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No longer fringe, small-town voters fear democracy's demise in U.S.

16 Comments
By TIM SULLIVAN

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Just a couple years ago, their talk of Marxism, government crackdowns and secret plans to destroy family values would have put them at the far fringes of the Republican party.

Not really. Talking about the Evil Empire and red scaring and attacks on family values have been Republican bread and butter for over 70 years.

A lot in the article but it shows the partisan divide in red America (Republican that is).

Who recently crossed that divide, though closely allied with the Dems, by pointing out the Dem agenda is neo-liberal corporatist like the Republicans, not Marxist, and not highlighting identity issues?Emphasizing instead empowering workers?

Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang who drew supporters away from Trump.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I've spent many years of my life living in places similar to this, American suburban/exurban fringe areas with lots of ordinary everyday folk. I can vouch that people like the ones in this article, on a personal level, are typically quite decent, personable, and community-minded.

With that said, folks need to grow up and stop acting like adults. NOW. It's time to stop retreating into a fantasy world of conspiracy and myth and face the world as it is, not as you would like it to be. Yes, there's a lot of change going on, and you might not agree with all of it. That does not mean you get to pick and choose your reality without consequences.

Additionally, Fox News gets too much of a pass in this article. No internet source has the reach of a Carlson or Hannity, and the themes described are hammered in by Fox News day in and day out, hour after hour. This stuff doesn't just come from nowhere. And once someone is in the Fox News ecosystem, good luck getting them out. It's almost impossible.

I really don't know what options are out there to reach folks in this kind of situation. I suppose it's just too much of a dopamine rush to imagine oneself as a hero against nameless, dark forces like some action movie.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

A thoughtful article. I think these communities have always existed since European settlement but the internet and Fox provides a sense of wider community to process their myriad grievances.

It is difficult to comprehend how to move forward when one of the grievances is hundreds of years old and a foundational part of the constitution.

candidates who believe the separation of church and state is a fallacy.

The Founding Fathers truly understood the danger of political religion and, outside of Islamic states, the majority never want to see it returned.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

folks need to grow up and stop acting like adults. NOW. It's time to stop retreating into a fantasy world of conspiracy and myth and face the world as it is, not as you would like it to be. 

Somebody is living in a fantasy world, that's for sure. People who live off the land can rarely indulge in fantasy though, it teds to be the privileged people with clean fingernails who can afford fantasy.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The Founding Fathers did not see ,that people like them would not be in the minority,lots of American are about issues that has no direct bearing on them like abortion,but do realize that racism is eating away their own soul of America

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Maybe you should look at the demographics as to why, and why wouldn't they want to keep it that way?

In sparsely populated areas crime is typically low in terms of outright numbers because the population is low. The crime rate per capita is often quite high.

But yes, areas with older people (I presume that's what you meant by "demographics"), are likely to have lower crime levels as well.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Ah, crime is high in the Meth infected areas of rural America Google Rural Meth Addict

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Lots of these people are insecure,lots of these have no involved psychological,have somekind of inferiority complex, always wanting to push their views own others,I myself go through life knowing that I will protect my right at the upmost and have the knowledge and money to do it

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The left wing and right wing belong to the same bird. This is my opinion: the so called democracy is actually a deceitful form of financial dictatorship. You can see it through the imposition of insurance and elimination of product warranty for “protection”. I found that out with the Tricare and Medicare schemes.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The problem with guns is that if everyone else has one or more, I need one too.

The problem with social and mainstream media is that making people enraged is good for business.

The problem with democracy, as Socrates knew, was too many weak-minded people vote in blocks.

”I love the uneducated.” — Donald Trump 2016.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

so called democracy is actually a deceitful form of financial dictatorship. You can see it through the imposition of insurance and elimination of product warranty for “protection”. I found that out with the Tricare and Medicare schemes.

This statement makes no sense, as Medicare and Tricare are American schemes, and other countries don't have these, yet are democratic.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Lots of White people benefited from government for 150 years,when the US was under totally White rule,they did not complain about big government,such as law enforcement,they were operating as branch of White Supremacists,starting in the north the right of minority, women and other people spread westward,their are local government,that act as if it they are there living in the past , denying people their Liberty, Equality and Justice for All

0 ( +0 / -0 )

By and large, election deniers did get defeated and this allowed the Democrats to retain control of the Senate, to everyone's surprise.

However, for the first time since the 1940s, support for fascism has become mainstream. And while it is only unapologetically fascist among the more radical end, such as Marjorie Taylor-Greene, a high percentage of the 'MAGA' followers are clearly sympathetic to it.

I would recommend the 'Ultra' podcast that charts the rise of American fascists in the 1930s and the foiled coup. A lot of parallels to today.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

He doesn't meet many liberals and doesn't often go into town. This is exactly the problem - people stay in their little enclaves and don't actually talk to the demographic they disagree with. They listen to news stories about those people, stories which are purposefully exaggerated and contain many outright lies, which aim to inflame people against one another. He doesn't actually know what liberals really think, but he thinks he knows. And if told "no that's not what people really think" he would point to Fox and Carlson and others as evidence for his own misunderstanding.

I'm from a place like this, and know a lot of people who are very similar. Some of them don't even really follow politics that closely, but perk up their ears if they hear certain key words, "guns" "church" "groomer". They get maybe a quarter of the story, the rest is all conspiracy from those stories being re-told, exaggerated, and misreported. It sinks in, and to them it's the truth.

I bet anything I'd get along with this guy on a personal level. It really is just so sad, isn't it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Not really. Talking about the Evil Empire and red scaring and attacks on family values have been Republican bread and butter for over 70 years. 

Quite the opposite actually.

A lot in the article but it shows the partisan divide in red America (Republican that is).

I live in red America, there is no divide other than from the liberal county that divides us.

Who recently crossed that divide, though closely allied with the Dems, by pointing out the Dem agenda is neo-liberal corporatist like the Republicans, not Marxist, and not highlighting identity issues?

Example?

Emphasizing instead empowering workers?

That’s what self-reliance is.

Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang who drew supporters away from Trump.

Some, but Trump also gained supporters from them as well.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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