Blue vs. Red; urban vs rural

 In Minnesota, the Democratic Party is called the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, but you probably knew that. What’s interesting is that farmers tend to vote Republican, while Labor leans Democratic, but not as much as  farmers lean Republican. [source] In the 2020 election, most of Minnesota’s counties voted Republican while Democrats are concentrated in urban areas. [source] Representative government, as I understand it, is supposed to represent people, not acreage, The principle is one person, one vote, right? Yes, there is an exception in the US Senate, but other than that, not so much.

Republicans claim to be opposed to socialism, but farmers are heavily dependent on government for subsidies that enable them to farm at a profit. Labor hasn’t seen an increase in the Federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour since 2009. President Obama and the Democrats "had “total control” of the Senate from September 24, 2009 until February 4, 2010. A grand total of 4 months.” [source] President Biden is faced with a couple of senators who are often Democrats In Name Only, and has to rely on the Vice President’s vote to have a majority vote in a Senate that, by its own rules, requires 60 votes to close debate on a piece of legislation.

I voted

Photo by J. Harrington

Meanwhile, at the national level, the Democratic National Committee and similar organizations seem more concerned about keeping the progressives in their place than in building grassroots support among labor or farmers. That’s one of the major reasons I can’t find it in my heart to support mainstream Democratic Party funding requests. I lean heavily toward the progressive end of the political spectrum, but I also live in an exurban/rural location in a metropolitan area and can confirm the DFL is in a minority, but, with “Farmer” as a constituency, don’t believe it has to stay a minority.

Democrats in Minnesota often win statewide races, but the legislature tends to be divided as often as not. Republican state senators are more representative of acres than people, similar to the pattern  at the national level. My  experience has been that the DFL focuses on sure things and hasn’t seemed willing to fight for every possible vote in close districts. That may well prove to be a losing strategy if the signs of disenchantment I’ve been seeing among progressive voters is an indication of how the midterms may play out.

But, you may well ask, aren’t we all better off if we vote Blue instead of Red? That question reminds me of the story about the local gambler who, when  asked why he  played every Friday night in a game known to be crooked, replied that it’s the only game in town. Would he and his family be better off if he found another hobby and a different way to spend Friday nights? Maybe it’s time to find out.

Politics

By William Meredith

Tonight Hazard’s father and stepmother are having

jazz for McGovern. In the old game-room

the old liberals listen as the quintet builds

crazy houses out of skin and brass, crumbling

the house of decorum, everybody likes that.

For decades they have paid for the refurbishing

of America and they have not got their money’s worth.

Now they listen, hopeful,

to the hard rock for McGovern.

The ceiling in this palace needs fixing,

the chalky blue paint is like an old heaven

but there are holes and flaking.

They had movies here when grandpa was solvent.

Hazard desires his wife, the way people

on the trains to the death camps were seized

by irrational lust. She is the youngest woman

in the room, he would like to be in bed

with her now, he would like to be president.

He has not been to his studio

in four days, he asks the bartender,

a college boy with a ponytail, for more gin.

He stands in the doorway. Forsythia and lilac

have overgrown the porch, there is the rich

smell of wood-rot. What twenty years will do

to untended shrubbery and America and Hazard.

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