Minnesota Public Radio's rural coverage has gotten kinda sparse and the pledge weeks too frequent, so I often switch the old SuperRadio to AM and listen to whatever news they can create or download off the satellite. From those wanderings of the AM band, with the exception of Iowa Public Radio's excellent signal out of Ames, I've been informed that as a member of the "Democrat Party" I drive a Prius, think I should be allowed to marry my lawnmower, and want to outlaw pork chops, BB guns, pickup trucks, church suppers, and changing your own oil. That's not even half the laundry list the dead air fillers of AM radio say of the ruination of the nation we're conspiring to commit with the muslims, mexicans, and whatever communists are left... Satanic rituals, abortions, sharia law, clean air and water, health care, pensions, and Halloween!
Truth is I wish I could divorce my Honda mower, I drive (a lot) in a pickup and a couple VW "dirty" diesels, ride motorcycles, have a well equipped shop, seldom eat a meal without meat, and have some experience in DIY septic pumping! And, I'm a typical democrat out here, before and after party meetings the discussion frequently turns to tractors, corn and bean prices, and whether the weather will favor our crops and gardens.
Fact is, we are the populist rural party, heir to the great prairie populist traditions of the populists, grange, co-ops, Non-Partisan League, Farmer-Laborite Party, and a few more I forgot. Heck, Minnesota's democratic party is still officially the "Democratic Farmer-Labor Party" and North Dakota's the "Democratic Non-Partisan League". And while the republicans have difficulty finding candidates closer to farming and rural communities than a big ag junior exec, we democrats have real farmers and teachers and truckers- And we've elected several to our state legislatures.
So how do we rural democrats rebrand ourselves to win? First off, lets start with the name- There is nothing in the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party's rules that says we can't do an old school logo with classic lettering, putting "FARMER" in big bold letters in the center of the rocker with "democratic" and "labor" in smaller and lighter letters. Then there's the image... Now before somebody calls for a focus group to test pitches, a South Dakota democrat by the name of Billie Sutton has already done that for us. Remember that name, because Billie is being wooed by both parties to run for higher office, but he's staying true to his democratic roots. Being wooed because he's won his rural south central South Dakota district by such margins that the republicans don't even bother running against him. And this ain't no inner city democratic stronghold or rez district- the most dem friendly county in the district went 59% to 39% for Romney and even in last years three way senate race republican rounds won every county by double digit margins.
So how does Billie win? He's authentic, a real life rancher and cowboy, even though he uses a wheelchair thanks to a rodeo accident that left him a paraplegic. Sure he lives and works in town at a bank, but he was attending college at SDSU when he became disabled and could have followed the standard rehab counselor advice and stayed in Brookings where everything's wheelchair accessible and the jobs pay better. But Billie moved back to his home town of 600, he still drives a pickup truck even though it's way harder to transfer into than a Prius and guzzles more gas too, and he still involved in rodeo and the family ranch. Billie wins because he's authentic, and we need to follow his example. And Billie wins because he exemplifies rural and democratic values of fairness, self reliance, small towns, a respect for history, small businesses, and family farms and ranches... Even in a deep red district, the republicans can't beat that!
So how do we win like Billie? (cue the tractors...)
Well, despite my wasting all too much time at auctions, I still haven't found a good deal on a tractor small enough to trailer behind my baby pickup. But we need to work on our visuals, because out here where a doorknock can involve hours of driving, the ten seconds we get before the voters eyeballs in a parade may be all the time we get to communicate our message. Let's start with a new party logo, traditional layout with a farm, small town, lakes and woods, and workers in the background. Lose the expensive big city signs and lit and crank out your own with stencils and your printer. Every dem parade contingent should include a pickup, tractor, and at least one hay wagon. When we get to talk to voters, talk about how big ag is manipulating the markets to drive crop prices down and input costs up. Tell small business owners how you'll reform franchise law to keep suppliers from bullying them and insure they get the same price breaks as the big city retailers do. Tell voters how we'll save small towns and local schools with telemedicine, online education via broadband internet, and state aid that puts small towns on the same footing as big cities. Tell farmers and ranchers how you'll stop the cancer of corporate farming and break big ag's monopolies.
We are the rural populist party, and let's start acting like it!