13 votes

The Left needs a statewide strategy

3 comments

  1. [3]
    NaraVara
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    I read very closely searching for the words “rural” or “suburban” and didn’t see them. It’s all well and good to say we need a “statewide strategy” but they ignore what a statewide strategy...

    I read very closely searching for the words “rural” or “suburban” and didn’t see them. It’s all well and good to say we need a “statewide strategy” but they ignore what a statewide strategy entails, which is making inroads into outer suburbs/exurbs and rural communities. The fact that they could write an entire article on the subject without once mentioning it sounds like they don’t have a single clue about how to do this, or what it would even mean to try.

    So far the most I’ve ever heard is “give up on abortion” and “give up on gun control” which sounds more like “surrender to social conservatives” than an actual strategy for creating any sort of solidarity across rural/urban lines.

    7 votes
    1. [3]
      Comment deleted by author
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      1. [2]
        NaraVara
        Link Parent
        No. It’s based on a recognition that we live under a political system that gives rural constituencies an absurdly disproportionate weight in elections at every level to varying extents. If you...

        Your comment seems to draw on this idea in the social consciousness of "the rural city that has been suffering since the factory shut down and outsourced jobs 30 years ago"

        No. It’s based on a recognition that we live under a political system that gives rural constituencies an absurdly disproportionate weight in elections at every level to varying extents. If you can’t organize outside of cities, you can’t affect political change. Period. It’s not a question of ought, it’s a question of is. This is just the fact of our system.

        Liberals tend to be the ones saying things like that more than anyone else.

        Not really. These issues aren’t salient to people because they have no faith in the government, or political engagement really, to meaningfully fix it. You’ve got a chicken and egg problem. They have no faith in politics to solve the problem, so they have no desire to engage with it at all. So you get no power to try and solve the problem. This pitch just doesn’t work.

        2 votes
        1. [2]
          Comment deleted by author
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          1. NaraVara
            Link Parent
            Saying it's "besides the point" is, essentially, saying to give up on it. If you don't hold a line on these things, the line is going to get pushed back by the people hostile to it. You can't...

            What I meant was that liberals are the ones who tend to be saying “give up on abortion” and “give up on gun control” as you mentioned, whereas socialists know these are completely besides the point and instead focus on trying to revitalize that long-lost political interest that's been stamped out thanks to politicians that don't actually care about working-class individuals.

            Saying it's "besides the point" is, essentially, saying to give up on it. If you don't hold a line on these things, the line is going to get pushed back by the people hostile to it. You can't build solidarity with people for whom those are salient issues by minimizing their concerns in favor of your own.

            I don't think it's less of ignoring these rural areas as much as it is that DSA and other related groups likely don't have a strong base from which to start organizing, which makes it incredibly difficult to start.

            Does the reason matter? The fact is, if you want a statewide strategy you need to organize statewide and it doesn't sound like they have a clue how.

            I'm pretty suspicious of thinking you can just raise general class consciousness around this sort of thing because class dynamics aren't as ossified as they were in the 19th century. People tend to have relationships cutting across class lines within their own families, especially outside big cities. The only reason they're firmer in cities is because cities tend to have more immigrants or disadvantaged racial groups who haven't had the time or tools to engage in multi-generational capital accumulation.

            What's more is that people's political opinions aren't fixed and set in stone. They mostly depend on the types of communities they're a part of. If your communities in a rural area all espouse conservative value systems, norms, and framings on issues in the news you're always going to be going uphill when you're trying to reach them. You need an actual strategy for not just engaging rural people, but building communities that attract people and teach/inculcate values consistent with more communitarian ethics.

            Old cities have a lot of legacy institutions that can support these things like community centers, old non-profits and volunteer organizations, etc. Rural areas and newer, more car dependent cities do not. This will strangle any attempts at organizing on the vine.