Weekend reading - rural Wisconsin Dems and rural Wisconsin economies

A very good column from a Wisconsinite made the rounds in Politico, as Dunn County Dem Chair Bill Hogsett talked about how rural Dems were fired up to get Trump out, but were outnumbered by Trump’s voters in their communities.

Before Covid-19 hit, we held house meetings across the county, gathering residents in living rooms or around dining room tables to share stories about why the election was personal to them. When the pandemic came, we rented billboards, and our volunteers assembled along bridges holding up signs that read “V-O-T-E D-E-M-O-C-R-A-T.” We built a deep canvassing program to engage infrequent voters with phone conversations that focused on their personal experiences and values. My excitement grew as I witnessed more and more people who had never been involved in political organizing stepping forward.

Yet, good organizing was not enough to win Dunn County. In November, Trump voters turned out in force, even stronger than they had in 2016. Despite all the work we did as Democrats, there were more Trump yard signs than four years ago; more flags in support of the president flew from more flagpoles and pickup trucks. It wasn’t just Dunn County. Roughly two-thirds of rural voters across the country cast their ballots for Trump. Any election results map you look at offers a bleak visualization of the political divide between rural and urban voters: a sea of red dotted with islands of blue.

In fact, while Biden was able to take the overall state vote away from Trump, the Republican maintained and in some cases widened his 2016 margins in many parts of the state.

Some of the pro-Trump result in Dunn County can be explained by more UW-Stout students living at their parents’ homes due to COVID-19 ( as I've noted, Dunn County had one of the lowest increases in turnout in Wisconsin, like a lot of college-town counties did). But Hogseth's point is correct - much of Wisconsin was still Trump Country in 2020, and Dunn County continues to be entirely represented by Republicans in the State Legislature.

Hogseth says the best way for Dems to gain back the votes of rural people is through bread-and-butter economic issues, and fighting against oligarchs who continue to gain while small-town America continues to struggle.

Why did Trump do so well with rural voters? From my experience, it’s not because local Democrats failed to organize in rural areas. Instead, after conversations with dozens of voters, neighbors, friends and family members in Dunn County, I’ve come to believe it is because the national Democratic Party has not offered rural voters a clear vision that speaks to their lived experiences. The pain and struggle in my community is real, yet rural people do not feel it is taken seriously by the Democratic Party....

For Democrats to start telling a story that resonates, they need to show a willingness to fight for rural people, and not just by proposing a “rural plan” or showing up on a farm for a photo op. Rural people understand economic power and the grip it has on lawmakers. We know reform won’t be easy. A big step forward for Democrats would be to champion antitrust enforcement and challenge the anticompetitive practices of the gigantic agribusiness firms that squeeze our communities. In his rural plan, Biden pledged to “strengthen antitrust enforcement,” but the term doesn’t appear until the 35th bullet point. For rural voters, antitrust enforcement is a top priority, and it should be coupled with policies to manage oversupply in commodity markets, so farmers can get a fair price. Another step forward would be an ambitious federal plan, in the spirit of the New Deal’s Rural Electrification Act, to bring high-speed internet to every corner of America.

Interestingly, the need for investment in high-speed internet is being echoed from the Wisconsin right. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce released their "Revitalizing Rural Wisconsin" analysis this week, and they admit that the lack of broadband in small-town Wisconsin is an economic barrier.

High-quality, high-speed internet service is critical to rural businesses large and small, farmers, at-home and remote workers, students and retirees. Young people are not attracted to places without strong connectivity. The pandemic, and the rise in remote work, has increased the requirement for good broadband service for a community to be a viable location to work or live..

By this definition and using FCC data, an October 2019 report by the Congressional Research Service indicates that there is nearly a 25 percentage point gap between urban and rural areas of America in terms of the population’s access to “fixed terrestrial broadband” meeting the minimum speed threshold.

Of course, WMC goes on to say there is "no single technology solution" to get broadband in all corners of the state, which conveniently ignores that the WMC-supported Scott Walker gave back $23 million that the Obama Administration earmarked for rural broadband 9 years ago. And if we treated broadband as infrastructure instead of a commodity, and invested in it like we do roads, maybe those barriers to rural development would come down.

But where would the profit be in that? So the oligarchs at WMC don't go for it. WMC also goes against Hogsett's ideas by asking for more giveaways to businesses and government-paid training grants for businesses, while giving nothing to the rural workers whose opportunities and quality of life continues to decline.

Adopt Tax and Regulatory Policies That Support Business
Rural Wisconsin businesses are competing with similar businesses across the country and around the world. The tax and regulatory environment impacts business viability. Keeping tax burden low and regulations simple and predictable improves a company’s ability to operate in rural communities. State and local policy makers must keep the impact on legacy industries in mind as they consider tax policies and new regulatory schemes.

Improve Manufacturing Workforce Training
Finding enough manufacturing workers is a challenge for many rural companies. The state has recognized this need and has responded with workforce development programs such as the Fast Forward grant program and increased investments in apprenticeship. Those efforts must continue and be improved upon going forward to make sure employers are able to fill the jobs they have available, now and in the future.

What WMC gets right is that the declining population in small-town Wisconsin is an economic problem (especially among people under 65 years of age), and they talk about ways to attract talent in high-skill positions and improve housing options in those communities.

But what WMC doesn't about is why a talented person would choose to live and work in small-town Wisconsin- better wages and a better quality of life. WMC doesn't want government to pay a cent toward unless it all goes in the form of handouts to businesses, and doesn't want to reward workers for their efforts. Instead of viewing business development as a bottom-up scenario where we invest in improving things for everyday people, and businesses decide to take advantage of that and locate their companies (and jobs) there.

WMC wants the same failed trickle-down BS that has been a major reason the economy is rural America has stagnated for decades, and why young talent leaves these areas for better opportunities in larger cities. Hogseth calls out this "master-and-servant" mentality where the rich and powerfully-connected use up rural Wisconsin, and then move on to the next place they can explot.

Rural communities have become extraction zones where resources are exported out & wealth siphoned into markets where farmers lack power to get a fair price. This creates a situation where farm subsidies are used as economic bandaids and political bribes. https://t.co/9gsDFv0OVW

— Bill Hogseth (@billhogseth) December 3, 2020

Hogseth notes that Dems can gain back voters in those communities, but they have to be present in those places and offer a tangible program that offers rural voters a better shot than the stangation they have today.

What rural voters want is a glimmer of hope that things will change. They want politicians who see a future for rural communities in which food production is localized, energy is cheap and clean, people have good jobs, soil is healthy, Main Street is bustling with small businesses, schools are vibrant and everyone can see a doctor if they need to. Here in Wisconsin, we can look back in our state’s rich history of progressive populism to a time when politicians like Bob LaFollette, our former governor and U.S. senator, understood that concentrated wealth and corporate power are a threat to people’s livelihoods. As president, Biden will have the chance to prove he understands this, too. Democrats can win rural Wisconsin again, but they’ll need to try.