Perlstein on American business

 Just a quick observation from page 204: I've known for a while that mid-size and small businesses are more conservative than big businesses, and I attributed it mostly to the big businesses being more like bureaucracies distant from the founder, while the smaller to medium businesses are closer to their entrepreneurial roots. This is certainly still a factor. But Perlstein makes another point: Bigger businesses often have more exposure to consumers via brands if not direct sales, and rely on the mid-size companies for supply chains. And when mid-size businesses do interact with consumers, the media is often less important than local connections. So there's no need to filter things through a media-friendly liberal lens.