Nation Magazine: Democrats are not speaking loudly enough to be heard in rural America

[Ex Lurker]

What some of us have been saying here for a while. There's a tendency to write off anyone not in the coastal urban areas or parts of the Upper Midwest as ignorant rubes who drink the Republican koolaid. This piece stresses that flyover country is not and should not be lost to the Democrats, if we will focus on issues that are important to them. It's a good read, I hope a few people will take a look.

https://www.thenation.com/article/democrats-are-not-speaking-loudly-enough-to-be-heard-in-rural-america/

[longship]

1. Dean's fifty state strategy was instantly abandoned.

As soon as he was no longer party chair, it was abandoned. We've lost every single midterm election since. Every one! And those losses were not small, nor close.

DWS must fucking GO! She is worthless!

[Rhiannon12866]

3. That was exactly my first thought, too - Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy!

And it worked! We needed to keep working on it! We need it now more than ever, and it sure wouldn't hurt to have Governor Dean back to implement it!

[Recursion]

20. No it wasn't

I have no idea where people get that idea. It's still in effect.

[earthshine]

32. Why blame DWS?

She was hired to do a job. If she wasn't doing it the way the bosses want, she'd have been fired a long time ago.

She was recently endorsed by the most powerful figure in the Democratic party.

She was obviously, from the start, part of the much vaunted, though ficticious, 11-dimensional chess strategy.

[longship]

36. Her performance has been poor.

The GOP holds a majority of governorships, state legislatures, and both the US House and Senate.

I don't call that success by any measure.

[earthshine]

37. Her bosses are happy with her. She is merely their employee.

Obviously, you didn't actually read my post.

[longship]

41. I will stand by my reply.

I am not happy with the current political power situation, nor should any Democrat.

And it is insulting to be told that I did not read your post. Of course I did.

I suggest that you self-delete.

[earthshine]

42. I will stand by my reply.

Go on blaming DWS for the failures of those who put her in that position and then endorse her for re-election.

[longship]

46. I don't live in FL.

I would gladly endorse her for house, but not for DNC chair.

My best to you.

[earthshine]

47. I wouldn't endorse her for dog catcher.

She's a tool of the DNC. A good little soldier who does what she's told.

But, she's emblematic of the problem. She needs to be defeated in Novemeber and removed from public office altogether.

Cheers to you.

[XemaSab]

2. Donald Trump came to Redding

The first part of winning an election is showing up.

[Jitter65]

4. Rural America has (oxy)cotton in its ears! nt

[Skittles]

5. ever read a rural newspaper?

it's not like they give Dems much of a chance

[Scootaloo]

6. And it's not like Democrats ever make the effort in the first place

I thought it was the party's job to convince people to vote for Democrats?

[rug]

15. What do you have against Tricky Trays?

[vlyons]

7. I live in rural east Texas

and believe me, many folks here are as racist as ignorant as you can imagine. They only watch Fox News and the Baptist church. We do however have a vibrant Dem party in my county, but mostly we are focused on local elections for county commissioner, sheriff, school board, etc. My district (TX-05) is gerrymandered. Pocketbook issues of raising the minimum wage, equal pay for women, expanding medicaid, and refinancing student loans are what we campaign on.

[Botany]

8. The Ohio democratic party doesn't even try to fight in many congressional districts

they are useless

[seabeckind]

13. Same here in Indiana.

They only show up every couple years to ask for money.

A few years ago when I moved here I was absolutely disgusted by the propaganda pieces in the local paper. It was pretty obvious that a big disinformation campaign was going on. Come to find out that Pence, the gov, found his place in the gop by implementing this "Policy Institute" here. It was a Koch thing.

So I attempted to contact the local democratic party at the office on their web site (hadn't been updated in almost a year). The office was an empty store front.

In Indianapolis. Far from rural.

Needless to say, I shook my head and went home.

[Botany]

38. Rep. Tiberi (R)

His district is very gerrymandered but the ODP doesn't even try to
fight him at all. He is for getting rid of the US Post Office, overtime
pay for workers, and the right of a women to control her own body.
He works for the rich and against the average person now I'm not
saying that a D would win but @ least we could put the issues in
front of the voters and make him explain his actions.

Sometimes I think some people in the ODP are really working for
the GOP.

[Nay]

59. Same here in Virginia. nt

[handmade34]

9. good essay

Rural post offices are more than just places where people pick up mail. They serve as informal community centers. They give small towns definition.

[Ex Lurker]

10. This is happening in my town

The post office is downtown. It's hard for delivery trucks to get in and out, so the USPS wants to move it out on the highway, where it would no longer be convenient to most customers. This is an issue a Democratic congressional candidate could get some traction on.

[dembotoz]

11. interesting book...blue jean nation by mike mc cabe out of wisconsin is an interesting read

it seems to be getting some traction here is wisconsin cause a state dem party figure is going way out of his way to slander it.....

read it couple times now...only says whats true

in my state the dem party is missing the boat so badly they do not even understand that there is a boat.

[seabeckind]

12. Ignorant rubes who drink the Republican koolaid

They don't make the effort to improve themselves and see the absolute greatness of the democratic party.



That's sure to win people's hearts and minds.

There have been efforts by the progressive wing of (can't call it the democratic party cause the party didn't seem to support it) to provide better information about issues. But they all failed.

The democrats seemed to have turned their backs on the common people when they got their job in the bank.

And it's all the common people's fault. Especially the poor, common people.

The ones who bear the brunt of this 2 tier economy.

[davidn3600]

14. There is a significant urban vs. rural divide on guns

As long as Democrats support gun control, they will never be able to reach rural America.

[hollowdweller]

33. I agree 3000%

It's not the economic issues that separate the rural areas from the dems so much it's the cultural ones.

Trump has pretty much proven that a lot of the grassroots GOP doesn't care that much about deregulation or trickle down, they will support a populist candidate.

In my state it's gun control. Now we know the majority of stuff being proposed at the national level is not banning guns, but just increased background checks and stuff. However the NRA has got everyone scared of ANY gun control.

I agree that we gotta get guns out of crazy people's hands, but us pushing it when we can't win on it does nothing to help us win rural areas.

[etherealtruth]

40. Heard this before

There is (was ) a significant urban vs. rural divide related to women's/ abortion rights.... we heard: As long as Democrats support abortion they will never be able to reach rural America.

Glad we continued to pursue the right thing

[uponit7771]

44. Not every person in rural America agrees people should own device designed to kill massive amounts..

... of humans.

There's no doubt about that

[Odin2005]

50. A lot of us rural liberals see many "gun control" advocates as deeply ignorant...

...about what people use guns for out here.

[JoePhilly]

16. Obama could have spoken to them with a bull horn.

As long as he's black, they ain't listening.

[JNelson6563]

17. Because Faux News is blaring so loudly!

OMG what nonsense. I am in rural, flyover territory and the Dems are busy and loud! Sadly very many people here are proudly ignorant (they brag of having not read a book since school) and love, love Faux News!11!!

Some slowly awaken but not many. You would be shocked to know how many have moved here in recent decades because it's like wonderbread land.

Just sayin'.

[Vinca]

18. I think it's an individual's responsibility to learn about the issues and the candidates.

The basic tenets of a party should be apparent no matter where you are in the country. People who whine that no one is addressing their issues are usually too lazy to investigate beyond Fox News or to ever contact their representatives. I live on the east coast. If I lived in Ohio I would have the same access to the Internet and all of its outlets to read about the issues. I would have the opportunity to write or call my Congressperson or Senator. The reason Democrats may not be heard as much is right wing talk radio. I'm told there is a vast wasteland where all you can hear while driving cross country is right wing crazies. People stuck listening to it every day probably develop Stockholm Syndrome.

[seabeckind]

21. I think your post shows why the OP is true.

I'll try to address your points:

"individual's responsibility to learn about the issues" The other party doesn't see it that way. They take a more salesman approach. They go to the customer and try to show them why their product is the best one to satisfy their needs. By defining their customers needs in terms of the product they are selling.

"tenets of a party should be apparent no matter where you are in the country" Cool idea. But it's not true. Take my point above. The other party came in and defined the democratic tenets for us. Cause there was nobody there to dispute it. Not in the papers, not on the radio, not on tv. There is only one message being heard.

"too lazy to investigate beyond Fox News" I hear this so much out of the democrats these days. It's the rube's fault cause they didn't make the effort to learn about us.

"If I lived in Ohio I would have the same access to the Internet" Actually, you wouldn't. Around one quarter of the country doesn't have internet. Where do you suppose that quarter is? The connections in this country today match the electrical connections in the 1920s. As soon as the returns don't exceed the expense, no connection. We had a democratic president who changed that. Obama's attempt in the broadband comms failed and nobody heard. Back to points 1 and 2.

"I'm told there is a vast wasteland"

And that I think is the gist of the whole thing.

[Vinca]

39. I don't think that has anything to do with Democrats not trying to reach out and spread their

message. Turn on the TV. Buy a newspaper. The only reason for not knowing what Democrats stand for is willful ignorance. The information is there and available. You can't beat people over the head and make them listen or read or watch. I'm beginning to think the only thing that will drag people away from playing games on their phones and texting is the devastation a Trump presidency would bring. The biggest problem of all is that Americans have been severely dumbed down over the last couple of decades. Maybe if we turn the Democratic platform into a reality show . . .

[HereSince1628]

19. Dem policy seems driven by pursuit of target demographics

Last edited Sun Jul 10, 2016, 09:25 AM - Edit history (3)

that predominant major media markets. Consequently, America and the democratic party really is focused on life in cities and grasps the challenges life presents there. Democrates don't just overlook rural areas, democrats struggle to be relevant in many American suburbs engaged in us-vs-them politics with their dominating democratic neighbors.

Consequently, for most democrats rural areas are out-of-mind until they become the distances to be driven thru or flown over. The challenges and needs of the residents aren't well understood and are simply assumed to be the same as those of the target demographics.

What is known is the rural landscape is what puts the travel time in travel, so travel through it must be facilitated and accommodated with urban services. Exurban economic zones of familiar fast-food franchises and big-boxes are created along the interstate exits. They sit as oases in what is viewed as a cultural desert demarcated from civilization by the boundaries to cellphone service. And, importantly, it mostly works for those who must transit through it.

It's controversial, and downright anti-democratic to think of rural America in other than pastoral terms. And reality off the thru-ways really isn't intentionally pastoral, the intention is life-sustaining money generation. Consideration of job-sustaining production capacity that works in the greater economy, be it farming, food processing or resource extraction brings to mind scary visions of destruction of the Hobbits' Shire. Strangely, however, it's not controversial at all to think of the country-side as the location to site landfills with 100 million cubic yard man-made mountains, monumental middens of toxic urban refuse.

Family run organic farms with roadside stands with apple pies baked in a brown bag are good, the smell of cow-yards and hog farms are bad. GMOs and pesticides/chemicals, terrible. Hunting is downright awful, although it helps reduce car-deer collisions on those scenic routes published in magazine sections of urban newspapers. Local restaurant/taverns can be good if they don't have too many motorcycles parked out front. Rural sheriffs? Oh my GOD! Let's not go there...

What is needed for economies that develop and sustain rural communities through communication, schools, and health services is not much reflected upon by the folks just passing through or the democratic party.

[seabeckind]

22. Very true.

Invest where they can see the best return based on a monetary measure.

Cause all that matters is money.

Neoliberalism in action.

[randr]

23. The MSM controls the volume

Many rural cable systems do not offer MSNBC, some don't offer PBS either.

[sufrommich]

24. We live in a country that is now almost 80% urban.

That's the pretty simple explanation as to why FDR's platform concentrated on rural voters as opposed to modern presidents. Also,anyone who's ever spent any time in white rural America knows it's not economic issues that compel them to vote conservative.


http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census_issues/archives/metropolitan_planning/cps2k.cfm

[seabeckind]

25. In this country the 20% rural part controls 80% of the government

Having the democratic party focusing on the 80% with 20% of the power is foolish.

Regardless of their motives, there is still reality.

[uponit7771]

45. Then the dnc should be focusing on upholding the constitution when it comes to gerrymanderin

... gerrymandering no?

The problem isn't rural America voting dem its one person one vote it seems

[seabeckind]

48. Yes, they should.

So the question is: Why aren't they?

The next question is: Why didn't they do it long ago?

The 1% began their conquest of America long ago. The Fairness Doctrine, the thing that is used to inundate those airwaves and sell their product to the people in the non-urban areas, was a very important piece of their conquest.

And now the democratic party is hunkered down around Wall Street trying to hang onto their meager territory while the republican machine travels at will all over the country.

And you know what? I'm not so sure at his point what the goals of my party are. It's starting to look like keep the 20% and let the 80% decay.

[uponit7771]

51. I agree except they go after the rural areas during off years and forget the dem base which is the

... 80% of their votes.

A good number of them ran away from Obama in 2010 which was really stupid

Fix the gerrymandering first though... the gerrymandering is horrible

[seabeckind]

53. I guess you didn't see the maps I posted.

This base of which you speak is the same one I keep talking about. Isolated in the urban areas. And constantly being encroached as the exurbs and suburbs shift to the republicans.

Nobody "ran" away from Obama.

This gerrymandering is fully constitutional. Under the terms of the constitution there must be a evaluation of the representation maps after a census.

The state legislatures decide if and what realignment is necessary.

There are 2 ways to combat that: in the state legislatures (refer to the maps) or thru the executive branch using the power of the justice dept. One which has not been exercised for whatever reason.

Nobody "ran" away from Obama.

[HereSince1628]

26. That's a bit misleading as US stats don't define suburban and often don't reference it

as different from urban which is rather surprising considering how many categories into which the demographics are sliced and diced

Consider this from good old 538 dotcom:

Nationally, 26 percent of Americans described where they live as urban, 53 percent said suburban and 21 percent said rural. (This comes close to the census estimate that 81 percent of the population is urban if “urban” is understood to include suburban areas.) Within “principal cities” of metropolitan areas (the census designates one or more cities in each metro as “principal”), respondents split 47 percent urban, 46 percent suburban and 7 percent rural, though those percentages include people in many small cities and metro areas. Looking only at respondents in the larger principal cities (those with a population greater than 100,000) of larger metropolitan areas (those with a population greater than 500,000), the breakdown was 56 percent urban, 42 percent suburban and 2 percent rural. That means close to half of people who live within city limits describe where they live as suburban. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-suburban-are-big-american-cities/

When you consider that suburban areas often exist as political competitors to their neighboring 'host' cities the significance of partisan patterns of suburban and rural electorate really becomes more obvious.

[seabeckind]

27. Chilling picture of reality

[seabeckind]

28. More reality

Governorships

[Person 2713]

29. Good luck!

[Proud Public Servant]

30. The Democrats don't need to "show up"

They need to "come out." Rural America is deeply conservative, and shifting the rhetoric of bicoastal elites (full disclosure: I am one) isn't going to change that. But, as Bernie has said, getting local progressives involved in running for local positions (backed my state and national party money, of course), just might. Dems at every level need to stop thinking top-down and start thinking bottom-up; we're 30+ years behind the GOP on this, and it shows.

[HereSince1628]

34. The states mapped by partisan dominance are somewhat misleading...there are dems -everywhere-

though there numbers are sometimes small they generally exceed Libertarians, Greens, Socialists by several multiples.

That said it doesn't get Nichol's entirely off the hook of being influenced by his intimate knowledge of WI and its political peculiarities. Like all of us his interpretations tend to reflect what he knows best.

WI is strange regarding rural dems. WI is connected to 2 of 3 US regions with significant traditions of rural democratic voting (nwWI toNE MN, and wsw WI into eastern IA, the other one reaches across ne NY/VT and into Maine). All 3 of these regions had strong connections to The Grange movement of the late 1900s connecting to rural dems means understanding the traditional sentiments of The Grange.

We often think of farmers as republicans but that's not always been true, and it isn't entirely true today.

That being said, it's definitely true that contemporary dems have been guided for over 40 years by marketing research rather than political ideology. And that has directed them to concentrate attention on market places with favorable "consumer" numbers, growing populations and easy access.

[seabeckind]

31. State legislature reality

[LWolf]

35. I've been saying this for more than a decade.

I live rurally, and I experience, on a regular basis, Democratic dismissal of rural populations.

In my rural community there are plenty of racists and survivalist, anti-government types and tea-partiers and moderate Republicans. There are some Democrats and independents and Greens and libertarians. This region voted for Obama in '08, but not in '12.

As I've said repeatedly, there are not always going to be one-size-fits urban AND rural communities on many issues. I don't think that most Democrats aren't LOUD enough; they don't give a shit enough about rural populations to address us much at all, and when they do, they don't demonstrate understanding of our issues.

[Ex Lurker]

43. you see some of it in this thread

While some posters 'get it,' others demonstrate that they miss the point entirely, and are not interested in learning.

[Odin2005]

49. I'm from rural Minnesota. The condecension from big city folks is a real problem.

I think a big reason the gun issue is so divisive is because it has become a proxy for more general rural resentments.

[dembotoz]

52. yep and ya wonder why we do sooooo poorly in rural areas

shit ya see it here

[Odin2005]

54. There are people here who seriously want to effectively ban hunting.

[seabeckind]

55. And the only hunting they've done is for bargains.

Or a parking place.

Or a rent controlled apartment.

Even if someone in the far 'burbs doesn't want to hunt, it might be nice to pop off the coyote waiting for a tasty morsel. Or a rabid raccoon.

[Kang Colby]

60. It's not only guns...

If I were a coal miner and someone said, "we are going to put coal miners out of a job", how should I interpret that?

Many rural people are deeply concerned about the environment and pollution, however to tell someone they will lose their job and consequently be unable to feed their families while literally burying them with urban waste isn't a good strategy.

Why should rural outdoorsmen listen to urban hipsters who call them derogatory names like "gun humpers" or "ammosexuals".

We need more Democrats like Jon Tester, Heidi Heitkamp, and former senator Max Baucus. People who get it.

We need to strike a balance and be OK with rural Democrats voting like rural Democrats.

[DonCoquixote]

56. on the one hand

We do need to speak you, as opposed to yell at, rural america. We need to speak to them, about them, and listen to them. We need to point out how issues relate to them, for example, to point out that the very same people who try to manipulate them are the same people who would sell them to China, who did profit from foreclosed farms and moved factories.

On the other hand, a lot of people notice that we have been willing to water ourselves down to mist in the hopes of getting rural america, but never get enough. It used to be that we would back away from Gay issues, because that would set off the rural types, and it literally took Media to make it acceptable to speak of Gay people in any way that did not make people foam at the mouth. Even Obama needed a nudge from Joe Biden. Same with the race issues; a lot of rural america still has a certain opinion about black people, and as Trump shows, he knows how to give confidence to those wh hid their sheets.

However, there is one thing that sticks out; wasn't the whole strength of the Clinton campaign that they could speak to rural america? Sanders is gone, so why isn't Hillary taking it right to Trump's face in the Red states?, especially the purple states like Florida? I have to tell you, Hillary's prescence here has been light, considering that DWS is FROM FLORIDA, and of course, the fact that Florida is infamous for what at the very least is mischief, at worst the sort of crime that should have landed a bunch of Florida GOP in Leavenworth.

[LWolf]

57. I see a problem here.

You seem to be stereotyping rural America. We aren't all alike.

[DonCoquixote]

58. Au contraire

As some IN rural America, I know all rurals are not alike, however, you can only walk past so many bumper stickers in the parking lots before you realize there is a problem. We do need to speak about issue that affect them, to show that what is bad for the urban geese is also bad for the rural gander, but that does not change the fact that too many times, the strategy has been to coddle people on social issues.

[LWolf]

61. "them"

Not "us." See what I mean?

To be sure, there are racists here. There are tea partiers, there are survivalists, anti-intellectuals, anti-government, and rabidly "christian" in very NOT christian ways; but then, those people exist in urban areas as well.

What REALLY sets rural people's issues apart from urban?

[DonCoquixote]

63. I'll answer that

The rural folk were from people who in many cases ran from bad government (be it England or New England) and believed that the way to handle solutions would have to come from them, not government. The Urban people know that what little they have, be it buses or parks, came FROM government. That is the divide that works everywhere from Florida to brexit england. Of course, the truth is, both sides need to work together, but the rural are so anti government that anything related to infrastructure and education is an uphill fight, which no small amount of meddling from churches and banks. Yes, Chris Christie manged to run New jersey, but the difference is that most cities force people to act least interact with other people, and to see drive and walk in the things that no private industry is willign to do.

[geek tragedy]

62. rural America is rightwing white America. those voters can't be won over.

they repeatedly vote for Teahadist nutjobs who gut their states' economies, voting for all kinds of legislation that screws rural America.

They voted for Sam freaking Brownback, for re-election.

The FDR coalition died during the civil rights era. It ain't coming back.

The article cites Clinton's experience in New York .

She lost 47 out of 62 counties in New York state in 2000--including every rural county.

She won because she blew Rick Lazio out where there are more people than cows in NYC, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-2016-urban-rural-divide-n580056

Obama lost badly to Romney there, and Clinton is losing worse to Trump there.

Why?

Hint: it's not because of Trump's and Romney's dedication to family farms and close cultural affinity to rural America.

Rural America needs infrastructure, but suburban and urban America needs it more.