Yesterday, I posted a diary that touched on some of the reasons that Democrats are in the minority in our rural communities. I found some who commented were defensive and assumed I am not a Democrat and/or an Obama supporter. I am a lifelong Democrat and have been 110% for Obama, since Edwards dropped out.
I meant to suggest simply that "issues" voters in the Democratic party base their choices and actions on the larger goal of solidly defeating Karl Rove style Republican tactics. I believe one way this can be done is by reaching out to the kind of folks who live in this country's rural areas and small cities and towns. I'm talking TACTICS folks -- short term vs. long term, and am not suggesting that anyone needs to forget the things that are important to them personally.
It's simple: Acknowledge their patriotism as genuine and worth honoring. Try to respect or at least understand how important traditions of hunting and fishing are to these folks. They love their guns not as objects of criminal violence, but as a part of their family history and the American myth. Allow for the possibility that most people are in practice tolerant of others on a personal level, in spite of the intolerance that is sometimes expressed publicly. I find that most often this intolerance is being fed and whipped by clever and cynical public voices like O'Reilly and Limbaugh, and exploited shamelessly by the right. Reach out with the issues we agree on. Plenty of small town citizens are fed up with the war, the economic mess we are in, Republican corruption, Wall Street, corporate greed, the pollution of our environment, etc., etc....... Don't assume they are automatically bigotted. Talking to my neighbors, I have realized that the poisonous pot of racial conflict that has handicapped the nation and destroyed several once great Michigan cities has had the lid lifted (I pray forever). There's still a mess on the top of the stove, but the stink is a little less already. The simple POSSIBILITY of a candidate with the inspiring personal history of Obama being elected president has done this.
The majority of my neighbors are socially conservative, but believe me these same people are READY for change! Let's give it a chance for once and at least extend a hand of welcome. Some won't take it I know, but many will and those hands hold the promise of something new and better for us all.