#1495 No One Supports the Economic Interests of Rural America
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2022
⏱️ 63 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 6/11/2022
Today we take a look at the reasons why Democrats lost rural America and why it's important to make gains outside urban centers through working-class coalitions and a focus on the policy failures of unchecked Republicanism.
Be part of the show! Leave us a message at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com
BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content)
Get 3 Months free of ExpressVPN!
Check out the American Prestige podcast!
SHOW NOTES
Democrats used to win elections in rural areas, but that seems like a distant memory now. This week, Zach is joined by Bill Hogseth, a political organizer from rural Wisconsin, to talk about the difference between making promises and delivering change
Ch. 2: Can Democrats Win in Rural America? - Deconstructed - Air Date 6-4-22
Maine state Sen. Chloe Maxmin tackles one of the most pressing problems confronting the modern Democratic Party: how to reverse its decades-long backslide in rural support. Maxmin and her co-author and campaign manager Canyon Woodward join Ryan Grim
Ch. 3: How Democrats Lost Rural America w/ Anthony Flaccavento Part 1 - Jacobin Radio - Air Date 3-24-22
Anthony Flaccavento, Virginia-based farmer, author, and co-founder of the Rural-Urban Bridge Initiative, joins the Jacobin Show to discuss rural America—and why the Democrats lose so consistently in rural elections.
Ch. 4: Joe Shepherd of United Rural Democrats - The Rick Smith Show - Air Date 5-9-22
By working people. For working people. Welcome to The Rick Smith Show.
Ch. 5: How Democrats Lost Rural America w/ Anthony Flaccavento Part 2 - Jacobin Radio - Air Date 3-24-22
Anthony Flaccavento, Virginia-based farmer, author, and co-founder of the Rural-Urban Bridge Initiative, joins the Jacobin Show to discuss rural America—and why the Democrats lose so consistently in rural elections.
Former OHIO Democratic party chair David Pepper On Why We Need to Focus on State Capitols to Save Democracy, and why we all need to do our part to lift it up.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
On Reality Asserts Itself, Thomas Frank, author of “What’s the Matter with Kansas” and “Listen, Liberal”, tells host Paul Jay that the Democratic Party serves the professional class and the top 10% and no longer cares about the poor or working class.
Ch. 8: The New Democrats w/ Lily Geismer - The Dig - Air Date 6-5-22
Dan’s second episode with historian Lily Geismer, who he interviewed in 2019 about Don’t Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. This interview is on Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 9: Final comments on the ignoring the middle class and poor open the door to right-wing populism of the worst sort
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Photo of a blue, dented, and rusted mailbox on a spike leaning against an old wooden fence. Its flag is down, indicating no mail. Thick, golden tall grass grows behind it against a blue sky.
Credit: "Rural America" by Kris Notaro, Flickr | License CC by 2.0 | Changes: Cropped, slight increase in brightness and saturation
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of The Award-winning Best of Left Podcast, in which we shall |
| 0:06.9 | take a look at the reasons why Democrats lost rural America and why it's important to |
| 0:11.8 | make gains outside urban centers through working-class coalitions and a focus on the policy |
| 0:17.1 | failures of unchecked republicanism. |
| 0:20.0 | Clips today are from Pitchfork Economics, Deconstructed, Jacobin Radio, The Rick Smith Show, |
| 0:27.1 | the Tennessee Holler Podcast with additional members, only clips from The Real News and The |
| 0:33.3 | Dig. |
| 0:39.8 | I'd like to go down this politics road a little bit more. |
| 0:42.4 | One of the things that you said in the piece is you talked about your dedication to good |
| 0:46.1 | organizing. |
| 0:47.1 | It really writ large. |
| 0:48.6 | The party has done a lot of organizing. |
| 0:52.5 | There's real commitment to organizing Wisconsin. |
| 0:57.7 | I think Barack Obama famously made a lot of organizing commitments across the country, |
| 1:00.2 | especially in 2008. |
| 1:02.8 | There is kind of a resurgence of organizing that's been going on. |
| 1:06.6 | But it wasn't enough to win Dunn County and you point that out. |
| 1:09.8 | Can you talk a little bit about your perspective on the limits of organizing or maybe better |
| 1:16.2 | put, what is the positives and benefits of organizing? |
| 1:19.6 | I don't think we want to disparage it, but there are limits to it, right? |
| 1:23.3 | Because even after all that great work, it wasn't enough. |
| 1:27.3 | Yeah. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jay Tomlinson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jay Tomlinson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.