The Jaker

Mostly rational politics, with occasional rants about how a few crazy Republicans are ruining the country.


Support The Jaker


Friday, November 12, 2004
Carson's Take
Brad Carson, the Democrat who ran for and nearly won the Senate seat in Oklahoma, wrote a really inciteful piece on The New Republic. If you're not registered at TNR, you can read it here. An excerpt:
For the vast majority of Oklahomans--and, I would suspect, voters in other red states--these transcendent cultural concerns are more important than universal health care or raising the minimum wage or preserving farm subsidies. Pace Thomas Frank, the voters aren't deluded or uneducated. They simply reject the notion that material concerns are more real than spiritual or cultural ones. The political left has always had a hard time understanding this, preferring to believe that the masses are enthralled by a "false consciousness" or Fox News or whatever today's excuse might be. But the truth is quite simple: Most voters in a state like Oklahoma--and I venture to say most other Southern and Midwestern states--reject the general direction of American culture and celebrate the political party that promises to reform or revise it.

Not sure what to make of this argument. Like Chris Bowers at MyDD, I basically see it as a tragedy that these people have these beliefs, and so strongly. We really are two different countries. No matter what we do to pander and get votes and hopefully win, the real battle is, if we believe our views are right, to spread them and to convince the people described in that article. It is a monumental task that could very well take decades.

posted by CB @ 11:30 AM  
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home
 


Recent Posts
Archives
Contact Me
Email me
Template by

Free Blogger Templates

BLOGGER