I’m gonna thread off this thread.
I lived in rural white Indiana for 36 years.
There’s am important factor people rarely talk about in these discussions: These people will never vote against the GOP. They just won’t.
And let me tell you why...
I lived in rural white Indiana for 36 years.
There’s am important factor people rarely talk about in these discussions: These people will never vote against the GOP. They just won’t.
And let me tell you why...
When Obama was running, I was listening to my father-in-law discuss the election with his family, and he said that as a teacher, he KNEW his life would be better under Obama and listed HUGE reasons why Obama was better for his life.
“But I’m still not gonna vote for him.”
“But I’m still not gonna vote for him.”
And he didn’t. That family is full of people whose lives would be improved under Democratic leadership, teachers, firefighters, librarians, etc. but they all vote GOP.
In the town we moved from, one of the only times I ever saw a Democrat run, the town talked about how much better this woman was for the town, but they all said they wouldn’t vote for her. And they didn’t. And now they all complain about how bad the town is run.
My uncle voted Republican because his dad voted Republican. (He worked for Shell oil, so natch GOP.) Now my uncles kids and wife all vote Republican because my uncle did.
The thing is, and I say this as someone who was living like Sigourney Weaver in Gorillas in the Mist for 36 years: These people in rural white America WILL ALWAYS VOTE GOP. Nothing anyone says will change their minds.
They will tell you with their own mouths they know how much better a Democrat will be for their way of life, but they WILL NEVER VOTE FOR ONE.
This is based on a lot of things: racism, bigotry, fear, and so on.
But it’s been ingrained in generations that they HAVE to.
Nothing a politician promises will change that. They can HATE the GOP they are voting for, they will still vote for them.
But it’s been ingrained in generations that they HAVE to.
Nothing a politician promises will change that. They can HATE the GOP they are voting for, they will still vote for them.
They have been conditioned to believe that even if someone from the liberal side promises all the right things, it’s just a lie to win and take over power because all politicians lie.
Liberal lies are unacceptable. GOP lies are just how things are done.
Liberal lies are unacceptable. GOP lies are just how things are done.
These are towns of people that have lived in the same spot for 4+ generations. A politician’s speech isn’t going to change a thing.
To get through, there has to be ground-level education starting young, exposing the kids born there to things outside that bubble, and hoping that any of it sticks beyond the town/family indoctrination that teaches/forces them to be afraid of anyone unlike them.
The people who get all these fancy think-pieces written about feeling betrayed by Trump? They are still going to vote GOP. It’s like a compulsion.
The sooner people understand what it’s ACTUALLY like inside the bubbles, the sooner we can alter the approach to “reaching” them.
The sooner people understand what it’s ACTUALLY like inside the bubbles, the sooner we can alter the approach to “reaching” them.
