I live in a town of less than 130 people, and sit as an elected official on my village board (city council). I also have the dubious distinction of being the only elected Democrat in my county.
I have a very prominent Sanders sign in my yard, as I caucused for Mr. Sanders in the Nebraska Caucuses. Before anyone jumps on me, I have noted in the past that come Election Day, should Mrs. Clinton win the Democratic nomination, she will have my full support. I have absolutely no desire to see a Cruz, Trump, Kasich, or smuggled in Republican nominee be elected.
I’ve noted to others when there is a discussion in the General Election that you do not have a choice between the lesser of two evils. (My wife long held this opinion before she met me, though when she was in the Libertarian Party she would often joke that she supported Cthulu as the greater of two evils.)
The choice is often between bad and someone whose policies or positions might not align completely with your own, but is willing to listen to his or her constituents to come to a reasoned position. Perfect is the enemy of good, and I will take a less-than-perfect candidate in a Nebraska minute over one that is universally bad.
So my wife flipped gradually from the Libertarians to the Democrats.
Another person in town called me the other day. He has abandoned his support for Mr. Donald Trump.
I have been working on him for a month or so; as he is a Vietnam veteran I figured I would have at least a little traction as a disabled veteran myself. (Also, as my father was killed in Vietnam, he is well-aware of my positions on veterans and military affairs in general. On a side note, he has thanked me for volunteering for the village flag committee chairmanship, which involves ensuring the flag is position correctly for holidays and proclamations, as well as maintaining the village flagstaffs and working with the cemetery for Memorial Day for decorations. Originally he thought it odd a liberal lefty hippie wannabee would be interested in that.)
I’ve (gently) pointed out the positions of each of the candidates in both parties on such things as veterans affairs and support (real, not imagined) of the military. A couple days ago, he called me at home to tell me that he’d reconsidered his support for the Republicans. Having spurred him to do some investigation besides FOX News Channel, he’d come to the realisation that there really are no policies that the Republicans are advancing other than creating more disabled veterans. He tells me that though he is concerned about Mrs. Clinton coming for his hunting rifles should she win, he sees the Democratic candidates as more sane on military policy. (I will work on him about Mrs. Clinton coming for his hunting rifles; she is no more likely to do that than President Obama did.)
There is a single woman here in town with a couple children that had a Trump sign in her yard. (Hers was the only other campaign sign besides my own honking huge Sanders sign that faces the park and church across the street from my house). My wife has been talking with her (as she was the village librarian until recently; she knows every person in town), asking her, “Well, what is it that Mr. Trump proposes to help you with your situation? What are the other Republican candidates proposing?”
The key is not to run down the other candidates (Candidate X is a dingbat for proposing policy position Y). The key is to get the voter to think about policy position Y and why it might not be the greatest idea under the sun; let that person decide the position is a dingbat position. Maybe one conversation won’t do it, but it will plant a seed. A seed of doubt is sometimes all it takes.
Getting her to think about this, rather than reflexively supporting Mr. Trump because of some vague promise to build a giant wall or block people of an unfamiliar religious faith from entering the country, took my wife some time, but bore some fruit this week. The Trump sign came down from her yard. Is she going to jump on Mr. Sander’s or Mrs. Clinton’s campaigns? Don’t know. Do know she is no longer a supporter of Mr. Trump.
I certainly don’t want to prevent someone from supporting or voting for Mr. Trump (or Mr. Cruz, or Mr. Kasich, or any candidate on the right). What I do want is for them to think about why that candidate is their candidate. How does that candidate actually help them?
There has been a lot of (mostly spun up by news outlets or people) guff allegedly said by Mr. Sander’s supporters such things as “Well, winning Dixie states by Mrs. Clinton doesn’t matter, because Democrats can’t carry Dixie anyway” — and the same in reverse for Mr. Sanders carrying states like my own, or Wyoming just up the road from me. An awful lot of that seems to me either the press looking to create a horserace, or individual passionate supporters that sometimes go a bit too far in creating a narrative for their candidate.
I am a realist here: I am aware Mr. Sanders has a tough row to hoe to win the Democratic nomination, but I am not about to make some claim that votes for Mrs. Clinton in Alabama or Georgia don’t mean anything. They mean a lot.
The truth of the matter is every vote should matter. The Democrats should be competing for every vote in every state. There is no reason that every single state should not be in play, or at least in competition. That also goes for offices, whether a town, a township, a school board, or a state legislature. I would rather see a flawed candidate run than no candidate run. Flaws can be fixed. (This is a suggestion to the dear reader: If no one is running for a school board or city council seat, you should step up to the plate. Don’t wait for someone else who is the “perfect candidate”: Perfect is the enemy of good. Do it. Do it now.)
I live in a deeply conservative and Republican-leaning village, yet have been elected twice now to my village board (city council). Things that have been politicised to drive people to the polls to vote for Republicans (abortion rights, climate change, marriage equality, put right-wing pet hobby horse here) can be overcome, even with a right-wing talking point I have adopted for certain discussions.
For me, that talking point is “government overreach.” If you can get a person to think about the government inserting itself into your medical decisions, into your marriage, into your bathroom habits, into scientific discussion of climate (important to farmers and ranchers here), or something else, you have created a wedge through which reason can drive a FOX viewer or right-wing radio listener away from what they are told to believe or how the world “must be.” The more time you spend with one person, the deeper that wedge goes.
If the country is such a Dumpster fire as Republicans claim, why are they spending time on bathroom laws and marriages? That is a worthwhile question to ask your conservative neighbour.
It will take time. Something worth doing is worth spending the time on.
I have heard it said that conservatives have no empathy unless a situation affects them personally, but I have found that does not seem to be true. What I have found is many have been so beaten into thinking a certain way that they appear not to have empathy for others. When a person’s empathy is brought out by discussion with them, they can more easily see how what a candidate for office might say will hurt others.
Shoot, if you are willing to spend enough time on it, even in a little conservative village where you have negatives that should have you run out of town on a rail like I do can get be turned upside-down and get you elected.
A person who only moved here four years ago, who is an open atheist, a liberal democratic socialist, with a sister who is married to a Wymyn in hippie leftie California, with hair down to his waist, managed to beat a gun shop owner to take his seat on a rural, red state city council. I am now busily working on getting people in my town to consider, one at a time, that Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Sanders (and President Obama) are not what they have been told. One by one, they are willing to consider other ideas, and that makes it worth doing.
Maybe in the end it is a losing battle; maybe I am not convincing enough. But I will try, and continue to try, as long as I can. I do not care for the alternative vision of our nation shown by the current crop of candidates from the Republicans.