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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJon Tester Wants Democrats to Fight for Rural America
Sen. Jon Tester has bragging rights. The Montana Democrat not only runs his own organic farm but also sports what may well be the Senates cheapest haircut (his trademark flat-top costs $11, including tip). A childhood accident with a meat grinder took three of his fingers, but he can still play a decent trumpet and is unexpectedly agile with a basketball. More impressively, Mr. Tester, 64, kept his seat in 2018 in a state that President Trump won two years earlier by 20 pointseven though the president railed against Mr. Tester on Twitter (Very dishonest and sick!) and stumped for the senators rival in a record four trips to the state before the election. In a tough year for Senate Democrats, Mr. Tester won by four points, having swayed not only Democrats but also most independents and 7% of Republicans.
Montana, a huge, sparsely populated, largely rural state, nurses a populist mistrust of big government, which makes voters partial to straight-shooting politicians with deep local roots and a knack for listening. Montanans have elected Republicans in nearly every presidential election since the 1960s, but they have chosen Democrats in the past four gubernatorial races and in five of the past six U.S. Senate campaigns.
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In his new book, Grounded: A Senators Lessons on Winning Back Rural America, Mr. Tester argues that more Democrats should try to learn from his successes, instead of ceding the countrys prairies and exurbs to Republicans. I dont think weve done a good enough job talking about our vision for rural America, he says of his party. To listen, you have to show up, and oftentimes we dont go to places where we think well get an opinion that we may not want to hear. Visiting the Iowa State Fair once every four years doesnt cut it, he says.
Nor does paying attention only to swing states. By clinging mainly to cities and coasts, Democrats not only alienate valuable voters, Mr. Tester warns, but also fail to grasp that many rural Americans care deeply about progressive issues such as affordable education and accessible health care. The interests of rural Americans line up much more with Democrats than they do with Republicans, but theyre better at messaging, he says. This is partly why he believes Montana will go for Mr. Trump again in November. He talks to farmers, he talks to rural America, Mr. Tester says. Hes the only game in town.
He is a Democrat, he says, mainly because his family would have lost the farm had it not been for the New Deal policies of President Franklin Roosevelt. Like many Montanans, he shoots guns, but he has voted to expand background checks for gun-buyers and condemns the National Rifle Associations stubborn zero-tolerance policy for common sense. Although Mr. Tester began his political career opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, his views on both issues have become more libertarian. When his own son came out as gay, it opened my eyes, the senator says.
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For Democrats looking to make inroads in rural America, Mr. Tester notes that health care was Montanas number-one issue during the 2018 election. Back in 2012, the Affordable Care Act, which he supports, was a political liability for him to overcome. Now, his constituents, many of whom are elderly or have pre-existing conditions, are suddenly worried that federal efforts to undermine the act will compromise their access to health care. Such fears have only sharpened during the pandemic, when many people have lost their jobs and their employer-sponsored health insurance. Rural hospitals, such as the one in the town of Big Sandy, near Mr. Testers farm, are also losing too much money to stay open. When you lose your hospital or your bank or your school, youve got nothing. Nobodys going to live there, he says.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/jon-tester-wants-democrats-to-fight-for-rural-america-11599839845 (subscription)
CrispyQ
(36,457 posts)Tester is right that our side has ignored rural America. I wish our billionaires would buy some radio stations, hire some top notch writing talent, and challenge the message of hate & division that blankets rural America, even if they have to run the stations at a loss. Our side has basically written off farm country since the 80s. Not our policies, but our messaging. We have dropped the ball, big time, on messaging. Capturing the narrative. Framing the debate. Or just plain marketing. Call it what you want but our side sucks at it. The media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own it. I saw that on a bumper sticker, but it's so true. So we have to work harder at getting our message out, & yet we don't. We have been quiet for so long that a good number of Americans believe, without question, that republicans are conservative, (what a joke), the party of God, the party of family values, and the party of personal & fiscal responsibility. In spite of years of evidence to the contrary, the GOP & media repeat these lies, over & over until they become truth in the minds of too many people. And our side is like crickets.
I have given that Joe Conservative essay to several republicans I've known over the years and asked them, what is it that you oppose in this essay? Clean air & water standards? Safe medications? A federal insurance program that insures the money you've deposited at your bank? What? What of these issues do you oppose? And I never get an answer.
We need to pound these points home. These are not liberal issues, these are community issues. These are the things we fund and put in place to build strong communities. We need to show red state America that they're looking at things from the wrong perspective. Some will resist, of course, but some just need to be educated, to be shown how they are voting against their own interests when they vote repub.
We are 40 years behind the 8-ball & hate radio has morphed into a gigantic right wing media machine. It's gonna be a helluva fight if we decide to take it on. And in my opinion, how can we continue to ignore them? One day Trump will be gone, but not the people who identify as republican.
TheFarseer
(9,322 posts)Everything Democrats say gets put in a bizarro filter by radio/the guys down at the cafe etc until its something to be afraid of. Clean water and air means you wont be able to use chemicals and machinery on your farm or the prices of all of that will double. Good schools means theyre going to take the money out of your community to make schools good somewhere else. Affordable health care means theyre going to take your money to give a drug user or illegal immigrant health care. I hear this all the time when Im back home. We need a presence so we can have a side of the story and not be constantly straw manned.
CrispyQ
(36,457 posts)the radio was turned on along with the coffee pot first thing in the morning & it was on all day until Walter Cronkite's six o'clock news came on the television. Weather reports, market reports, local and national news, announcements of sales and auctions, and of course, lots of commentary in between all that.
TheFarseer
(9,322 posts)Last I was around the farm a lot in the 90s but also Rush Limbaugh etc slowly taking over. Now its almost all hate radio on those stations.
NNadir
(33,512 posts)JI7
(89,247 posts)and other kinds of bigots.
Tester and other Democrats who do well are white men.
TheBlackAdder
(28,183 posts).
Must show how others are self-dealing, profiteering from public largesse, and sticking it to the regular guy. Cons hate it when they see others get stuff that they can't take advantage of, which is why the argument of certain people benefiting from social programs work well--they see others in a common plight getting something they aren't getting. Even if it's only $10/wk in food assistance--that's $10/wk more than what they get. Just being slighted by pennies pisses them off. Of course, if they get something other can't, they see it as deserving, but if others get something they can't plug into, it's a tax that they are somehow paying.
While race is a division that causes animosity and tribalism, first it comes down to me and the other guy and who is getting over on the other more. Social programs that assist poorer people angers poorer Whites because they can't tap into them--failing to acknowledge systemic racism. They see someone making slightly less or the same getting programs and 'free stuff' that they can't get. While racism is a flash point, it really comes down to who is getting more stuff than they are.
Show how shortly, under the GOP, they not only are losing jobs and industry, their savings, but that SS, the ACA and USPS will soon be gone.
.
JI7
(89,247 posts)resents them for it.
TheBlackAdder
(28,183 posts)JI7
(89,247 posts)kid getting milk and bread .
TheBlackAdder
(28,183 posts)WyattKansas
(1,648 posts)Other wealthy and famous people instead of what the Hell has been wrong in rural America. Just like it pisses off some people in States where there are a lot more blue collar jobs than those with college degrees. The Democratic Party should not be surprised when Republicans can easily exploit what the Democratic Party gave up on, and the Republicans have been able to expand that exploitation when the internet came along.
The Democratic Party has to come to the realization that...
Just because it is good for Wall Street, does not mean it is good for the American People and United States.
FDR policies have been needed and absent in this country for the last 50 years in our race to the bottom to make Wall Street the main decision maker about everything.
betsuni
(25,472 posts)Hollywood, wealthy people (donor class)
Democrats "gave up on" the working class, blows rural people off, are educated elitists
Wall Street controls the Democratic Party
FDR
Please provide information about how the Democratic Party is involved "in our race to the bottom to make Wall Street the main decision maker about everything."
JI7
(89,247 posts)They are fine with Hollywood actors seeing as they supported Reagan and While Trump is not a hollywood actor he is a TV Celeb .
What pisses them off is support for black lives matter, support for dreamers , support for women's rights .
radius777
(3,635 posts)and once LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 it set in motion realignment of the parties, where the conservative Dems began moving over to the GOP in successive waves, from Nixon to Reagan and to Trump.
At the same time liberal Repubs, women and non-whites started moving to the Dems, transforming the party to a metro-centric and diverse party.
The idea that conservative whites (rural and otherwise) started leaving due to stuff like NAFTA is a lie - it started with Civil Rights.
JI7
(89,247 posts)And Bush, and Trump and the thug Gianforte.
radius777
(3,635 posts)If the election was really about voting for anti-establishment populism then why did 'establishment globalist' Ron Johnson defeat liberal populist Russ Feingold? Why did most Trump voters all over the country also vote downballot for standard 'globalist' Repubs?
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Montana gets to keep their guns in exchange for Medicare for all?
Mariana
(14,854 posts)The conservative Christians in those states (i.e. the majority) can be counted on to enthusiastically vote for whichever candidates promise to work day and night to deprive women, LGBT+ people, and non-Christians of their rights. Those positions aren't negotiable.
JI7
(89,247 posts)There is more to it than that . Tester is a good guy and he represents the state so I don't expect or even want him to talk of this since it would cause him to lose.
But we know why most of these people vote the way they do .
Democrats have won in the state but they have been white men . Just like Doug Jones is a White Man from Alabama. But a non white male with very similar background would have lost .
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)dawg
(10,624 posts)the party tolerated segregationists and outright racists like Strom Thurmond, Lester Maddox & George Wallace.
I don't believe we could win these areas back any time soon with policy changes that we would be willing to make. Perhaps a more reassuring tone on lawful and reasonable gun ownership might stem a little of the bleeding. But our main focus should be on turning out our base.
Rhiannon12866
(205,224 posts)Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana discusses how to open schools safely, how Trumps policies have affected farmers, and how Joe Biden can best bring home the rural vote.
question everything
(47,470 posts)And, yes, I hope that Biden will make it to the north. He has been in Minnesota and Wisconsin, now, please, travel to Montana. At least it has a Democratic governor and a Democratic senator/
GusBob
(7,286 posts)No stoplights kinda place, it's rural fee sure
Of course there are Trump flags flying and Stop the Prarie Preserve banners everywhere
And this was kinda neat someone had painted haybales red white and blue with a Trump 2020 on them OK maybe not cool but it was well done and eye catchy
Across the street someone had an answer, a homemade sign hung up in simple black and white
" PUTIN-TRUMP 2020"