GREAT BEND, Kan. - As I watched Raj Goyle's TV ad "Mailroom," about America exporting jobs overseas, I knew it was happening. Goyle was piecing together the old coalition of Wichita area voters who elected Democrat Dan Glickman to the Fourth District Congressional seat in 1976.
It's about time. When Glickman was defeated in 1994 by State Senator Todd Tiahrt, the blue collar voters, especially the culturally conservative ones, abandoned Glickman in droves. "When he voted for NAFTA and helped export our jobs overseas, I knew I couldn't continue to vote for Glickman," said one grizzled aircraft sheet worker. Eighteen years later, Raj Goyle is reminding those working class voters why they voted for Glickman in 1976, and why many rejected him in 1994.
In his 2004 interview with Bill Moyers, Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter With Kansas?" marvels about Wichita, a natural hotbed for working class Democrats, going Republican in 1994. Democrats allowed it to happen, and Democrats such as Raj Goyle are going back to what works.
As Thomas Frank pointed out in the Moyers interview, Democrats abandoned economic issues to become "New Democrats," and gave working class voters every reason to abandon them. But today Goyle seems to be going back to what Democrats used to stand for: working people, good jobs at good wages, fundamental fairness, a fair shake.
The halcyon days of the Bill Clinton "New Democrat" movement resulted in Democrats joining their adversaries in approving NAFTA, and carrying water for the big corporations. It was Clinton who helped repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, which was intended to prevent banks from becoming "too big to fail." This DLC "New Democrat" era led to a massive influx of corporate cash into Democratic coffers. As Jim Hightower says, the Democratic Party began a courtship with "Mr. Green," the money power that FDR and his Republican cousin Teddy Roosevelt knocked on it's keister years before.
I'll bet Thomas Frank is watching State Representative Raj Goyle's attempt to retake this open seat with interest. Goyle's ad, "Mailroom," makes clear that Goyle is resurrecting the old coalition that made Sedgwick County Democratic in the first place: workers, eager for fair treatment, and patriotic to boot.
Goyle's new ad, entitled "Always," is even better. It highlights the legislation Goyle sponsored to ban picketing at military funerals; the ad is a poignant appeal to patriotic working class voters, the "moderate middle" that got Glickman elected in 1976. Goyle is not conceding a single vote to his Republican opponent, Mike Pompeo.
As Thomas Frank notes in his interview with Bill Moyers, Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for allowing elections to become referendums on controversial social issues. When Democrats abandoned the "little man" for Wall Street in the "New Democrat" era, the "little man" lost his reason to vote Democratic.
The problem is not that people set aside their own monetary interests and vote only on "moral issues". The problem is that the Democratic party largely abandoned the fact that wages, equality and fundamental fairness are MORAL ISSUES, every bit as important as abortion or any other moral issue.
The book "Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority" by Bob Moser, is the South's version of "What's the Matter With Kansas?" Moser points out that the real culprit in running off working class voters has been the national Democratic party, which abandoned social and economic justice issues in favor of big campaign contributions from "Mr. Green."
Statistically speaking, it's hard to see how a Democrat can win back the 4th District this year, but the tune Raj Goyle is playing is an "oldie," and it's working. Goyle is reminding the guy who goes to Mass every morning and then heads off to Boeing to make airplanes why he used to vote for Democrats, and why he should again.
The problem is not that people set aside their own monetary interests and vote only on "moral issues". The problem is that the Democratic party largely abondoned the fact that wages, equality and fundamental fairness are MORAL ISSUES, every bit as important as abortion or any other moral issue.
How many people do you suppose heard Sam Brownback say that "same sex marriage" was the most critical issue this nation faced? In the mean time, we plunged into a military fracas on false inteligence reports, we lowered taxes, cut social programs and still ran up huge deficits. Lowering taxes on the wealthy and shifting that cost onto the backs of the poor — is that a moral issue? Singling out one "abominable sin" from the many recorded in our Christian Bible — is that a moral issue?
Great article. My entire adult life I've been bothered by 2 things in politics. One, that so called "moral issues" had such a front row seat, and two that while I tend to agree with Democrat's principles the party is too afraid to offend corporations and lose money. So they abandon their convictions for safety. The new healthcare law is a great example. First their was a "public" option, but insurance didn't like that one bit, and by the time we're done we've moved from government helping you get healthcare to the government telling you to buy it from their insurance industry buddies. Getting corporate influence out of our elections is the biggest challenge facing the American people today.