I will admit I am putting this forth as a theory only and it is coming straight from my brain with no outside supporting research. But if I am correct, Democrats are going to have find a campaign solution for this if they want to win in predominantly rural states.
I have long been fascinated by the history of China and read a fair number of books, both historical and fiction about life in China. China has been a populous place for a long time. It's government for the longest time was/is undemocratic because the leaders feared what would happen if the masses rose up against them and they only understood the use of force and terror and religion (Confucianism) to convince the masses that towing to the common good of society while the wealth off could reach for and preserve their advantage without fear of being caught. The effect on the poor was they found comfort in their village and satisfaction for their life in their little world.
That is also how the masses in the major cities of the world find satisfaction with society. If my little world is calm and to my satisfaction, I am happy. That is why Jayne Byrne lost to Harold Washington in the 1983 Chicago mayoralty race when she failed to clear the blizzard snow from the neighborhoods.
But the U.S. rural areas find satisfaction in a different ideal, even when it doesn't work for them. That ideal is also based upon family, church, and working together in a small community to find satisfaction from society and life. It is a view that is based upon the bedrock belief that hard work will be rewarded and they will prosper. And they are profoundly uncomfortable with the idea that the Chinese accept: we are little individuals in a big society that we have no control over. We can only control what we are in control of.
Even though globalization and technology have devastated small town economic opportunity for many in the U.S., these individuals continue to possess and treasure that bedrock belief in hard work. I too believe in the benefits and necessity of hard work, but I also understand that one must be educated and participate in the global economy in order to prosper. The old way of growing a little food and trading with neighbors is not going to provide the funds necessary to pay for health insurance or college or modern tax levels. But the only thing these rural voters can even remotely control is tax levels and we will see in Kansas if trickle down economics helps restore the rural economy. I doubt it because capital is global and it is the rare well off person who doesn't want his capital to perform. They wouldn't be well off if they didn't care about that.
The Democrats must find a way to respect those rural voters while addressing the concerns of all voters. The rural voters think of themselves as middle class, even if they are working poor, and they resent the view that all Washington D.C. cares about is the rich and urban poor. Even if ObamaCare, the lower income tax code and food stamps benefit them, they don't believe it.
Overcoming ignorance is difficult but you cannot do it if you don't respect the bedrock beliefs and sell your policies as supporting those bedrock beliefs. The GOP has figured out a way to build unquestioned support for their policies with their sales job that government is inefficient. Democrats have to have a laser focus on creating efficient government and how they sell it.
I rambled a bit. I started out trying to make the point that the U.S., with over 300 million people, may have tipped the point where individual can feel like they have control and don't want to accept what the Chinese accept that the individual in a large society has very limited control.
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