A couple of years ago there was an editorial in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about how Democrats in the state were not paying attention to rural issues.
The article listed out (this is by memory so I may be wrong), closing health care facilities, job development in rural areas, getting workers for rural jobs, education opportunities and telecommunications (rural internet).
Because I had been doing some research I knew that Democrats had actually proposed bills on expanding medicaid, which would help rural health care, expanding access for business developement loans in both urban low income and rural areas, increased funding for low income school districts (which included most rural and urban districts) as well as increasing needs based funding for colleges. There was also a bill encouraging the Federal government to increase rural work visas for agriculture. And funding for the expansion of rural telecom expansion.
Every single one of the issues that there was a complaint about, had had one or more bills at the state level proposed by Dem legislators. Most didn't get real hearings or votes but a couple were passed and then vetoed by the republican governor.
None of that was in the editorial of course. But for those that paid attention, there had been active attention to rural issues by Democrats (in Georgia) because they were trying to expand their statewide appeal. But media largely was ignoring that outreach and rural voters themselves were largely unaware of the bills that were being proposed by Dems to address their needs and were being blocked by GOP legislators or GOP governor.
One of your best posts. I'm looking forward to reading Schaller and Waldman's book.
I don't know if there's an encyclopedic name in rhetoric for this phenomenon, but if not then there should be: When a study reveals enough to the practitioners to prompt them toward some speculative generalizations--only operating candidly at the hypothetical rather than asserting that they're establishing a theory--easy accusations of stereotyping, condescension, or dismissal can tend to monopolize the responses. If a demographic is being examined, then the exceptions to that demographic can become a vocal minority who sabotage the study's credibility by claiming to represent an undocumented silent majority. There's a taste-driven tendency to the rebuttals, especially when they aren't going toe-to-toe with the original study's stats or analysis. "I don't like what you said about my region, so it's wrong," or, "You don't get to say that. Only we get to say that." Root for the home team is poison to a sound debate, and I think country mice and city mice have been at each other for too long over too little. Economic stratification, for instance, is a problem faced by about 90% of the nation and celebrated by the other 10%, with about 1% of the celebrants literally preparing to live in outer space.
This is great, and I plan to order this book. Curious: Did you ever read Tex Sample's book from 2018, "Working Class Rage, a Field Study?" Sample, a UM professor, has written often about rural Americans and spirituality.
A couple of years ago there was an editorial in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about how Democrats in the state were not paying attention to rural issues.
The article listed out (this is by memory so I may be wrong), closing health care facilities, job development in rural areas, getting workers for rural jobs, education opportunities and telecommunications (rural internet).
Because I had been doing some research I knew that Democrats had actually proposed bills on expanding medicaid, which would help rural health care, expanding access for business developement loans in both urban low income and rural areas, increased funding for low income school districts (which included most rural and urban districts) as well as increasing needs based funding for colleges. There was also a bill encouraging the Federal government to increase rural work visas for agriculture. And funding for the expansion of rural telecom expansion.
Every single one of the issues that there was a complaint about, had had one or more bills at the state level proposed by Dem legislators. Most didn't get real hearings or votes but a couple were passed and then vetoed by the republican governor.
None of that was in the editorial of course. But for those that paid attention, there had been active attention to rural issues by Democrats (in Georgia) because they were trying to expand their statewide appeal. But media largely was ignoring that outreach and rural voters themselves were largely unaware of the bills that were being proposed by Dems to address their needs and were being blocked by GOP legislators or GOP governor.
One of your best posts. I'm looking forward to reading Schaller and Waldman's book.
I don't know if there's an encyclopedic name in rhetoric for this phenomenon, but if not then there should be: When a study reveals enough to the practitioners to prompt them toward some speculative generalizations--only operating candidly at the hypothetical rather than asserting that they're establishing a theory--easy accusations of stereotyping, condescension, or dismissal can tend to monopolize the responses. If a demographic is being examined, then the exceptions to that demographic can become a vocal minority who sabotage the study's credibility by claiming to represent an undocumented silent majority. There's a taste-driven tendency to the rebuttals, especially when they aren't going toe-to-toe with the original study's stats or analysis. "I don't like what you said about my region, so it's wrong," or, "You don't get to say that. Only we get to say that." Root for the home team is poison to a sound debate, and I think country mice and city mice have been at each other for too long over too little. Economic stratification, for instance, is a problem faced by about 90% of the nation and celebrated by the other 10%, with about 1% of the celebrants literally preparing to live in outer space.
This is great, and I plan to order this book. Curious: Did you ever read Tex Sample's book from 2018, "Working Class Rage, a Field Study?" Sample, a UM professor, has written often about rural Americans and spirituality.