people will yell at you for expressing this opinion - maybe they're right - but it's how I and I think a lot of people increasingly feel about subsidies and liberal outreach to rural America https://www.volts.wtf/p/dan-savage-on-blue-america-in-the?r=7tdx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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Even if you don’t give a fuck about rural kids (?), they aren’t letting blue states regulate in this sphere!
“There are a ton of liberal voters in rural areas, even if they are a minority!” yes okay I get that, but yeah they should move someplace not dominated by self destructive evil parasites.
Stop demanding real America subsidize parasitic red America
Plus, you know, needing to find a new job.
Make Politics Consequential Again!
I do think it takes more than 4 years of rural policy outreach, a la Biden policy, to start to make a difference though.
Also what's the political strat here? As urban centers become more populated the exurban areas just gain more political power.
For the most part huge swaths of the US are livable due to heavy subsidies and little else.
Also we treat investing in infrastructure and social safety & support, as a one time expenditure, instead of recognizing it as a constant process.
Happens all the time. They vote against federal projects, then take credit when people are happy to see money spent in their district.
You can choose not to be misinformed.
Same goes for Blue states subsidizing the likes of Mississippi and West Virginia.
absent that, revealed preference is that they want to lash out at and punish the people they perceive to be doing better than they are
Because the Republican platform and we all just learned what happens if you co-opt Republican strategies.
Weird.
Rural areas used to be hotbeds of progressivism.
Dan Savage and Drvox's politics suck
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/why-is-the-central-valley-so-bad
But it seems unsurprising that this is a controversial belief
Detroit alone got $825 million from the American Rescue Plan, which not one Repub senator voted for. Detroit received over $100 million more from the Infrastructure Act.
Politically, it appears to not have mattered one bit!
https://detroitmi.gov/departments/office-chief-financial-officer/how-detroits-arpa-funds-are-being-spent
It’s a comms issue alright, but it will require a much, much bigger structural changes than anything on the table.
Bluesky is a small start. Next we need a liberal Fox News, building alternatives to WaPo & NYT, more comprehensive TikTok strategy…
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/01/politics/letters-covid-relief-biden-signature/index.html
Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?
Maybe material conditions get bad enough to change minds, maybe there is no "bad enough," but at least we won't waste a bunch of effort
As long as we have highly visible crises in SF/NY/Boston/Philly, Dems will lose votes. No one will buy your salsa if the Costco samples are moldy.
My impression is that the telling did not happen
Like I live in a super blue area, but it’s technically on the outskirts of a city, not in it, so fuck me I guess.
They sent money to buy electric buses for red rural Pellston and new streets in blue city Kalamazoo. People everywhere really didn't care!
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2024/0913/biden-infrastructure-harris-michigan-election
Rural Americans are part of America. Their needs have gone unmet for a long time. I wish it had paid off in votes. But either way, Biden was right to prioritize their issues.
Biden did the right thing, and now the rural areas are going to get fucked HARD, because they'd rather hate immigrants and trans people than have healthcare.
If doing the "right thing" means losing elections and giving Rs free reign to plunder the country, is it the right thing?
It doesn't have to be a zero sum game.
Is it right to help people that gleefully helped usher in American fascism?
Is it moral and good and pure and righteous to give Cletus better access to broadband so he can go online and tell everyone that teachers wanna turn your kids trans?
I think we can stop the decline (urban & rural) through smart investments in infrastructure, a strong FTC, and good trade policy.
Unless you are accurately describing his supporters as Putin, Bibi, and crypto boys, in which case, sure.
Perhaps the more savvy strategy is to invest in fish for the rural vote and fisheries for the cities, if you will.
https://getdewey.co/bluesky/