Fayetteville has long been considered a Democratic stronghold in Northwest Arkansas, despite some indications over the years that conservative insurgents have taken foothold in the community.
Actually, I think that Fayetteville is more liberal than Democratic, given the rising popularity of the Green Party in Northwest Arkansas, and the fact that the Dems don’t seem to know how to reach out to a lot of folks.
Which folks? Working class folks, the ones who don’t already belong to a union, say, but are the natural breeding ground, as it were, for the Democratic Party. Any working class person. You know, you folks you won’t find at wine-and-cheese get togethers, where everybody knows everybody else.
The ones who live in trailer parks, or ratty apartments.
Single mothers struggling to make ends meet. We’ve got oodles and gobs of them in Northwest Arkansas.
Wal-Mart associates. The people who work in gas stations, convenience stores and restaurants.
All of these folks have far more reason to be Democratic than Republican, but you just sort of take their vote for granted, without even hitting the streets.
Or, in a bit of twisted insanity, I have heard it expressed that these folks are gonna vote Republican anyway, so why even bother?
Hell, go down to a Green Party meeting and find out why they aren’t voting Democratic anymore.
When was the last time the Democratic Party was a presence on Fayetteville’s newly-castrated public access station (castrated by good liberals, by the way. Remember when folks from all over Northwest Arkansas could use the station? Liberals from all over Northwest Arkansas? ) and reached out to folks?
When was the last time the Democratic Party of Northwest Arkansas stepped outside its comfort zone and really tried to convert anyone? To persuade? To listen?
But no, the Democratic Party in Northwest Arkansas seems to be saying that they are no longer up to the job, that they are simply incapable of winning the war of ideas outside the city limits of Fayetteville.
They aren’t even going to try anymore.
But by going along with the plan to move Fayetteville out of its long-time place in the Third District, and moving into the Fourth District, the Democratic Party of Northwest Arkansas is also abandoning the rest of the Democrats in Northwest Arkansas, showering them with undeserved contempt for all the years they have stayed by their party.
Well, I doubt the Green Party will be as lazy as the Democratic Party has been, when it comes time to try to win the support of those folks.
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Quote of the Day
A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew. – Herb Caen
rsdrake@cox.net