which had enabled the pharmaceutical industry's egregious business practices -- yet suddenly he expected the government to bail him out, and was outraged that more help wasn't available!

Everyone has stories like this one.

Now, it's never a bad thing when people realize that government can play a positive role in our society. And while it would be nice if such conversions could happen like John's and mine did -- based on reason and analysis and not personal hardship -- fact is, a lapsed Republican is a lapsed Republican. And the more of those we have, the closer we are to a solid, generational, progressive majority.