Getting Dems On Message

Changing Images in the Prairie States

Dems off message

It is puzzling to recognize why the Democratic Party has lost the prairie states which used to be Populists.  Now it looks like Senator Tester, a Montana farmer with grass roots values, might lose to a rich carpetbagger. This is in spite of the fact that Democrat policy and practice solidly benefits the farmers.

The problem seems to be that image is more powerful than reality. Democrats are seen as latte swilling  coastal  urbanites who are fixated on women, people of color,  even transexuals. The stereotype extends to suspicion of education, science and the bureaucratic deep state.  This irrational bias has a seed of truth but is a distortion of reality bordering on caricature.

Certainly, some of the blame falls on the messengers, apparatchiks from the Washington beltway who make a living selling the sizzle in the steak to the public.  They are to be blamed for failing to speak meaningfully to the alienated. I just attended a presentation by Arli Hochschild talking about her new book; interviews of residents of the “hollers” of Eastern Kentucky, Appalachia, who see Trump as their “good bully”. Like the prairie ranchers they feel left behind. Dissect these sentiments and you find a nucleus of racism and misogyny. Whatever the roots it translates into the election of Republicans who are less interested in doing what is best for the people who elected them.  

It is imperative that the Democratic Party wins back the minds of many of these folks who feel abandoned and blame the Dems. To achieve this the Party must focus on inclusivity. Concern for people of color is not at the expense of farmers, ranchers and small-town white men. The programmatic record demonstrates this. In contrast, Republican rhetoric is bull. They care about the rich.  To do so is not a matter of engaging in Sophistry or spewing shallow platitudes. Rather it demands a robust immersion in the facts punctuated by visible programmatic change. Not easy to achieve.