General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm seeing a bunch of posts and articles about "Hillbillies" & other rural whites... [View all]alarimer
(16,245 posts)There is a tendency here and elsewhere to dismiss EVERYONE in certain areas as completely ignorant so-and-so's who don't know what's best for themselves. Maybe it's true for some, maybe a lot, but dismissing all of them is a mistake.
For the time being at least, Democrats are going to have to get votes from at least some of them in some places. It would not have taken many this last election, either.
Bernie Sanders does well at those town halls with some of these folks because he knows how to talk to them without talking DOWN to them. He's persuasive. Far too many Democrats, elected and otherwise, cannot do the same thing. That is not, of course, the only quality that matters. They also don't scapegoat any particular group of people the way Republicans do.