Mr. Arand, while I genuinely appreciate your sentiments, I’m not sure your analysis is correct, or your solution is a good one. As a rural resident, I will offer a quick overview from my point of view.
To put this in perspective, urban areas make up only 3 percent of the entire land area of the country but are home to more than 80 percent of the population. Conversely, 97 percent of the country's land mass is rural but only 19.3 percent of the population lives there.
Back in the 1990s, the Democratic Party did its number thing and decided it did not need rural votes to win national elections. We (rural liberals) never saw, or heard, from the Democratic Party again.
In essence, the Democratic Party abandoned a whopping 97% of the country.
Not only did the Republican Party fill the void, but they also invested, heavily, in our non-partisan, local government elections. Within a decade, Republicans controlled our city councils, school boards, county boards of supervisors, sheriff departments, election departments, water districts, conservation districts, etc. and so on.
Harder still, rural liberals running for state and federal office found themselves challenged by Democrats hand-picked from Washington DC. While candidates chosen by rural liberals often WON elections by over 60% of the vote, DNC candidates LOST by over 60% of the vote. Unfortunately, local liberals could not compete with heavily funded DNC candidates.
Mr. Arand, rural America never escaped colonialism. From resource extraction, cheap labor, rampant corruption, ruthless policing, massive prisons, toxic waste, corporate power, and antiquated social services, exploitation still defines our lives. For the last 3 decades rural Americans have lived under one-party rule.
In 2005, rural liberals in the western states launched a campaign of their own. For a solid year, rural liberals travelled to rural communities carrying their road show, titled “The Rural Urban Divide – Red & Blue America.” It was a warning. It was a strategy. It was seen by, and funded by, thousands of rural grassroots liberals. In the fall of 2005, the Democratic Party sent VIPs to view the presentation. The VIPs cancelled their flights and spent 2 days reviewing our work. By year’s end, the DNC had decided they had no further interest in rural America.
In 2016, the Democrat’s chickens came home to roost and Donald Trump became president.
18 months ago, I moved to a small town in Kentucky. Last month, I spent three days with rural liberals from western states building strategies for bridging rural successes across the nation. I haven’t been this excited or optimistic in years.
Trying to overcome urban liberals’ “opinion” of rural Americans is a waste of time. Suffice to say, the last thing rural America needs is more colonizers. The Democratic Party needs to open its doors and welcome rural America back inside its tent.
Thank you for listening.
