  I read urlLink this article on Salon this morning and it really just struck a chord in me. Why has middle america, the blue collar workers, the farmers etc gone republican when none of the policies they help the bastards enact benefit them in any way? In the article he says: "Nobody thinks it's strange that Nebraska and Nevada and Arizona and Montana vote for right-wing Republicans in election after election, consumed with tax-cutting fervor and a passion to shrink the government, even though it's the massive federal programs of the 20th century -- dams and aqueducts, agricultural subsidies, public lands thrown open to ranching and mining and lumbering -- that supports those states' economies to this day. " Middle america is so jaded to the politics of economics (and rightfully so) that they base their decisions soley on cultural issues. Anti-abortion, anti-evolution and the like. And the republicans are slimey and perceptive and they mobilize the masses on these issues.
It's easy to point the finger at republicans but the article also takes aim at the Democratic party for its part in this debaucle: "There are two different errors that were made, and both of them have amounted to jettisoning the working class, so that the working class is no longer the central focus of the party. In the McGovern era they described this as the "new politics. " The error of that was apparent at the time, because McGovern went down in flames. The idea was, we'll build a new coalition around students, feminists, environmentalists and so on.
" The author mentions that both John Edwards and Howard Dean talked old-school populist politics early in this election and now John Kerry attempts to echo them but seems insincere. I will vote for Kerry of course. I have no choice. I want someone other than Bush in the white house. But I still have the Howard Dean sticker in the back window of my car. Lots of people have told me to give it up; take it down. I was lazy at first but finally I tried and found that the tape I used had melted to the window or something. I can't get it off. But maybe that's a good thing. 
