Just two things. I live in a rural red county in Virginia. I have always been astounded that folks here predominantly vote Republican against their best interests.
To get votes here, Democrats HAVE to make two things clear. First and foremost - that Democrats are not "coming to take people's guns away." That is the biggest fear out h…
Just two things. I live in a rural red county in Virginia. I have always been astounded that folks here predominantly vote Republican against their best interests.
To get votes here, Democrats HAVE to make two things clear. First and foremost - that Democrats are not "coming to take people's guns away." That is the biggest fear out here in red country - the predominant reason folks vote Republican. Gun control is a vote killer and will be until Democrats out maneuver the NRA - and make crystal clear that great-granddaddy's hunting rifle is not at risk.
Second. ALL of the folks here benefiting from social welfare DO NOT associate that money as coming from programs supported by Democrats. That is "my govamint check" - and the government in their minds is Republican. The Democrats must inundate rural areas with advertising that clearly links child care money and internet services with Biden and the Democratic Party in conjunction with exposing Republicans who vote against the bill. Persistent Hard Ball is the only thing that is going to work here.
EXACTLY! I also live in a totally red county of Missouri. What you said Cheryl is right! When MO had an issue being voted on several years ago to regulate puppy mills, the NRA had a billboard here that said, First your dogs and cats, then your cows and pigs! Vote NO! Of course it failed in my county but passed in the state. The republican legislature voted against it and somehow it ended up never being put into effect.
You're also correct that these stupid people (that only listen to Fox) don't know what socialism really amounts to and how much they depend on it. We have a small county hospital that happens to be the town I live in. The people passed Medicaid Expansion last Nov. but the republican legislator decided they couldn't fund it. It went to the MO Supreme Court who said, no, no, no! It passed, you find a way to fund it! Without this expansion, our hospital would have closed and left a lot of people out of work and going WTF! They don't realize that Medicaid is socialism! I'd be willing to bet that every single family with children in this county is getting the expanded child tax credit. The child tax credit is socialism!
I'm sure that just about everyone in your area also was offered free Covid vaccines (whether they had them is another thing, though), received money from the Rescue Plan, and all seniors get Medicare and Social Security, but they fail to recognize that those government programs are socialistic. The Republicans are masters of the message that socialism equals communism, and just don't mention that Democrats favor free trade and all of the philosophies that are opposite communism.
The greatest enemy of democracy in America is not Tя☭mp and conservatives. The greatest enemy is apathy. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” It is clear that when turnout in American elections is typically between 60% and 65%, the largest political party is non-voters. Apathy, distraction, and yes also voter suppression, these are the enemies destroying our democracy. It is essential we fight these and unite in speaking to those not engaged in the political process. It is far easier to turn a non-voter into a voter than a conservative into a progressive.
We will never turn conservative Republicans into progressive or even moderate democrats. That is a hopeless task. The key to electoral victories for Democrats everywhere, even in the reddest of red districts is the education, organization, and motivation of non-voters.
Cheryl, it sounds like in your rural VA. county you at least have some Democrats on the ticket. The red county I live in usually can't get a Democrat on the ballot, certainly not in local races, and seldom in races for the General Assembly. They have reliably sent Republicans to Raleigh as long as I've lived here, going on 32 years. To run on the Democratic ticket in Randolph County is a suicide mission.
It's been interesting to see some of the entrenched Republican stalwarts now being threatened with primary challengers from the lunatic fringe. And the challengers just might get in. Watch this space.
Hi Sandra. In my county the Democratic Party is extremely weak, timid, and in fear of retaliation.. Democrats who spread the word here work outside the party. Also, our district is gerrymandered to the point of looking like a huge snake through the eastern Blue Ridge. Still, we persist. LOL Northern Virginia saves the state.
Hey, Cheryl. I'm in the Catoctin District here. From what I can see (on the ground) we share your snake. It's the diverse cities that make Virginia Blue. My delegate proudly served District 33 by his presence at the Capitol on January 6, and sent a letter to former VP Mike Pence to Nullify Va's Electoral College Votes.
We never have any Democrats running locally or in the county. Waste of money for sure. State wide, they try. Once in awhile one will get in. US, we had a great senator, Claire McCaskill but the devil himself, Josh Hawley beat her. We have an important senate race in 2022, replacing Blunt. You've probably heard of the main two republicans running, Eric Greitens, the republican governor who resigned in disgrace who made Parsons governor and Mark McCloshey. he and his wife are the two lawyers from St. Louis who came out and threatened BLM marchers in their neighborhood with a rifle and a hand gun. (found guilty of some little thing, Parsons just pardoned them) And then there's Eric Schmitt the attorney general who last week sued St. Louis for declaring a mask mandate indoors even if you are vaccinated. What a sad group.
Cheryl, you've raised excellent points. Biden tends to fly under the radar about his strategy, but many people assume that he's not doing anything. When appropriate, he should speak up in Republican-controlled areas and let voters know what the Democrats are doing to help them, and that the Republicans voted against the measures. Certainly, the Republicans are shameless in touting their support of popular measures, even when they actually refused to sign on.
I have to ask, how many of those people are pro-life?
Because of the people I know who vote repub, they admit to some extent, that they know who and what they are voting for, but that pro-life is all they care about.
As for the gun thing, maybe because it's MI I'm talking about, it isn't as much as an issue, but a few days are into that whole take my guns from my dead hands mentality.
I also want to point out that if not for faux news station, most of these people would be a little, err, more well rounded shall we say.
Also, a lot of they have a bias against demo because to them every demo is a baby killer. Even though at least 10% of the hundred people I'm talking about have had abortions themselves.
Here's the last conversation I had with one of those people.
Them, man your weather has been really bad.
Me, yes, and it's only going to worse. It's getting hotter sooner and we are worried about our water availability.
Them, yeah, from everything I'm seeing it looks thinks are bad all over. It almost makes me feel like climate change is real, but we all know it's a hoax, so I just don't understand all the worry.
I've been in rural Virginia for thirty years. Yes, there is the pro-life issue, but that is an undercurrent rather than a bubble on the surface in my area. It truly is all about guns here. Climate change is of course an issue. But we are a farming area - and everyone I know is worried. That is a step forward.
My husband and I get along with the majority of our neighbors, but this is how we talk to them on all issues. Laconically.
For example. Neighbor Sue bitterly talked about being forced into "Obama care." Later, when her husband was hospitalized with a heart attack, my response was, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I hope he'll be ok. Good thing you had that insurance, isn't it?" She opened her moth and closed it.
My husband listened to another neighbor complain about having to wear a mask on a plane, if he goes on vacation to Florida. My husband's reply was, "Well, that's easy enough. You don't want to wear a mask, drive." Stopped our neighbor cold.
To folks who are adamant about not getting the vaccine, we both respond, "I don't see what the big deal is. We got it moths ago, and we're fine." Then we just shrug them off.
I think the important thing is to not attack, lecture, or make folks defensive, just to give them a little something to think about. Do not bother to fight with them. That's useless. Anyway, it works for us.
Unfortunately you can't deal with that. But your comment about being Pro-life (not!) prompted me to tell you that here in Floriduh, Governor DeathSantis has said no mask mandates anywhere, even in schools, or he will cut off funding. Today's paper had a story that even the Catholic schools are now unable to mandate masks. In being relegated to "encouraging" masks, the superintendent had to appeal to Catholics' pro-life stance in asking that they mask their kids.
You know these people hate the southern border immigration. I wonder if they have connected the climate change consequences to the worsening of agricultural decline in Central America to the need for these people to move north? Devastating droughts are beginning to become the norm in the states and Canada, too. Soon Americans will be moving inward and upward.
When you make the statement that your neighbors "vote against their best interests", you simply do not understand the world you live in. Those neighbors 100% are voting in their personal "best interests". Their "best interest" is the maintenance (or restoration) of white supremacy. The only "currency" they worry about losing is preferential treatment over people of color. Period.
Hi Stephen. Though I certainly cannot say that there aren't racists in my county, I am talking about a socioeconomic group that are financially dependent upon social security, medicare, medicaid, and county welfare programs. Many, and I do mean many, come from families that were ruthlessly uprooted from the Blue Ridge Mountains after the Shenandoah National Park was authorized in 1929. 500 families were yanked off 3000 acres, paid a pittance, and placed in tiny tract houses, many cinder block, in small crowded government housing developments. A better plan would have been to allow life-time rights to the heads of families of the mountain settlers, giving these families adjustment time. Instead displacement fostered an understandable distrust of the government that persists to this day. The feelings still run stong. These families identify with the Republican party because of its traditional believe in small government - even though many are dependent upon programs that are supported by the Democratic party. That is what I mean by voting against their own best interests.
Your comments are manifestations of what I call the "Hillbilly Elegy" syndrome. For every injustice to white Americans, there have been hundreds of injustices to non-white Americans. The more I time I spend reading comments from subscribers to "Letters from an American", the more I am convinced that the average Democrat is constitutionally incapable of comprehending that Republicans who voted for Trump in 2020 are all despicable human beings. To assign any political motivations other than the destruction of color-blind democracy to even ONE of the 74 million is a recipe for disaster.
My comment was about what Democrats need to address in rural communities to gain votes: Gun rights and how programs that benefit folks are supported by Democrats. Period. If you want to turn this into a racists thing, so be it. But I find your comments both narrow in scope and extremist. Not every person who voted for Trump is a racist. Not everyone who did not vote for Trump is an isonomist. Absolutes are fine in math, but they do not apply to humans.
Not denying this is a massive strain for a frightening numbers of voters. But I don't believe it's all of them. I think there's a not small portion who are muddled, who are not actively, purposefully maintaining white supremacy.
Just as there are disengaged, confused, "non-political" people nominally on the left who can be reached, there are those on the right who are malleable.
There are at least 74 million American voters who are ABSOLUTELY non-malleable.
To deny this is to fall into the same pitiable state of mind that, unless re-aligned, will lead to the ultimate demise of the Democratic Party and American democracy. There are ZERO non-racist "good" people who voted for Trump in the 2020 election.
You are as extreme as the tRump republicans. I know many wonderful people who voted Republican because their fathers did, not to mention they believe the lies spread about dems. My local state reps are republican and I vote for them despite their party, not just because no one runs against them. I'm in liberal MA.
Local state reps are 100% responsible for voter suppression laws throughout America. ANY vote for a Republican candidate on ANY level is a vote in support of white supremacy.
Disagree. I don't know the numbers, though surely it's a small minority, but some of those 74 million are confused, don't make decisions for themselves, have been to some extent brainwash and could be "unbrainwashed."
Yes, it a serious mistake to minimize for a moment the to-the-core amount of white supremacy in the Republican Party. You are correct that that will lead to the demise of a two-party system and American democracy.
Nor am I calling this minority "good" people.
But, yes, I believe that some of them are changeable. I've met a couple. I've read about many. The percentage is small, but I don't believe their absolute numbers are so small that they should be dismissed. (Though, of course, you are not dismissing them. You are saying they don't exist. I get that.)
The reason they cannot be changed is because they truly are zealots. Every single reason they give for voting Republican is a complete lie (whether they know it or not is irrelevant at this point). As long as FOX News exists, you would have to lock them up and perform a brain-washing that would please Stalin or Hitler to change their minds. An old adage is always appropriate when discussing this particular subject: "Never, ever try to teach a pig to sing. The pig will NEVER sing, but you will definitely have to deal with a very annoyed and dangerous pig before your experiment is over." Yep, that says it all.
When you make the statement that "they continue to believe there is not enough to go around", you are buying into the myth that one of their "principles" relates to fiscal irresponsibility. By doing so, you are unconsciously enabling them. There is no belief in the Republican Party other than non-white Americans are inferior human beings and do not deserve to have any voice in American daily life. The idea that this reality has not been articulated effectively by the media or the Democratic Party will assure the demise of the Party and more importantly the demise of democracy.
Thank you for your comments. But I am a bit confused. I think I was merely positing that, perhaps, at the base of discriminatory thinking in a certain segment of the population, might be a belief about resource insecurity. If they feel threatened then, by god, there must be a group even less deserving of those limited resources than their own, especially with respect to, say, immigrants or POC. So, the hoarding impulse might account for the impulse towards discriminatory systems. Discriminatory "rules" then get set up justifying the unjustifiable. I fail to see how that idea "enables" "them" or relates to "fiscal irresponsibility". Would you care to elaborate? I certainly hope my words to not sound as if I am discounting the significance of discrimination in any way.
The twentieth century communist leaders in Russia thought they could control all the resources which they saw as limited. Todays oligarchy, unofficially represented by the Republicans, are trying to do the same, as if they dont understand how capitalists can create wealth out of thin air, printing money, creating construction sites with landfill, importing workers, finding needs to satisfy and niches in the economy. Oligarchy doesnt create wealth, doesn’t know how. Entrepreneurs, who find a need, organize, manage, and assume the risks of business, according to Mr. Webster, know that wealth is unlimited, like yeast in the air (which is a source for making bread), and like solar power, neither of which can be controlled.
I remember way back in the day when every politician and gun owner spewed the reasoning for not registering or conducting background checks for guns and rifles. “If Russians or the Chinese were to invade us, they would take the list and visit everyone registered and remove their guns.” It didn’t matter that the likelihood of invasion by troops was tiny. It was important that this was their most urgent reason. Rural America’s inaccurate belief systems were not invented yesterday, but keeping them ignorant is increasing rapidly. It’s vital for Republicans to spew lies and manipulate their most ardent followers for support. Fear, intimidation, and anger create good and loyal constituents.
Cheryl, why do you think that those who vote Republican think it's not in their best interest?
Gun Control is a vote killer, yet background checks are not. Most Americans favor background checks.
"That's my govamint check." - This is why Democrats don't have rural support, and frankly support from many Republicans across the country. Carville said it best, Dems need to quit acting like elitist, ivy leaguer types and speak the language of the community.
Maybe if Democrats would be more strategic, versus hip shooters, when events occur, Republicans and other might have a better view of them. For example, defunding the police almost lost some Dems in your state their seat. Reform the police would have been a better message. But, not, jumping on the band wagon of defund, it became the call to arms. Interestingly, the guy who didn't jump on that train is now the President of the United States. Maybe if Democratic politicians had offered up examples such as Eugene, Oregon where a different mode of community policing occurred, Republicans would have listened.
Maybe if Democrats would take the party's message from the center versus the far left, people would listen.
Hate to be a troll on this, but just pointing out this attitude is exactly what Carville was saying is wrong with Dems today. Want to win in 2022 and remain in the White House in 2024, then suggest the Dems follow what Carville stated a few months ago.
I don't think we disagree. My main comment was about what Democrats need to address in rural communities to gain votes: Gun rights and how programs that benefit folks are supported by Democrats. My point was Dems haven't done that. I apologize if I wasn't clear.
I also apologize if "That's my govamint check." sounded snarky. That was not my intent. For a lot of people in my area, the phrase "government check" does not imply party. It naively implies a specific entitlement. Not a program that can be taken away. Dems have not been good at identifying themselves as protectors of such programs.
Just two things. I live in a rural red county in Virginia. I have always been astounded that folks here predominantly vote Republican against their best interests.
To get votes here, Democrats HAVE to make two things clear. First and foremost - that Democrats are not "coming to take people's guns away." That is the biggest fear out here in red country - the predominant reason folks vote Republican. Gun control is a vote killer and will be until Democrats out maneuver the NRA - and make crystal clear that great-granddaddy's hunting rifle is not at risk.
Second. ALL of the folks here benefiting from social welfare DO NOT associate that money as coming from programs supported by Democrats. That is "my govamint check" - and the government in their minds is Republican. The Democrats must inundate rural areas with advertising that clearly links child care money and internet services with Biden and the Democratic Party in conjunction with exposing Republicans who vote against the bill. Persistent Hard Ball is the only thing that is going to work here.
EXACTLY! I also live in a totally red county of Missouri. What you said Cheryl is right! When MO had an issue being voted on several years ago to regulate puppy mills, the NRA had a billboard here that said, First your dogs and cats, then your cows and pigs! Vote NO! Of course it failed in my county but passed in the state. The republican legislature voted against it and somehow it ended up never being put into effect.
You're also correct that these stupid people (that only listen to Fox) don't know what socialism really amounts to and how much they depend on it. We have a small county hospital that happens to be the town I live in. The people passed Medicaid Expansion last Nov. but the republican legislator decided they couldn't fund it. It went to the MO Supreme Court who said, no, no, no! It passed, you find a way to fund it! Without this expansion, our hospital would have closed and left a lot of people out of work and going WTF! They don't realize that Medicaid is socialism! I'd be willing to bet that every single family with children in this county is getting the expanded child tax credit. The child tax credit is socialism!
I'm sure that just about everyone in your area also was offered free Covid vaccines (whether they had them is another thing, though), received money from the Rescue Plan, and all seniors get Medicare and Social Security, but they fail to recognize that those government programs are socialistic. The Republicans are masters of the message that socialism equals communism, and just don't mention that Democrats favor free trade and all of the philosophies that are opposite communism.
Missouri is good at ignoring the voted wants of the people. Pretend it didn’t happen.
That’s royaly’s modus oporendi (sp?). It goes with the master/slave mentality
I believe today's conservatives would have been Loyalists in 1770s.
Lets ask Heather who were loyal to King George.
I know your belief is correct.
How to save our democracy?
The greatest enemy of democracy in America is not Tя☭mp and conservatives. The greatest enemy is apathy. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” It is clear that when turnout in American elections is typically between 60% and 65%, the largest political party is non-voters. Apathy, distraction, and yes also voter suppression, these are the enemies destroying our democracy. It is essential we fight these and unite in speaking to those not engaged in the political process. It is far easier to turn a non-voter into a voter than a conservative into a progressive.
We will never turn conservative Republicans into progressive or even moderate democrats. That is a hopeless task. The key to electoral victories for Democrats everywhere, even in the reddest of red districts is the education, organization, and motivation of non-voters.
Backing you up:
"The Overlooked Hallmark of the Trump Administration--and Other Autocracies" is indifference.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-overlooked-hallmark-of-the-trump-administration-and-other-autocracies?utm_campaign=cm&utm_source=crm&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_SubObgICYMI1_11222019&utm_medium=email
and target the 40% Independents in the middle between registered Dem's and Repub's.
Can you explain why democracy is important to the corporate world and/or global interests?
1. It isn't.
2. It gives the rubes the illusion of holding power.
3. When the rubes start believing they actually hold any power, see Rule 1.
That's why democracy is important to the corporate world.
Eliminate the Electoral College, hire a couple of first rate cartographers to straighten out the districts and pass an adequate For the People Act.
Cheryl, it sounds like in your rural VA. county you at least have some Democrats on the ticket. The red county I live in usually can't get a Democrat on the ballot, certainly not in local races, and seldom in races for the General Assembly. They have reliably sent Republicans to Raleigh as long as I've lived here, going on 32 years. To run on the Democratic ticket in Randolph County is a suicide mission.
It's been interesting to see some of the entrenched Republican stalwarts now being threatened with primary challengers from the lunatic fringe. And the challengers just might get in. Watch this space.
Hi Sandra. In my county the Democratic Party is extremely weak, timid, and in fear of retaliation.. Democrats who spread the word here work outside the party. Also, our district is gerrymandered to the point of looking like a huge snake through the eastern Blue Ridge. Still, we persist. LOL Northern Virginia saves the state.
Would it do any good for some people to discover they are not Democrats after all, but 'Eisenhower and Lincoln' Republicans?
I definitely support the Lincoln Project.
Hey, Cheryl. I'm in the Catoctin District here. From what I can see (on the ground) we share your snake. It's the diverse cities that make Virginia Blue. My delegate proudly served District 33 by his presence at the Capitol on January 6, and sent a letter to former VP Mike Pence to Nullify Va's Electoral College Votes.
I am in Madison County, District 5 - but even Charlottesville doesn't put us over the top.
Was he bought? Is he one of Epstein’s friends?
I don't know! He's been a delegate since, I believe, 2012
We never have any Democrats running locally or in the county. Waste of money for sure. State wide, they try. Once in awhile one will get in. US, we had a great senator, Claire McCaskill but the devil himself, Josh Hawley beat her. We have an important senate race in 2022, replacing Blunt. You've probably heard of the main two republicans running, Eric Greitens, the republican governor who resigned in disgrace who made Parsons governor and Mark McCloshey. he and his wife are the two lawyers from St. Louis who came out and threatened BLM marchers in their neighborhood with a rifle and a hand gun. (found guilty of some little thing, Parsons just pardoned them) And then there's Eric Schmitt the attorney general who last week sued St. Louis for declaring a mask mandate indoors even if you are vaccinated. What a sad group.
Sad but good grief…Missouri is in a helluva bad shape!
Cheryl, you've raised excellent points. Biden tends to fly under the radar about his strategy, but many people assume that he's not doing anything. When appropriate, he should speak up in Republican-controlled areas and let voters know what the Democrats are doing to help them, and that the Republicans voted against the measures. Certainly, the Republicans are shameless in touting their support of popular measures, even when they actually refused to sign on.
You are so right, Cheryl, and Sean Patrick Maloney agrees with you. In a meeting with Dems, he said that they risk losing the majority in the House unless they start changing their message. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/03/sean-patrick-maloney-democrats-house-majority-502265
I have to ask, how many of those people are pro-life?
Because of the people I know who vote repub, they admit to some extent, that they know who and what they are voting for, but that pro-life is all they care about.
As for the gun thing, maybe because it's MI I'm talking about, it isn't as much as an issue, but a few days are into that whole take my guns from my dead hands mentality.
I also want to point out that if not for faux news station, most of these people would be a little, err, more well rounded shall we say.
Also, a lot of they have a bias against demo because to them every demo is a baby killer. Even though at least 10% of the hundred people I'm talking about have had abortions themselves.
Here's the last conversation I had with one of those people.
Them, man your weather has been really bad.
Me, yes, and it's only going to worse. It's getting hotter sooner and we are worried about our water availability.
Them, yeah, from everything I'm seeing it looks thinks are bad all over. It almost makes me feel like climate change is real, but we all know it's a hoax, so I just don't understand all the worry.
How do you deal with that?
I've been in rural Virginia for thirty years. Yes, there is the pro-life issue, but that is an undercurrent rather than a bubble on the surface in my area. It truly is all about guns here. Climate change is of course an issue. But we are a farming area - and everyone I know is worried. That is a step forward.
My husband and I get along with the majority of our neighbors, but this is how we talk to them on all issues. Laconically.
For example. Neighbor Sue bitterly talked about being forced into "Obama care." Later, when her husband was hospitalized with a heart attack, my response was, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I hope he'll be ok. Good thing you had that insurance, isn't it?" She opened her moth and closed it.
My husband listened to another neighbor complain about having to wear a mask on a plane, if he goes on vacation to Florida. My husband's reply was, "Well, that's easy enough. You don't want to wear a mask, drive." Stopped our neighbor cold.
To folks who are adamant about not getting the vaccine, we both respond, "I don't see what the big deal is. We got it moths ago, and we're fine." Then we just shrug them off.
I think the important thing is to not attack, lecture, or make folks defensive, just to give them a little something to think about. Do not bother to fight with them. That's useless. Anyway, it works for us.
Thank you, Cheryl! You’re the ongoing catalyst for some wonderful exchanges here, today and beyond!
Ashley, you are too kind. Best wishes.
If anyone remembers the horrible ads Kemp ran in GA - both showing off his big gun- certainly helped him with rural GA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6htgrVPi7A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8U-Qg_25I
Unfortunately you can't deal with that. But your comment about being Pro-life (not!) prompted me to tell you that here in Floriduh, Governor DeathSantis has said no mask mandates anywhere, even in schools, or he will cut off funding. Today's paper had a story that even the Catholic schools are now unable to mandate masks. In being relegated to "encouraging" masks, the superintendent had to appeal to Catholics' pro-life stance in asking that they mask their kids.
You know these people hate the southern border immigration. I wonder if they have connected the climate change consequences to the worsening of agricultural decline in Central America to the need for these people to move north? Devastating droughts are beginning to become the norm in the states and Canada, too. Soon Americans will be moving inward and upward.
I think you hit the nail on the head with pro life, single issue, voting.
When you make the statement that your neighbors "vote against their best interests", you simply do not understand the world you live in. Those neighbors 100% are voting in their personal "best interests". Their "best interest" is the maintenance (or restoration) of white supremacy. The only "currency" they worry about losing is preferential treatment over people of color. Period.
Hi Stephen. Though I certainly cannot say that there aren't racists in my county, I am talking about a socioeconomic group that are financially dependent upon social security, medicare, medicaid, and county welfare programs. Many, and I do mean many, come from families that were ruthlessly uprooted from the Blue Ridge Mountains after the Shenandoah National Park was authorized in 1929. 500 families were yanked off 3000 acres, paid a pittance, and placed in tiny tract houses, many cinder block, in small crowded government housing developments. A better plan would have been to allow life-time rights to the heads of families of the mountain settlers, giving these families adjustment time. Instead displacement fostered an understandable distrust of the government that persists to this day. The feelings still run stong. These families identify with the Republican party because of its traditional believe in small government - even though many are dependent upon programs that are supported by the Democratic party. That is what I mean by voting against their own best interests.
Your comments are manifestations of what I call the "Hillbilly Elegy" syndrome. For every injustice to white Americans, there have been hundreds of injustices to non-white Americans. The more I time I spend reading comments from subscribers to "Letters from an American", the more I am convinced that the average Democrat is constitutionally incapable of comprehending that Republicans who voted for Trump in 2020 are all despicable human beings. To assign any political motivations other than the destruction of color-blind democracy to even ONE of the 74 million is a recipe for disaster.
My comment was about what Democrats need to address in rural communities to gain votes: Gun rights and how programs that benefit folks are supported by Democrats. Period. If you want to turn this into a racists thing, so be it. But I find your comments both narrow in scope and extremist. Not every person who voted for Trump is a racist. Not everyone who did not vote for Trump is an isonomist. Absolutes are fine in math, but they do not apply to humans.
I agree that the anyone who voted for Fake45 and put members of the GQP into powerful seats, are despicable.
Not denying this is a massive strain for a frightening numbers of voters. But I don't believe it's all of them. I think there's a not small portion who are muddled, who are not actively, purposefully maintaining white supremacy.
Just as there are disengaged, confused, "non-political" people nominally on the left who can be reached, there are those on the right who are malleable.
There are at least 74 million American voters who are ABSOLUTELY non-malleable.
To deny this is to fall into the same pitiable state of mind that, unless re-aligned, will lead to the ultimate demise of the Democratic Party and American democracy. There are ZERO non-racist "good" people who voted for Trump in the 2020 election.
You are as extreme as the tRump republicans. I know many wonderful people who voted Republican because their fathers did, not to mention they believe the lies spread about dems. My local state reps are republican and I vote for them despite their party, not just because no one runs against them. I'm in liberal MA.
Dotsieradzki - Thank-you. I thought the very same thing.
Local state reps are 100% responsible for voter suppression laws throughout America. ANY vote for a Republican candidate on ANY level is a vote in support of white supremacy.
You sound like the reps, any vote for a dem is pro socialism, etc, etc.
Disagree. I don't know the numbers, though surely it's a small minority, but some of those 74 million are confused, don't make decisions for themselves, have been to some extent brainwash and could be "unbrainwashed."
Yes, it a serious mistake to minimize for a moment the to-the-core amount of white supremacy in the Republican Party. You are correct that that will lead to the demise of a two-party system and American democracy.
Nor am I calling this minority "good" people.
But, yes, I believe that some of them are changeable. I've met a couple. I've read about many. The percentage is small, but I don't believe their absolute numbers are so small that they should be dismissed. (Though, of course, you are not dismissing them. You are saying they don't exist. I get that.)
The reason they cannot be changed is because they truly are zealots. Every single reason they give for voting Republican is a complete lie (whether they know it or not is irrelevant at this point). As long as FOX News exists, you would have to lock them up and perform a brain-washing that would please Stalin or Hitler to change their minds. An old adage is always appropriate when discussing this particular subject: "Never, ever try to teach a pig to sing. The pig will NEVER sing, but you will definitely have to deal with a very annoyed and dangerous pig before your experiment is over." Yep, that says it all.
They continue to believe that there is not enough to go around.
When you make the statement that "they continue to believe there is not enough to go around", you are buying into the myth that one of their "principles" relates to fiscal irresponsibility. By doing so, you are unconsciously enabling them. There is no belief in the Republican Party other than non-white Americans are inferior human beings and do not deserve to have any voice in American daily life. The idea that this reality has not been articulated effectively by the media or the Democratic Party will assure the demise of the Party and more importantly the demise of democracy.
Thank you for your comments. But I am a bit confused. I think I was merely positing that, perhaps, at the base of discriminatory thinking in a certain segment of the population, might be a belief about resource insecurity. If they feel threatened then, by god, there must be a group even less deserving of those limited resources than their own, especially with respect to, say, immigrants or POC. So, the hoarding impulse might account for the impulse towards discriminatory systems. Discriminatory "rules" then get set up justifying the unjustifiable. I fail to see how that idea "enables" "them" or relates to "fiscal irresponsibility". Would you care to elaborate? I certainly hope my words to not sound as if I am discounting the significance of discrimination in any way.
Communists think so too, dont they? I mean they think in pie terms too, dont they
Self preservation or “property protection” or hoarding….is this not a basic instinct for protecting against hard times? Not sure I get your point?
Yes, but so is the idea of creating wealth.
The twentieth century communist leaders in Russia thought they could control all the resources which they saw as limited. Todays oligarchy, unofficially represented by the Republicans, are trying to do the same, as if they dont understand how capitalists can create wealth out of thin air, printing money, creating construction sites with landfill, importing workers, finding needs to satisfy and niches in the economy. Oligarchy doesnt create wealth, doesn’t know how. Entrepreneurs, who find a need, organize, manage, and assume the risks of business, according to Mr. Webster, know that wealth is unlimited, like yeast in the air (which is a source for making bread), and like solar power, neither of which can be controlled.
Pretty much the same in Texas, except they go on about “socialism”.
Yes, here in rural Missouri, as well.
True. From one who lives here.
I remember way back in the day when every politician and gun owner spewed the reasoning for not registering or conducting background checks for guns and rifles. “If Russians or the Chinese were to invade us, they would take the list and visit everyone registered and remove their guns.” It didn’t matter that the likelihood of invasion by troops was tiny. It was important that this was their most urgent reason. Rural America’s inaccurate belief systems were not invented yesterday, but keeping them ignorant is increasing rapidly. It’s vital for Republicans to spew lies and manipulate their most ardent followers for support. Fear, intimidation, and anger create good and loyal constituents.
and, of course, fear of the "other." In order to control, they have to make everyone paranoid, and depending on their (Repugnant) saviors.
But, but, but the Black Guy’s going to take your guns.
Never happened but the threat still works.
Sounds a lot like eastern Oregon as well.
And eastern Washington!!!
And Northern Michigan.
Throw in a rising crime rate and a porous southern border into the mix and Democrats running for office will have their hands full.
That brings to mind tRump's name on the relief check in the last administration. He understood the implication.
Cheryl, why do you think that those who vote Republican think it's not in their best interest?
Gun Control is a vote killer, yet background checks are not. Most Americans favor background checks.
"That's my govamint check." - This is why Democrats don't have rural support, and frankly support from many Republicans across the country. Carville said it best, Dems need to quit acting like elitist, ivy leaguer types and speak the language of the community.
Maybe if Democrats would be more strategic, versus hip shooters, when events occur, Republicans and other might have a better view of them. For example, defunding the police almost lost some Dems in your state their seat. Reform the police would have been a better message. But, not, jumping on the band wagon of defund, it became the call to arms. Interestingly, the guy who didn't jump on that train is now the President of the United States. Maybe if Democratic politicians had offered up examples such as Eugene, Oregon where a different mode of community policing occurred, Republicans would have listened.
Maybe if Democrats would take the party's message from the center versus the far left, people would listen.
Hate to be a troll on this, but just pointing out this attitude is exactly what Carville was saying is wrong with Dems today. Want to win in 2022 and remain in the White House in 2024, then suggest the Dems follow what Carville stated a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AizzlteP_F0
I don't think we disagree. My main comment was about what Democrats need to address in rural communities to gain votes: Gun rights and how programs that benefit folks are supported by Democrats. My point was Dems haven't done that. I apologize if I wasn't clear.
I also apologize if "That's my govamint check." sounded snarky. That was not my intent. For a lot of people in my area, the phrase "government check" does not imply party. It naively implies a specific entitlement. Not a program that can be taken away. Dems have not been good at identifying themselves as protectors of such programs.
Thanks for the sage advice.