On Monday when I diaried about the need for progressives to focus on rural areas, some misunderstood what I said to mean that we need to assist "Blue Dog Dems". This couldn't be further from what I meant. The Blue Dogs frustrate me to no end, and honestly, I wonder why many don't just become Republicans. I am committed to the Progressive movement. We, however, must ensure that it moves. The only way to do this is to make it grow. To do this, some issues will play better than others, and in other cases great pains need to be taken to frame issues correctly.
Rural America is ready for single payer universal health insurance. We have estimated that between 30 to 40% of citizens in my district do not have health insurance. The death of the manufacturing economy is making this situation worse because workers get reemployed in lower paying service industry jobs that do not offer health insurance or whose health insurance is prohibitively expensive. We will have to engage in education campaigns, but I believe the voters will come around to single payer universal health insurance.
It may seem strange, but rural America is also a good place to talk about energy/global warming. Yes, big, gas guzzling pickup trucks, muscle cars, snowmobiles, four wheelers, riding lawn mowers, etc. are the rule here, but the price of gas and the long distances involved in commuting are putting a serious hurt on families. As one of my students groused, "With the price of gas and the hours they're giving me, it doesn't pay to go to work."
Going further, there are some characteristics of the rural America and its people that uniquely position it to do well in a changing energy period. First, there is the land. All of the the renewable energy sources discussed need land. Wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass all need land and or the things that grow on it to be put into place. Second, there is the people. Rural people tend to be much more self-sufficient. If things need to be fixed, they do it themselves. Yes, we are going to need engineers and scientists to design new systems, but we are also going to need people to install and improve these systems. Pencil on paper understanding is needed but so is grease on the brow.
When I first envisioned this series, I thought that I'd be talking more about specific issues in this installment. As I have thought and planned this diary, though, I have decided to shift my focus. In rural areas, how an issue is addressed is critical, and many times it is very different from the way that issues are approached in urban or suburban areas.
Before I go further, I wish to be clear. One must be straightforward and sincere. One of the frustrations that led me into politics was watching politicians twist and contort and parse their words for maximum focus group results ala Giuliani and Romney on abortion. I don't believe in taking stances that I don't believe in just to get elected, and I don't think any other candidate ought to either.
It would have made my life a lot easier in 2006 if I had taken an anti-abortion stance, but that is not what I believe. So, I framed my pro-choice stance in the Constitution. Government should not intrude upon people's rights whether it the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, or the right of a woman to choose what happens to her body. People in rural areas tend toward the libertarian, and therefore, it is helpful to frame issues in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I also focused on the need to reduce the number of abortions through better job prospects, more affordable health insurance, and better nutrition for mothers and children.
In rural areas, religion tends to play a greater role in people's lives, and they are more comfortable with open discussions of religion than in more urban areas. They also tend to be overwhelmingly Christian. As a result, framing issues in Biblical language puts these issues into contexts that the voters understand. These stances then don't seem bizarre, foreign, or "too liberal". Honestly, this point has been difficult for me. I have always regarded my spirituality and religious beliefs to be personal, however, I have lived in rural areas long enough to know that discussion of religion is comforting to people.
I could go on much further about both specific issues and how they are framed, but for now, I'm not. Again, I'd appreciate your input, and I would appreciate you attending my presentation at the Take Back America 2007 conference in Washington D.C. On June 20 at 11:30 am.
PS. Some of you have wondered about a website. My new website is not up and running yet, but it will be soon. I will post it here on my diary page as soon as it is up and running.
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