[iamnothere]

If you look at a precinct-level map of election results you’ll see speckles of blue everywhere, as well as areas that were narrowly split. Those speckles represent real communities with people living in them. You can’t just write them off.

There’s also small towns or clusters of homes in the middle of nowhere where most of the residents disagree from the communities surrounding them. They don’t necessarily have enough votes to make a dent, but they also exist.

Assuming people’s politics or worth based on where they live leads to unpleasant outcomes.

[raw_anon_1111]

Whose writing them off? I have repeatedly said that I have no issues with taxpayer funded assistance on the federal and tax level. But you can’t help people who are more interested in “owning the libs” and “fighting wokism”.

[iamnothere]

I was more responding to the notion that rural = Republican and therefore bad/hopeless. I think it’s a mischaracterization that needs to die before we can make real progress towards reform in this country.

Rural people face different challenges than urban people, although there’s some overlap. Finding agreement on the overlap—while attempting to solve the unique urban and rural problems in parallel—would be more effective than the tug of war that we have now. US politics has developed a winner-take-all attitude that’s clearly not working.

[raw_anon_1111]

So exactly how am I as a Black man suppose to find “overlap” with people who deify Charlie Kirk and claim the only reason I got ahead was “DEI”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/charlie-kirk...

Even though I’ve been coding as a hobby or professionally for 40 years - and have done my bid in BigTech?

How is a gay/trans person suppose to find common ground with someone who literally thinks the country is going to be consumed in fire just because it’s legal for them to get married?

How is Latin American going to find common ground with someone who thinks they are taking their jobs, at the same time are not working getting welfare and lowering test scores and keeping them from affording housing? Oh yeah abs it’s only because of H1B visas that rural American can’t get one of them good tech jobs.

The only reason they are opposed to “socialist” programs is because there is an off chance that someone who doesn’t look like them might benefit.

Oh and by the way, I had a house built in Forsyth county and lived there for 6 years and moved to Florida and downsized when I knew I would be working remotely and after my youngest graduated. Yeah this Forsyth County.

https://youtu.be/WErjPmFulQ0?si=MVrJUwjZ2DfonHjw

Those folks haven’t gone anywhere. They have been overrun by more of the Romney/Bush type conservatives moving in.

You still see in Facebook groups where they are opposed to a Hindu temple nearby. But not opposed to a large church.

Myself, my wife, my (step)son and his (white) fiance still get disapproving looks there (where my son still lives) that we don’t get when they visited us in Orlando.

It’s not about a difference of “needs”. Yet I as a decently well off tech person continuously vote for policies that would help them and not me.

They are fundamentally opposed to a governmental system that works for everyone.

[iamnothere]

Do you think those Hindus building the temple in the middle of nowhere are voting Republican? What about Hispanic farmers who are getting harassed due to their ethnicity? What about rural LGBT people? It certainly sounds like you have some common ground with these people.

There’s rural people of all backgrounds (including straight white folk) who feel that the system has failed them and there’s no point in voting. Roughly 40% of eligible people don’t vote. That’s a lot of votes.

Lumping in a potential constituency with your opponent is a loser’s game. It just turns away and demoralizes potential allies.

[raw_anon_1111]

Because of the electoral college unless you are in a battleground state. It doesn’t matter if you vote on the Presidential election. If I lived in Mississippi would it really make a difference if I voted Democratic for President? We have seen twice in my lifetime where the popular vote was different than who got elected.

You could say the same for the heavily gerrymandered house districts.

An ally in Forsyth county or Mississippi doesn’t help.

[iamnothere]

So because those voters won’t be able to help you, even though they want to, you feel justified in lumping them in with your opponents or pretending they don’t exist? Aren’t their lives hard enough as it is? Don’t you think they could help in other ways, like fundraising or volunteering?

It’s a mistake, in my opinion, just as it’s a mistake to ignore that non-swing states can and have flipped unexpectedly.