Introduction
Our nation’s deep divides, along lines of race, class and geography are getting stronger, more intractable. Prosperity and economic security remain out of reach for most Americans, student debt overshadows the prospects for millions of young people, and enormous, long-standing problems, from climate change to structural racism are ignored or exacerbated by people in power. This has pushed a large portion of the electorate to either drop out of the process or align themselves with Trump and the extreme Right.
Racism plays a substantial role in this alignment, as both world view and motivator. At the same time, it’s also true that many people feel that their grievances have been heard, finally, by Trump, that on many levels, he ‘gets’ them. How has a billionaire, elitist New Yorker persuaded so many working people, especially in rural areas, that he is their champion? In part because the Democrats and the liberal media establishment have demonstrated how clueless they are about the struggles of everyday folks, and how committed they are to elite-driven incrementalism, even as people and the planet cry out for deep and transformative solutions.
All of this is particularly true for rural communities, who believe, with justification, that they’ve been dissed, marginalized and extracted from for decades. And that liberal pundits and political leaders either don’t get that or don’t care.
As someone who has lived and worked in rural Appalachia for nearly 40 years, who counts among his friends and colleagues numerous farmers, loggers, miners and small business owners, and who has twice run for Congress as a Democrat, I have become convinced that overcoming the urban-rural divide is essential not only for rural America but for the future of our nation and world. To that end, this Guidebook offers a framework for understanding and overcoming the urban-rural divide, growing out of my own experience, broadened and enriched by the thinking and writing of Arlie Hochschild, Thomas Frank, Sarah Smarsh, Erica Etelson, Ivy Brashear, Katherine Cramer and several others. While I hope that you’ll take the time to read all of the articles included in the Guidebook, you can pick and choose from among two dozen different authors and journalists, clicking on any of the links we’ve included.
One more thing: This Guidebook does not include essays about Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell or the extreme right. It does not catalog the lies and outrages of Mr Trump and his administration. There is an enormous amount of readily available material on those topics. Instead, the focus here is on how and where we’ve failed, in word and deed, and what we can do differently to overcome the divide and build a better world.