[lbo-talk] What's the matter with Kansas?

[Chuck0]

Thomas Frank rolled into Kansas City last night to talk about his new 
book "What's the matter with Kansas?" The crowd was pretty big, perhaps 
several hundred, and I hear that Frank spoke to big crowds in Wichita, 
Lawrence, and Topeka. Frank mostly read from the book (I was told later 
that he was nervous about appearing before the hime town crowd). As some 
of you have heard, Frank's book is about how the Republican party 
captured the working class by appealing to populist values. His book 
explores the idea of "backlash" which is the angry attitude whipped up 
by conservatives fighting the culture wars to keep people angry at 
"those evil liberals," all the while passing pro-rich government 
programs that go against the interests of working class Republicans.

Pretty compelling arguments if you ask me. I want to read this book.

During the question and answer period, some guy that was sitting next to 
my friend got up and askd Frank why he "Wasn't following the basics of 
Journalism 101." It turns out that this guy is some local right wing 
radio talk show host whose name still escapes me. Frank had talked about 
this guy in his book, so there was an interesting audience reaction to 
this exchange.

Frank was pessimistic about the Democrats figuring out how to reverse 
what the Republicans are doing. I think that Kerry will win, but I see 
the Democrats as being incapable of changing their spots because of 
their pro-government ideas. Frank's explanation of why the Democrats 
can't respond is based on the fact that they are dependent on big 
campaign contributions. They are constantly chasing money, and witht he 
help of the DLC they keep moving to the right.

Frank touched on some of the ways that liberal and progressives 
marginalize people in the Midwest. The main problem is that progressives 
assume that there are no progressives in the Midwest, that we are all 
just a bunch of ignorant rubes. Liberals and progressives blame dismiss 
people as "stupid" when they support the Republicans. This list has 
talked about this attitude problem, which I hear all the time on Air 
America Radio. When you convey the attitude that people who aren't 
liberals or progressives are "stupid" you insult those people and you 
play into the "conservative backlash" that Frank is writing about. This 
is the big mistake the Left has made in reaction to George W. Bush. Our 
rhetoric focuses on his stupidity and lack of qualifications, instead of 
attacking his blue blood, elitist background. When you attack Bush as 
being a stupid rube, you end up making more working people identify with 
him. How many of you have seen rhetoric from the progressive camp 
recently that attacks Bush's rich background?

Chuck