Winning Rural, a Democrat's Guide to Wooing Upstate NY and Winning

Election Results by County, Hillary vs. Sanders, Wikipedia, accessed 4/18/2018

I will start this post by saying New York State is my adopted home. At least, I would like to make it my adopted home. I will also say that I am a loyal member of the Democratic Party. I did vote for Bernie Sanders during the primaries, and I set my opinions aside to vote for Hillary Clinton in the General Elections of 2016, to attempt stopping the Trump juggernaut. Unfortunately, that didn't work, and now we have a hostile, anti-social, and incompetent administration in the White House, and a regime of Congresspeople who are of the same ilk. As the 2018 mid-term elections draw near, I begin to wonder what I can do in New York to help the Democrats maintain control of the Governor's Mansion, expand influence in the state legislature, and wrestle federal House seats back from the Republican Party; to make our contribution to the Blue Wave that is expected to arrive (but isn't yet delivered or guaranteed). A clue about how Democrats should position themselves comes from the above map, which shows a breakdown of the Democratic Primary victories in New York State by county. While Hillary Clinton did carry the state she became a Senator in during those primaries, and in the General Election, the results of this primary may be significant food for thought in order to win most of New York back from the Republicans, both on the state level, and in the House of Representatives.

 Now, I can honestly say that I can agree to supporting Governor Andrew Cuomo for the 2018 elections. I think Governor Cuomo has done an excellent job at making college affordable for New York State residents, and has potentially set in motion the redevelopment and rebirth of Upstate New York with his policy of regionalism, and creating incentives for collaborative development beyond the individual community level. This election will likely be pivotal for the state and the country, as will the elections at the state and federal level; a key point where we can turn a defeat into a resounding string of victories for the Democratic Party and the principles they support. How can this be done in New York State, is the question I will seek to address here.

The first step to achieving the Blue Wave in November 2018 is to honestly heal the divides that have been produced from the 2016 primaries. While Hillary carried the chief cities of New York (as evidenced on the above map), she did not carry the rural areas. Senator Sanders won this region by solid margins (his single vote count is just shy of the total Republican vote for the Republican primaries). This suggests that this is the nature of Upstate New York and the true preferences of the rest of the state that isn't Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and the New York City metropolitan area (which are the only places Hillary Clinton won in during the primaries). While these numbers may be scoffed at because Hillary did win the primary in New York by almost 60% of the vote, it is worth remembering that a number of state and federal legislators are sitting in that vast expanse of the state who may prove vulnerable to a more Progressive policy tone in Albany, Washington, and their respective county and municipal seats. Therefore, if Governor Cuomo wins in 2018, and the Democrats wish to expand themselves in all levels of government in New York, they would seek to minimize the policy and messaging conflicts with the rural areas, and seek to help address both urban and rural issues with superior evidence and policymaking. If the Democrats do not heal this divide with the Progressives effectively, and/or do not do the policymaking that does actually work better than Neoliberalism for more people, I worry that the Party will fizzle out in the cities, while Progressives gain and maintain traction in the rural areas surrounding them.

Even though the state of affairs between Governor Cuomo, the Democratic Party, and Progressive elements in the New York community seems grim, I do see a way that the Party could reassert itself, save the face of Governor Cuomo, and win big in the state. To begin with, the Governor is going to have to adopt more Progressive policies, and a more Progressive stance with policies in practice. I have already recorded significant amounts of evidence and argumentation in this blog as to why Progressive policies, and a proactive government is superior to Conservative policies and an inactive government. The fact of the matter is that humans do not live as individuals, nor do we live well when some individuals are allowed carte blanche over the affairs of others without accountability and feedback from the other that is being affected. Taxes are also good for the community if they are spent on effective, efficient, and appropriate projects and programs. A community that is being fed resources in a reasoned and healthy manner is significantly more likely to grow, develop, thrive, and produce recycled wealth than one that is not. According to Hacker and Pierson's book, American Amnesia, this is a significant reason as to why Northern US states developed so much more thoroughly and absolutely than Southern US states. Wealth was frequently recycled back down to the lowest levels in the form of healthcare, educational opportunities, infrastructure, housing, wages and salaries, and research into the development of new amenities and products that could (if we choose to) change and shape our world for the demonstrable better.

In short, the whole argument of the Conservatives for small government, or ineffective and poorly operated government is incorrect if one is attempting to produce a healthy and sustainable society, let alone one that can be called just or even decent to live in for most. These stances, coincidentally, align with that message from Senator Sanders that stuck such a chord in many parts of America that are waffling on whether to support the Democrats in the face of Trump and the current state of the Republican Party. All that really needs to be done is research into which regulations work well in which contexts. This confusion can be clarified with the right data, treated in a correct and honest manner, and repeated several times over in computer simulations and games to see which regulations and policies actually do work better for all. Once that has been discovered, we can make the findings of the research available, so that people can actually play the simulations and learn through doing why we need to pay taxes, invest in people, physical, and natural capital, and be subject to well-designed regulations and rules to keep the game running smoothly and in a sustainable manner. As I've said before, the only business that benefits from well-designed regulations rules are ones that are trying to hurt the society or the environment. Under such a laissez-faire circumstance, businesses and businesspeople who hurt lower the bar for everyone else, and even the best businesspeople who want to do well get compelled to do harm to others in order to preserve themselves and make ends meet in their households.

I wouldn't say that I am calling for the Democrats to make a "shift left" in order to win. I would say that I would like them to shift towards what the evidence shows is better for most, if not all, and away from what the evidence shows is worse and less healthy for all. We have the data. Will the Democrats choose to use it to improve themselves and the country?