Missing the Bigger Picture
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| 2020 Election Map by County |
If you will indulge me a second political post in a week, I would be grateful. For nearly two days now, while working on a project in my garage and doing my morning rounds through blog world, I see that a lot of people are missing the bigger picture. Everyone is wondering how people could elect Trump for a second time because he.... and then there is a long list of moral and legal shortcomings. Respectfully to those people, you are missing the big picture. What you should be asking is why Vice President Harris failed to resonate with her constituents to such an extent, they showed out in less numbers than the previous election. Not only did she fail to resonate, but the majority of voters found a convicted criminal with large moral problems better than the alternative.
I think the answer to this lays largely in the map seen above which is actually from 2020 when Biden beat Trump. The current map which I have seen on television but can't find a version not locked behind a paywall, is even more red. When I look at that map, I see a whole lot of red areas of the country. Granted the people living in those red areas only make up 50% of the population but it also tells me that those people living in the blue dots might not understand the needs of those in the red.
I live among the vast red swaths of the country in a county that is consistently in the top five poorest counties in our state. What those people repeatedly talk about how bad the economy is, red and blue voters alike. Yes you can show them all the graphs showing how wages have largely outpaced inflation and theoretically they should be better but what those graphs show you is an average of red and blue areas combined. They don't show you that wages in most red areas have been stagnate for years if not decades, yet prices have universally gone up, dramatically, due to the more global nature of our distribution systems. People are hurting and they showed their frustrations by voting for a person that you would never invite over to Sunday dinner at Grandma's house even if he were the last person alive outside of the family.
I see a lot of my more liberal friends hunkering down and pondering how they will survive the next four years and I guess I don't blame them. But I would suggest to them, and I have tried suggesting to them, instead of just hunkering down and coming out four years from now with the same dated and tired party agenda geared mostly to those who live in the blue dots on the map above, perhaps they need to look into those red areas, they would be impossible to miss if we were shooting darts, and see what those people find important. It obviously is important enough they were willing to elect a convicted criminal with moral impairments for a second time. With the information in hand, truly become the party of diversity and rule the next election.
It was a red wave. Now I will hope that the economy will get better. Nearly everyone I know voted for Trump...the lesser of the evils some of them said. Many bloggers are very upset. All of Washington needs a makeover and maybe some good things will happen.
ReplyDeleteAt least for me, a “red wave” implies agreement with Trumps entire platform and I suspect many independents chose Trump as the lesser of two evils and not necessarily agreed with his entire platform. This explains why the “red wave” that elected him in 2016 turned into a “blue wave” in 2020 and now back to red. I believe the wave is actually red, white and blue independents who are trying to steer the country with out fully agreeing on the platforms of both Republicans and Democrats. Of course this is all my personal opinion.
DeleteThat map is inaccurate. Land doesn't vote, people do. I've seen a better one with empty land being blank and only the red/blue population highlighted. With the Congress, presidency and Supreme Court in GOP(more like MAGA) hands, I'm sure that those poorer people will be well cared for because Trump has a reputation for caring about the little guys and the middle class. Wait, JK.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet that “empty and” just elected Trump a second time and perhaps gave him complete control of Congress.
DeleteIt's a good explanation, and I understand what you are saying, but do these people think they were really better off four years ago? Do they think they will be better off in four years time? I am not arguing btw, just still shaking my head and still in some bewilderment. But thanks for the rational explanation.,
ReplyDeleteThey do and I myself struggle to understand why. My only explanation to rationalize this belief is that they have been ignored and hurting for so long that just having someone notice them gives a sort of Placebo effect.
DeleteEd, same thoughts (he says, shamefully catching up late to this).
ReplyDeleteIf politics was a business and the business failed, the question should rightfully be asked "Why did it fail?" Likely it comes down to lack of funding, lack of product demand, or lack of customer base. Funding one fixes by either raising capital or having more before one starts; product demand should be known and identified before starting the business (or, I suppose, creating demand). A lack of customer base is either solved by marketing or having an amazing product. But one cannot be underfunded, have a undesired product, and no identified customer base and then be surprised when the business fails (and I failed a business using all three of these principles once upon a time).
Very great points. I’m assuming funding wasn’t an issue in this case. While she definitely had a customer base judging from her rallies, it wasn’t enough to sustain her business to in this case, get elected.
DeleteI have read many, many articles about how this happened and am shocked how few see what you outlined very well.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find amazing is all the talk about Trump ending democracy when the fact of the matter is that Harris was not elected, she was chosen and she never got out there in unscripted fashion to have a real conversation. I believe people are tired of not knowing who really is behind the curtain. I really do think Trump and Vance going on Rogan made a big difference. The fact they did, as well as John Fetterman, but Harris refused does not inspire confidence.
I certainly don’t blame Harris for not interviewing with Rogan much like I wouldn’t blame Trump for not interviewing on “The View”. They would essentially be going into a hostile interrogation. I want to say interviews probably don’t play a large part in elections but it was seeing several Harris interviews that finally made me switch my vote from her to third party. Namely it was her lack of substantive answers when it came to matters that concern me.
DeleteWell said! City folk do not understand country folk and country folk do not understand city folk. We only take what we know and believe, not being able to understand it when someone has the total opposite view of us. I do not see a quick fix to this, but hope we can understand and accept our differences.
ReplyDeleteAccepting differences would go a long way I think. But also spending some time with people that believe the polar opposite of your views would go a long way as well. I have people I consider good friends on both extremes of the political spectrum, and I do mean extreme, and they are all decent good human beings, unlike how they are portrayed online and in the media. I think if more people could see this, that would go a long ways as well.
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