A new movement is emerging that could bridge the gulf between mainstream Democrats — still dwelling too much in the rarified air of urban meritocracy — and the practical concerns of working folks and rural dwellers. If successful, this third way offers moderate voters an escape from Trump’s self-aggrandizing, fake-populism while popping the air out of the Democrats’ pie-in-the-sky agenda.
This column was inspired by a recent piece in the New York Times by James Pogue about Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the shining light of this new movement, the Blue Dogs.
Pogue’s biggest fear is that this little movement will be driven out of the party — snuffed out — before Democrats grasp what they are offering. The danger is that liberals may confuse the new Blue Dogs with the MAGA right. If so, they will think their “only choices are between some kind of reactionary fascism and saving the system we have.”
The Blue Dogs insist that Democrats can’t win over rural or working-class voters simply by conducting one more poll. Instead, the Democrats must elevate people who genuinely share their values and concerns — “even if those values and concerns are an uncomfortable fit with those of the people guiding the party today.”
Representative Gluesenkamp Perez, along with Representative Jared Golden of Maine, another prominent Blue Dog, has started a podcast to identify their audience: “people who still believe in community, country and the common good.” They propose an economic vision that is arguably more radical than the programs offered by many on the left. “It encompasses antimonopoly policies, right to repair, and regulatory changes to smooth the path for people to start businesses, buy and work land, even build their own houses and invent things.”
I applaud the Blue Dogs for their progressive stance on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and child care access, but question some of their conservative economic and cultural positions. However, one thing we agree on is our respect for Wendell Berry, the author, poet, and farmer, who has lived his life in deep connection with the land. He is an advocate for stewardship, local economies and a slower, technology-skeptical way of life.
As a rural person myself, I appreciate these values.
I’ve also been fascinated by Paul Kingsnorth’s current bestseller, “Against the Machine.” Interestingly, the Blue Dog Coalition has explicitly linked Paul Kingsnorth’s work to their movement. Kingsnorth was a prominent environmental activist before quitting, moving to Ireland, converting to Orthodox Christianity, and toiling on a subsistence farm with his wife and homeschooled children.
Reviewing Kingsnorth’s book, Tyler Austin Harper writes in Atlantic Magazine: “It is valuable because he sees with uncommon clarity that not only nature, but human nature, is being redefined by an anti-limit culture, economic system, and technology sector that treat minds, bodies, and environments as ripe for plundering and optimization in the name of progress.”
Another earlier writer echoing these concerns is Charlene Spretnak, considered “one of the premier visionary feminist thinkers of our time.” In her 1997 book, “The Resurgence of the Real,” she surgically cut through the postmodern buzz at that time about everything being relative, to proclaim what is really real: our bodies, nature and sense of place.
Some things are not debatable, like having one good job that gives a person time to spend at home with their family rather than three part-time jobs that leave a person cycling around like a rat on a treadmill.
Without a doubt, we ought to be able to repair our own stuff and buy it outright rather than be conned into endless subscriptions. And the stuff we do buy should be well-made and repairable, not designed for planned obsolescence to make Madison Avenue rich. Or, in Gluesenkamp Perez’s more salty words, “We don’t want to be perpetual renters of disposable crap … We want things to last.”
Our greatest asset is our human agency, which, if hamstrung by Artificial Intelligence, will become our Frankenstein, morphing into a monster that devours our souls. Our technological overlords, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, understand this: that’s why they are feverishly building spaceships to colonize Mars so they can escape to an unblemished world after fouling Earth beyond repair.
Hats off to the Blue Dogs for lighting a fire under us, getting us off our high horse, and reminding us of what’s truly important in life.
Jean Stimmell, retired stone mason and psychotherapist, lives in Northwood and blogs at jstim.substack.com.