If The Dems Made A Concerted Effort To Appeal To Rural Voters What Would You Recommend They Do?....

[Spike89]

121. Can't write them off, but they (in general) are the GOP target

Actions over words is the best tactic. In other words, they need to see democratic policies working in their favor. That probably won't be enough, but sending a union-backed politician from NY or Boston into the midwest with a freshly starched pair of overalls and a prop straw to chew on isn't going to work either.

The biggest problem is education levels. Rural living doesn't require as much education in general as urban living. The GOP/Libertarian message is simple, and it sounds really good if you ignore nuances, etc. The reason education favors liberals/democrats is that complex problems require complex solutions and more critical thinking skills and quite frankly, liberal policies/solutions are almost always complex, counter intuitive, and often long-term. GOP "solutions" may be dead wrong, but they often sound good, make quick sense.

Here's a classic example: school taxes. Why take my money to pay for schools when I have no kids at home? For a republican, the answer is "don't! Parents should pay for their own kids."

That is very "common sense" but it doesn't/won't work for a society. The liberal answer is undeniably much better for everyone, but it is pretty complicated..."society benefits greatly when every child has the opportunity, through education, to become a productive member of society." The problem here is of course the democratic answer doesn't even touch on the economics of what is purely a fiscal question and even if you go into the fiscal aspects, you are talking long-term benefits and they are talking hard specific $$$ from their last tax bill.

Of course the liberal answer makes sense fiscally too, but you've got to bring in a variety of other factors (some of which start their own debates) such as the cost/danger of having hordes of uneducated youth roaming the streets. How poorly or non-educated young people are unlikely to get good jobs to pay taxes that can fund things like police...etc.