General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)Rural living. [View all]
I live rurally, outside a small town. I work about 13 miles away, in an even smaller town. I get to work with no stoplights and 4 stop signs. Most of those miles are on roads cutting through pastures and public land.
I didn't ask a single one of my colleagues or friends who they voted for, although a few did want to talk politics early on. Some were "anybody but Trump." Some voted for Johnson; and some voted for Trump. Reluctantly.
Rural people don't really feel the love from the Democratic Party. I've seen the stereotyping, derision, disdain and discrimination directed at them here at DU, so I certainly understand why they feel that way.
On my way home from work on Tuesday, I stopped at the store. A big storm was headed our way, and I wanted to make sure I was all stocked up. So did everybody else in the local area; we were circling the bumpy sheets of ice in the parking lot trying to find a place to park, mincing over that ice to get into the store, and waiting patiently to find room in the aisles.
I ran into 4 fellow teachers and a whole crew of students, current and former, and their families. We stopped to chat, and eventually moved into the unusually long lines to check out, where we chatted with total strangers and shared stories about our days, predictions for the storm, and generally kept each other company. Nobody was impatient or grumpy; we all just waited together. We didn't talk politics or try to cut people off in line or in the parking lot. We did help each other get safely through the ice to our cars, and we did wait patiently, and stop repeatedly, for pedestrians once we got to them.
It's good that we were there Tuesday night, because the storm that arrived in the wee hours kept a lot of us snowed in for a few days. I made it out today, but not without some effort.
Happily, when I went out to unbury my truck, I saw that my neighbor plowed my driveway. That's important; it's a football field long. He cleared the snow from the gate and plowed all the way down to my truck. We don't have any arrangement; he just does it, because he has a tractor and I don't. He also maintains our private dirt road. For nothing. And when he needed water while his well pump was being repaired, we ran a hose from the hydrant nearest the road on my side to his house. I never asked him about his politics. We're just neighbors.
I drive a 4wd truck. It's only a 4 cylinder, but it handles that long snowy driveway; I've never gotten stuck. It helps keep me from sliding around on icy roads, since I leave before the crews spread gravel them on work days. It hauls feed, it hauls wood, it hauls everything but my horses, which I have to depend on a friend with a bigger truck to do.
I've been criticized over the years here at DU for not driving something greener; of course, if I could afford a 2nd vehicle for when it's not icy or snowy, or I'm not hauling things, I would. But I can't. I've been criticized for not utilizing the non-existent public transit system. Of course, when I drive the 200 miles or so into the big city a few times a year, I park and use public transportation. I love our city's public transit system.
Most of my neighbors own guns. I don't. They hunt. I get venison and elk jerky as holiday gifts. People bring venison and elk stew and smoked salmon to potlucks. I've run into those hunters on the trails during hunting season; they've never shot close to my house, and they've always stopped, gun pointing to the ground, to chat and let me get safely by.
There are all kinds of rural situations that don't fit urban wisdom. Democrats would be wise to see the difference, and to be inclusive. Unfortunately, so many are not. I can't count the number of times I've defended rural people over the years here. More so than ever, in the last month. This area voted Obama in '08. Trump took it this fall. These people are willing to listen, and are not lock-step Republican voters. They can be won by an inclusive party and candidate. Democrats just have to want their support more than they want a scapegoat.