As Amaris pointed out, the Los Angeles Times ran a story today that profiled two people in adverse political environments. One was our own James Fullmer, a Republican in Berkeley, the other Jacqueline Bujanda a Democrat in Garden City, Kansas.

Fullmer has been the California Patriot’s Managing Editor for the past two years and was the External Vice President of the Berkeley College Republicans for a year. While Fullmer has been very active, the resistance he encountered has been experienced by many other conservatives as well. I have received more dirty looks then I can remember. In the picture on the right James is setting up for an event to celebrate Ronald Reagan.

From the Times:

“It makes the other side defend their own turf, which means the less opportunity they have to go after yours,” said Dan Schnur, a UC Berkeley political science professor who was a spokesman under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson of California. “It can also be motivating for your supporters in other places.”

Both Bujanda and Fullmer see signs of a better future. Several leading Kansas Republicans, including the former chair of the state GOP, have switched political affiliation to become Democrats since 2004, signaling a possible sea change in state politics. And with Democratic groups splintering, the Berkeley College Republicans have established themselves as the largest political club on a campus long known for its razor-edged radical liberalism.

In Kansas, Bujanda has encountered similar resistance for being in the political minority.

Rural Kansas businesses are boycotted for Democratic sympathies. At one county clerk’s office, workers stared dumbfounded when Bujanda introduced herself as the new Democratic regional field coordinator. “There was total silence,” she recalled, “as if what I was doing was just an unheard-of thing.”

Intolerance of opposing political viewpoints goes both ways. At least Republicans don’t trumpet themselves as accepting and tolerant of everyone.