By Kay Tillow
Reality demands bold solutions. So do the people. Those who voted for Trump cannot be enticed by weak, meaningless reforms. Tiny increments don’t work when people are hurting, hungry, or hopeless. No one is impressed by a candidate who proposes to make things a smidge better or a fraction less worse. The country needs bold and brave solutions.
Look closely at the 2016 presidential election in Kentucky. In the primary Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton in the counties that would later go to Trump. Rural Kentucky and Appalachia went to Sanders. Paducah and western Kentucky went to Sanders. Muhlenberg county, not hauled away but still there, went for Sanders. So did almost all of those western Kentucky counties—including Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman, Graves, Calloway, Marshall, Trigg, Lyon, McCracken, Livingston, Crittenden, Caldwell, Webster, Hopkins, Daviess, Hancock, Ohio and more.
Bowling Green’s county, Warren, home of the Corvette plant and Western Kentucky University went for Bernie.
Bernie won in historic Harlan County by 63% to 26%. Bernie won in those coal counties in Perry, Knott, Pike, Letcher, Leslie, Bell, Floyd and more. All of Appalachia went solidly for Bernie in the primary—and solidly for Trump in the general election.
Bernie won in 82 counties—Hillary in only 38.
Why does the map of the Bernie/Hillary election bear a striking resemblance to the map of the later Trump/Hillary election?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Kentucky_Democratic_primary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Kentucky
Perhaps the message is to stop thinking that incrementalism and moderation of policies is the key to victory. Kentucky, while thought of as a red state, still has more registered Democrats than Republicans by a margin of over 220,000. Failure to inspire and lack of a fighting spirit loses a lot of elections. The recently-defeated Republican governor, Bevin, originally won his office by getting 16% of the vote in an election where only about 30% showed up.
Rural counties can be won on a no-holds-barred progressive campaign on economic issues. Bernie Sanders roared for taxing the wealthy, free college, Medicare for all, blasting away at the billionaires and inequality. His campaign resonated in Kentucky so that Clinton won by less than a half of a percentage point with Bernie taking almost all of the rural areas.
Pro-corporate Democrats don’t stand a chance in the general election. Fighting for the working class can be a winner in Kentucky.