I met more of my neighbors in six months of campaigning than I had in the ten years before that. I bring this up because Newt Gingrich wrote something recently that stuck with me. He also pointed back to history, to how Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans slowly became what he calls “The American Party” by simply out-competing a Federalist Party that had lost touch with regular people. Gingrich isn't describing an actual party. The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views.