Greetings from Pipestone, Minnesota, where apparently Netroots Nation doesn't think we have any issues of importance besides a lack of broadband. Well, we got issues... Heck, have we got issues! Corporate farms are buying out family farms right and left, the stimulus has run out so the wind turbine industry here is laying off hundreds, our budding biofuels industry just about got nipped in the senate yesterday, etc.. And did I mention that in yet another symptom of climate change, Pipestone Creek is rising (again)?
But in the ruralphobic world of NN management, we don't matter. I've been able to pretty accurately gauge NN's attitude towards rural folks in a series of exchanges these last few days. Suffice to say, NN lives in the protective bubble of a major metro area and only has their annual NN conferences in the protective bubble of other big metro areas. In between, they fly... Probably afraid that they'll be savagely attacked by rednecks/homophobes/teabaggers if they should happen to stop for gas anywhere beyond the safety of the suburbs. I'm quite familiar with this sort of ruralphobia, having been a board member of some years of Minnesota's democratic party GLBTI caucus, the Stonewall DFL. It used to be like pulling hens teeth to get them to attend a pride event outside the metro area. For years I would be Stonewall DFLs sole representative at pride events in Moorhead, Rochester, etc., enjoying a lovely days ride through the countryside while apparently others cowered in fear. Of course, that was a milk run compared to the years I spent delivering bread and mail all over the midwest in the middle of the night. Despite being quite queer, I was never queerbashed or even harrased.
Back to NN's management... I can visualize their jet making an emergency landing on the main street of a small town in Kansas. As the local volunteer firefighters and assorted farmers and such improvise a jetway with parts borrowed from the local grain elevator so they can get off, NN staffers are cowering in the furthest reaches of the plane, expecting to be beaten by their rescuers. When they're finally persuaded off the plane and on the ground, they refuse the local grandma's coffee and rolls because they're not free trade and organic. That's stretching it a bit for effect... But wouldn't surprise me.
You can see NN's ruralphobia in their schedule- punch "rural" into their search function and you'll find all of three events listed, and only because those events had "rural" somewhere in their lengthy descriptions. The only thing remotely rural on NN's agenda is rural broadband, and that's the least of our issues, as noted earlier.
Now I could brush this off and let NN go their way... But no, we rural folk do matter. And no, were not a bunch of bright red redneck teabaggers out here- I live in Lyon County, MN and Obama won almost every town here and came within a couple percent of winning the county. Two townships west of here lies South Dakota, where we lost Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin's house seat and Tom Dascle's senate seat by a mere couple thousand votes. Yup, a senate seat in cheap media markets of around 700,000 people and NN doesn't think rural elections are important! One get's the feeling they'd rather fight for senate seats in media markets of 30,000,000 like California where a million dollars barely buys you the slightest wiff of statewide exposure. It's the same story in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Nebraska, and all the other rural small populaion states. Their are winnable senate seats and electoral votes available here for far less $$$ than in the big metro states.
That makes NN's ruralphobia a luxury we progressives can no longer afford as we fight to take back the house and hold the senate and white house. NN has blocks of time and space in there schedule grid that are open- If you're attending NN please pressure them to at least set aside a time and place for a rural caucus. And if NN can't lose their ruralphobia, don't come back- their is nothing stopping us from organizing an online rural caucus right here at DKos if NN won't have us.
Off to Pipestone to pick up some parts for the VW Diesel, be checking in later...