Brad Carson on the culture war

Bard Carson wrote an article recently in The New Republic about why he lost. He basically says that in the red states it is a clash with modernity. They hold their values so strongly that their spiritual lives are much more important than any material thing like health care or the minimum wage.

For the vast majority of Oklahomans--and, I would suspect, voters in other red states--these transcendent cultural concerns are more important than universal health care or raising the minimum wage or preserving farm subsidies. Pace Thomas Frank, the voters aren't deluded or uneducated. They simply reject the notion that material concerns are more real than spiritual or cultural ones. The political left has always had a hard time understanding this, preferring to believe that the masses are enthralled by a "false consciousness" or Fox News or whatever today's excuse might be. But the truth is quite simple: Most voters in a state like Oklahoma--and I venture to say most other Southern and Midwestern states--reject the general direction of American culture and celebrate the political party that promises to reform or revise it.

Their religous leaders are conning them by saying "Vote righteously!". Our job is to learn how to educate the voters on how unrighteous Republicans are. We know they are. We just need to find out how to frame it.

Remember, Democrats won seats if not control of legislatures in Colorado and Montana. We have Governors in Virgina and Montana and other red states. All is not lost, we just need to learn how to address the convertable. Obviously they see something that appeals to them in the Democratic party to elect these people. Maybe it is that they realize that the Republicans are not righteous or Democrats are the worse of two evils. In any case we need to find that issue and drive a wedge in there and separate the voters from the Republicans. It will probably be different depending on the state, but it is doable.