A New book about “The Threat to American Democracy”
A new book by Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman is getting a lot of press
The book’s description on Amazon is as follows:
White rural voters hold the greatest electoral sway of any demographic group in the United States, yet rural communities suffer from poor healthcare access, failing infrastructure, and severe manufacturing and farming job losses.
Rural voters believe our nation has betrayed them, and to some degree, they’re right. In White Rural Rage, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman explore why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and why, as a result, they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions.
Their rage—stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media—now poses an existential threat to the United States.
Schaller and Waldman show how vulnerable U.S. democracy has become to rural Whites who, despite legitimate grievances, are increasingly inclined to hold racist and xenophobic beliefs, to believe in conspiracy theories, to accept violence as a legitimate course of political action, and to exhibit antidemocratic tendencies.
Rural White Americans’ attitude might best be described as “I love my country, but not our country,” Schaller and Waldman argue. This phenomenon is the patriot paradox of rural America: The citizens who take such pride in their patriotism are also the least likely to defend core American principles.
And by stoking rural Whites’ anger rather than addressing the hard problems they face, conservative politicians and talking heads create a feedback loop of resentments that are undermining American democracy.
What caught my eye is the title: White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy.
It’s notable that such a frankly racist, condescending, and scapegoating title is now perfectly acceptable in New York (Random House) publishing circles.
Imagine the same acquiring editor’s reaction if he received book proposals with the following similarly bigoted titles:
White Urban Smugness: The Threat to American Masculinity
Black Urban Rage: The Threat to American Public Safety
Female Emotional Lability: The Threat to American Domestic Tranquility
The acquiring editor would think the submitting author is insane.
While White Rural Rage purports to examine the causes of distress and discontent among rural whites.
The title all but guarantees that no one from this cohort will want to read it.
See more here substack.com
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John Thomas Bakkila
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America is not a democracy.
It never was and never will be.
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Terry Shipman
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Fortunately the Founding Fathers understood this. They understood that democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what’s for lunch. But in a constitutional republic the lamb has constitutional rights the majority can’t violate. The latter is what the Founding Fathers established for us. Of course it doesn’t always work out that way. Witness DEI and affirmative action as examples. The promise of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment isn’t always realized. That’s why conservatives are upset these days.
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Carbon Bigfoot
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Their rage—stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media—now poses an existential threat to the United States.
No it doesn’t. It is an existential threat to the Swamp Creatures and the dream of a one party system by the Demo-Rats.
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aaron
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do you believe the Republicans do not want a one party system?
besides, there is already a one party system in place, hence why nothing really changes in the puppet show
good cop/bad cop, cant have one without the other
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Carbon Bigfoot
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Aaron I said Swamp Creatures without distinguishing the affiliation. The dream is that of the Demo-Rats. We are in the process of eliminating the weak kneed RINO Republicans that go along to get a long.
If that doesn’t work, then the baby needs to be thrown out with the bath water.
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Scott Lohr
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As always, communist liberal authors projecting again. I see no, zero, conservative rual cities in flames like the communist BLM and ANTIFA mobs. Sadly people will buy this tripe and give it legitimacy. Sad…this isn’t going to end well.
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Kent
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ITM! As the Dutch say, “Wat je zegt ben jezelf, met je kop door de helft” or “you are what you say others are. . “
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