Why does the Farm Belt vote Repuke for president

[Lenape85]

OK, I know today it's family values, but it's been consistently Repuke for the past hundred years.

ND, SD, NE, KS, and OK have not went to a Democrat since LBJ, and even that was a landslide

Eisenhower and Nixon also won that region handily

ND, SD, NE, and KS, were a strip of Dewey Land in the middle of Lake Truman

Those same four states voted against FDR his last two terms.

I know some of those states do have a Democratic/Populist tradition, but it seems they will always vote Puke. I though farmers aligned themselves with the Democratic party, at least way back when.

[stray cat]

1. Tax breaks for farmers and fear of environmental regulations

Kept my farming relatives voting republican

[OhioBlue]

3. I saw the same here

tax breaks and the "death tax". Wish they would see the repugs actually support factory farms not family farms. Wonder if the factory farms put out the trade pubs that spread propaganda on why the repugs are good for farmers.....

[msgadget]

17. And, they're pro-military

[LetsGoMurphys]

18. and if by....

pro military you mean pro killing things, yes. But not pro keeping our troups out of harms way unless its neccessary is anti-military.

[msgadget]

19. Shoulda clarified,

pro-militiary as in its usually the only way outa the boonies!

[orpupilofnature57]

2. Don't know for sure if wicked witch of the east, was really under the house

The power of kkkarl Rove.

[gratuitous]

4. Well, it's not because they're stupid all the way to the bone

Because they keep telling me they're not, as the Republicans keep chipping away at their rights and prosperity.

Seriously, it's an area that should be a natural for the Democrats, but it means rolling up your sleeves and getting out in the area, something that a lot of the DLC beltway types aren't anxious to do. Since the party doesn't see fit to spend any money reaching out to folks in flyover country, they feel pretty neglected by the Democratic party.

We can change that, but it will take some good old-fashioned retail politics.

[no name no slogan]

5. Because the "new" democrats don't give a damn about the rural vote

How many of our recent presidential candidates have stood up to corporate agribusiness? How many of them have taken contribution from corporate agribusiness PACs?

How many of our candidates have stood up to the economically destructive Wal-Marts of the world? How many of them have very close relations with the company (Bill & Hillary, call your office)?

How many of these same candidates have fought against the unfair trade policies of NAFTA and the WTO? How many have supported NAFTA & the WTO, at the expense of our vanishing family farmers?

My in-laws are family farmers in southern MN, and have had little reason to vote for a Democratic president since Walter Mondale. Even our rural congresscritters are in the back pocket of the giant feedlot owners, even the so-called "Democratic" ones.

Instead we get mealy-mouthed 'centrists' talking about how more 'free trade' with countries that have slave-labor economies will somehow 'rescue' rural America from decline.

Our Presidential nominees are out of touch with rural America, and the people who live and work there.

That is why we lose in the rural states.

[gratuitous]

6. All true

But how does that distinguish Democrats from Republicans, for Republicans are also in favor of "free" trade agreements, bigger and more Wal-Marts, and who are every bit as mealy-mouthed as Democrats?

Is it just better PR? Is it Right Wing Radio telling them what to think, while stroking their egos about how independent-minded they are? Is it simply a matter of Democratic neglect? It seems that rural America hasn't fared very well under Republican stewardship. Are they incapable of voting for their own interests or seduced by the siren song of Republican "security"?

[no name no slogan]

10. Go read "What's the Matter With Kansas?"

That book pretty much spells all this out, in very convincing detail.

The so-called "new" Democrats are, for the most part, very liberal on socio-cultural issues, and very pro-corporate/"conservative" on economics.

Most rural voters (even traditional Democrats) are exactly the opposite: they are cultural conservatives who believe that the government needs to exert more control, not less, over runaway corporate greed.

Since rural voters disagree with BOTH the Repubs and Dems on economic issues, they vote on socio-cultural issues. And on those issues, the Repubs are MUCH closer to their beliefs than the big-city 'liberal elitist' "new" Democrats.

[NVMojo]

33. the "flip-flopper" message applied to farming and Kerry ...

clever, clever ...

Bush/Cheney 04

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kevin Madden
July 1, 2004 [phone]

www.GeorgeWBush.com

New Hampshire Farmers Criticize John Kerry’s Latest Political Flip-Flop on the Northeast Dairy Compact

MANCHESTER, NH – Today, in the face of John Kerry’s flipped position on the Northeast Dairy Compact, members of the New Hampshire Bush-Cheney ’04 Agriculture Leadership Team questioned John Kerry’s ability to make decisions which address the concerns of farmers in the state and across the country.

“How can New Hampshire voters trust any decision John Kerry makes when he’s willing to change his position based on what’s politically advantageous? When he needed votes from Massachusetts farmers, John Kerry declared he would fight for the Northeast Dairy Compact. Now that he’s running for another office, he’s made it very apparent that farmers in the Northeast no longer serve his political purposes,” New Hampshire Bush-Cheney ’04 Agriculture Leadership Chair Bruce Scamman said.

“It’s not surprising that while campaigning in the Midwest John Kerry told a different story when addressing the Northeast Dairy Compact. It sends a message that we’re not a political priority and this kind of showmanship isn’t going to help farmers in New Hampshire or anywhere else in the country,” New Hampshire dairy farmer and New Hampshire Bush-Cheney ’04 Agriculture Leadership Co-Chair Scott Mason said.


More....

http://www.politicsnh.com/press_releases/2004/July/7_1nhbush.shtml

[orpupilofnature57]

7. YOU KNOW IT, and adopting that new i.d word, progressive- a. k a

Sycophancy to the shrubs.

[GOPBasher]

15. How many Republicans have done any of that stuff?

Repugs don't do shit for farmers, but they'll keep getting their votes for no reason whatsoever.

[no name no slogan]

26. See post #10

they vote on 'cultural' issues, NOT economic issues.

Both parties have NOT spoken effectively to rural voters about what affects them: growing agribusiness monopolies, destruction of rural economies by powerful corporations, and protecting America's farmers from cheaper foreign imports-- often produced in countries with poor working conditions.

Neither the Dems nor Reps are speaking to their economic concerns, so those issues are off the table. That leaves the divisive socio-cultural issues.

Be they Democrats or Republicans, most rural voters have "traditional" socio-cultural values-- values more closely associated with the Republicans lately. If you don't agree with the economics of either party, then why not vote for the ones who more closely share your other values?

Does that mean the Dems become cultural conservatives? Of course not! It means that the Dems should abandon the pro-corporatist economic policies of the so-called "new Democrats" and return to their pro-worker, populist economic roots.

THAT is how you get back rural voters.

[GOPBasher]

28. I read it, and good points!

[hatrack]

8. God, guns, fags, flags and terror (both Arab and environmental)

That's pretty much all you hear on outstate radio and television come election time.

Rural/farm voters are reliably salivating when the bell rings, so I guess those decades of conditioning are paying off.

[Lenape85]

9. No, I'm talking about in a historical context.

We all know that god, guns, and gays are the big thing over there, but c'mon, the farm belt has been known to be a puke region since Calvin Coolidge (and back then, Republicans were not known for moralism).

[EC]

11. Civil Rights

Blacks being allowed to use the same drinking fountain, sit on buses, go to the same schools etc. There are still alot of people down there really pissed.

[Blue Wally]

12. Not "down there" but "out there"

We are talking the rural midwest. Look at the red-blue county by county map. Most of the red counties out there don't have enough blacks to form a basketball team. Black-white isn't the issue. Farmers are just independent cusses (or think they are) and don't want to buy in to most policies pursued by the left wing of the Democratic Party.

[EC]

13. I'm in Wi

and the rural areas here are mostly filled with bigots and rednecks. Many have families origianally from Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia (which is where my original family is from) and Georgia, the difference that I could see is in the labor movement first, if they fought for fair labor practices ie. unions/ they usually ended up in the cities (factories-mills), if they fought for cheap labor to help on farms and plantations, they ended up in urban areas - still running farms and still looking for cheap labor. I haven't really studied it, but I have thought about it and this is what I've come up with, I feel they latch on to the party that helps repress a segment of people for them to exploit...and now the corporations are getting into the act and breaking unions, etc....

[Wisc Badger]

21. Hi EC I am from Kenosha also

just for your knowledge Kenosha has been a reliable Democratic voting ares since the 1950's and labor is the reason, there were some hum dingier labor disputes in Kenosha in the 20's - 50's.

It's changing some as new people come into the county but still Dem for the most part (save supporting Thompson when he ran for Gov).

I think that you give farmers an unfair shake still the original poster may be right, my maternal grandfather farmed in the SW portion of Wisconsin near Iowa in 20's thru 60's and my dad always said he could not forgive his daughter for marrying a GD Democrat (my dads words).


Any way glad to see another poster from Kenosha, enjoy.;) :bounce:

[EC]

22. I know we've always had allot of industry

here, with AMC, Simmons, Kalvinator, and American Brass etc.and Racine having Johnson Wax and Case - but Chrysler is basically just holding on. While we did have all of these strong union companies we were mostly Dem, Kennedy even came here, do you remember a bar called Chet's Tap(now TG's tap)? Many a Democrat candidate would sneak into town and go there to meet up with the union bosses. But did you happen to look at the poll returns in the paper after the election? Most of the county voted Republican. Different needs between rural and urban I think causes the big divide. I just had the owner of Farmer Brown's here at lunch and we were talking - she thinks she's a Republican, but when she started telling me why, I told her she swallowed a lot of bull and I think she is really a Progressive, I really think the rural people, hunters, fishermen etc. that normally think they are Republican are really Progressives or Greens and don't know it, which makes them closer to Dems than Republicans. It could have something to do with the original parties as people started moving west and just staying with the party of their elders. I don't know, my Grandparents from W. Virginia disowned my Mom because she married a Democrat foreigner (Italian). Anyway, yeah, good to see another Kenoshan.:toast:

[Wisc Badger]

23. Yes I remember Chet's Sports Bar

I did not live all that far away from it me and my high school friend snuck into see Humphrey during the 72 primaries.

I was not aware of the poll you refer to but I do know that the are west of Green Bay Road is trending GOP as is the are west of the I.

I think the reason is mostly the loss of union jobs and the influx of GOP minded people. Consider that the cost of most of the new housing being built (White Caps etc) is beyond the means of most working people I know to afford them.

I know I could not afford a 1k plus a month mortgage.

O8)

[EC]

24. I know several people from Illinois

who originally bought in White Caps, (junk houses ) and moved into the city after hanging with me, because they liked it better, felt more of a community and as soon as that happened, they also started thinking more like Democrats, so now that I think of it, maybe that has something to do with it too. Anyway, still go to Chet's (TG's) for the Hot Beef's- best in town, when the bar was sold, so was the beef recipe...Yum....I can get my Eastside Dark Beer there too....

[cattleman22]

14. Variety of Issues

Private Property rights

Estate taxes: this is especially important as land prices dramatically escalate and most farmers are land rich and cash poor.


Land Zoning. Many counties have made it impossible to sell off small lots. In some counties, the minimum acreage size for a farmer to sell off is 50 acres. Farmers use their land as an emergency fund and as their 401k. These zoning regulations pull the rug right out from underneath farmers.


Gun rights


Environmental regulations: especially ones like the endangered species act in which the land is essentially taken and the farmer is not reimbursed.


The sense of rugged individualism that living in a rural area engenders.

[President Jesus]

16. do not underestimate culture rage

I'm not saying all rural voters feel this way, but i believe enough of them do to make a difference in a 50/50 electorate.

[Skittles]

20. read a rural newspaper

nothing but conservative propanda and lies

[imenja]

25. Dem's have abandoned the economic populism that distinguished them

from Republicans. Without clear alternatives that will help farmers and working people, they vote on cultural values. It's not as irrational as many think.

[Blue Wally]

27. "Born Fighting" by James Webb

Webb was the Secretary of the Navy under Reagan after the John lehman meltdown. In his book, he is not partisan, but attempts to explain the Scot-Irish poor whites of the US and how they evolved over the years. If we consider the true Democratic party to have begun with the presidency of Andrew Jackson, these people are the ones who wrested power away from the Massachusetts brahmins and FFV Virginians. They stayed mostly with the Democratic party and truly united with the Democratic party under FDR. Since 1972, they have stedily drifted away from the party, only partially lured back by Clinton. The book isn't too thick and it is well written. Unless we can win them back, we better lock up 80% of the hispanic vote every time.

[AP]

29. Lakoff would say it's because Republicans appeal to their strict-father

moral values code.

[Cats Against Frist]

30. Anecdote from the Donut Shop in Iowa

Even though I live in the most liberal county in the state, some bumpkins apparently rolled into town to have coffee and doughnuts, on a day I took my son out for a chocolate with sprinkles.

I can tell you why these two farmers, in particular, were voting for Bush, because I overheard their ENTIRE conversation.

They had been completely and totally propagandized by right-wing radio and FOX. All talking points. Anything that ventured outside the "talking points," and they sounded like complete idiots: messing up the history of the Vietnam War, simple geography, the commonly practiced religion in the Middle East (which is called "Islam" and NOT "Arabism"), calling Theresa HK a "Stepford Wife," (because they'd just heard that term and didn't even know that she was actually the OPPOSITE -- they just thought it sounded good), and of course, claiming that a Yale & Harvard Graduate who rubs elbows with Sheiks, is a member of "Skull & Bones" and who has an awful lot of ties to New England society was actually a "down home feller."

Complete and total disinformation? Of course -- why would anyone vote for Bush???

As for why they don't vote for the Democrats: "the democrats are commies." Of course, the Republicans told them that. And, of course, they have no clue what a "commie" is or isn't.

[NVMojo]

31. Farmers reaffirm support for Bush/Cheney

Read the propoganda that the little farmers were fed...

Date: October 11, 2004

Stating that America must continue the course begun by the Bush administration, the California Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors has endorsed President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for re-election.

"George W. Bush and John Kerry have starkly different views on the role of government and what's best for the American people," California Farm Bureau President Bill Pauli said. "President Bush has consistently worked for the good of rural Americans as well as small business owners."

Pauli noted that the president has made economic recovery following the September 11 attacks a high priority. "The president's tax cuts and continuous support of elimination of the death tax have been important to California's farmers and ranchers," he said.

Pauli cited other Bush administration policies that have benefited farmers, ranchers and rural residents.

http://www.cfbf.com/release/2004/pr_10_11_04.cfm

[NVMojo]

32. simple people buy into simple messages ...

did the Kerry campaign go into each farming state and organize farmers and ranchers for Kerry? do a google search on "farmers Bush Cheney" and link after link pops up with reference to campaign segments in the farm belt for Bush campaign 04 ...they really know how to organize their lies ...

Bush-Cheney Campaign: "Got Milk?" (Radio)
10/27/2004

Farmer #1: That John Kerry just doesn’t get it.

Farmer #2: Oh the Packer thing… he said they played in Lambert field…

Farmer #1: No no that was just dumb…

Farmer #2: Hehe… yeah…

Farmer #1: This is stupid…Kerry fought like hell –his words – like hell… to make sure us Wisconsin dairy farmers got paid less than other dairy farmers around the country.

Farmer #2: That’s that Northeast Dairy Compact …

Farmer #1: Yeah the same…I mean it would expand milk compacts to other parts of the country. Well there isn’t one dairy farmer in Wisconsin who hasn’t been hurt by John Kerry’s dairy policy.

Farmer #2: I know how he wants us to believe he’s on our side.

Farmer #1: Kerry must think we’re morons…

Farmer #2: You’re voting Bush…

Farmer #1: You bet…

Farmer #2: Yeah

Farmer # 1: Bush signed the farm bill that made sure Kerry’s dairy compact died…

Farmer #2: Right…

Farmer #1: Bush replaced the compact with a fair price support program…

Farmer #2: And that worked out OK…

Farmer #1: Well the Wisconsin Farm Bureau endorsed President Bush. He’s on our side.

Farmer # 2: He gets it… that simple…

President Bush: I’m President Bush and I approve this message.

Voiceover: Paid for by Bush-Cheney ’04, Inc.

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=26299