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This canard has been disproven time and time again. Unlike OP, I'm not as old as you, but am almost 40. And I can tell you that most people cement their political views by their mid 20s, and usually don't waver after that. Older Democrats obviously exist dude. Even my dad (RIP) was a Dem until the day he died, and he wasn't some welfare mooch as you like to say either. He had his own business for about 15 years that grossed over $1mil/year and his only employee/partner was my mother. Make of that what you will
What I make of that is that your father, may he rest in peace, voted against his own economic interests by supporting a party whose policies would reduce economic freedom and individual initiative.
Older Democrats exist, and so do younger Republicans. Life isn't as cut and dried as "When the Boomers die, the GOP will go extinct," which was the implication that I gained from the OP's comments.
This canard has been disproven time and time again. Unlike OP, I'm not as old as you, but am almost 40. And I can tell you that most people cement their political views by their mid 20s, and usually don't waver after that. Older Democrats obviously exist dude. Even my dad (RIP) was a Dem until the day he died, and he wasn't some welfare mooch as you like to say either. He had his own business for about 15 years that grossed over $1mil/year and his only employee/partner was my mother. Make of that what you will
What I make of that is that is that your Dad probably realized that when the economy was going good, his customers/clients had money to spend. So that worked out well for him and your Mother.
It could be that he realized that the last Republican President to leave the nation in better economic shape than he found it was Eisenhower.
Or it could be that your Dad was fine with making his million/year and was fine with part of that going to see that children didn't go hungry.
As to Tennessee voters, I've family members who live there. If there was a drug that raised IQs, that might help.
Otherwise, cutting off the oxycodone supply to the state until after the election might help.
Sorry your family members are uneducated drug addicts. On the bright side uneducated drug addicts rarely ever vote. If they did I'd bet they would vote democrat.
Sorry your family members are uneducated drug addicts. On the bright side uneducated drug addicts rarely ever vote. If they did I'd bet they would vote democrat.
Unless they're convicted felons they certainly vote D in Newark, Camden and Trenton, NJ, Detroit, E St. Louis, Oakland, Philly, Baltimore, Gary, IN.... but everybody already knows that.
Become a moderate party again with moderate ideas.
Far left, radical ideas (think "the squad") full of hate do not sell beyond the coasts.
For the Democrats to have a future party in America in general, they have to move more middle, or the party will have to break up and reassemble as something electable.
Presently, Nashville-Davidson and Shelby counties are more Democratic than not. However, I think it would be very difficult to convince any other counties than Hamilton or Rutherford to flip unless more voters come out and have a say (only half of the state’s eligible voters voted in 2016). Here’s why.
Spoiler
The state is heavily socially conservative, especially anti-LGBT. While this isn't true about everyone, it's still true about enough people that the Republican Party solidly has the upper hand. Also, this is one of the main reasons I hate living here and one of the main reasons the Democratic Party has started to gain popularity in places like Virginia, Arizona and even North Carolina.
Tennesseans are generally not willing to have their taxes raised in the short term for long-term solutions that’ll help EVERYONE, including them. While this isn't true about everyone, it's still true about enough people that the Republican Party solidly has the upper hand. (I’m referring to climate change, better healthcare and such here.)
The state was historically a Confederate state as well as a Jim Crow state. Although the racism isn’t as bad as before and may be uncommon in public, it’s still prevalent among some circles.
Even Knoxville, Clarksville and Tri-Cities are pretty conservative despite their size, although they do still have some liberals. Flipping the state’s midsized cities like Jackson, Franklin, Morristown, Spring Hill/Columbia and Cookeville would probably even be as difficult as flipping many rural and suburban counties.
Yet, the state may still have a few weak areas.
Spoiler
People around here usually tend to care greatly about the natural beauty around them. If they took the short-term costs to fixing climate change as actually beneficial, this could be a huge turning point.
As I’ve said, a lot of eligible people in this state don’t vote; almost half, one of the highest percentages in the country. If many of them started voting, who knows what would happen.
TDOT nearly ran out of money several years ago, and Clay County is so full of poor people that even the government themselves is somewhat poor. If enough people ever realize that their own conservative methods are backfiring, it may spark a radical change. Even I actually feel very sorry for Clay County despite personal disagreements.
Ultimately, I think the best things the DP can do here are to...
Spoiler
...convince more people to start voting in Tennessee by warning them that change may only happen if enough people try.
...educate people better all over the state about the harm putting off climate change solutions (people DIE because of this) will do.
...educate people better all over the state about the harm their anti-LGBT sentiments actually cause (people DIE because of this) and teach them that those people cannot change. This would probably be more challenging than the other options, although it still desperately needs to be done. There are even movies like Boy Erased that show the torture people in conversion therapy face.
...thoroughly explain the differences in the economic policies between the two major parties.
...vow to raise the minimum wage and provide suitable jobs/healthcare to ALL counties.
Tennessee will always be a Republican state. It doesn't have the amount of black and Hispanic population to turn it blue, and most of Nashville and Memphis's suburbs are conservative, being in the South. No matter where you go in America, working class and rural whites are conservative, blacks and Hispanics are liberal, and its only the middle class whites that differ politically. In the South most of them are conservative, and there are not enough blacks in TN to outvote them.
It's only in the Northeast and California that suburbs are liberal in addition to cities. New Orleans is the most liberal city in the South but even that liberalism is limited to the city limits and Trump won all of the suburban areas around New Orleans. Without the French/Catholic heritage, Nashville itself is a very conservative Republican city, now think about its suburbs. Tennessee is in the Protestant Bible Belt and has zero liberal influences aside from its black population and out of state transplants.
Also coal mining is important in East Tennessee and the war on coal and the green new deal are not helping the Dems!!!! Texas is more likely to turn blue (due to illegal immigration and voter fraud) than Tennessee.
Become a moderate party again with moderate ideas.
Far left, radical ideas (think "the squad") full of hate do not sell beyond the coasts.
For the Democrats to have a future party in America in general, they have to move more middle, or the party will have to break up and reassemble as something electable.
To me Obama is already very radical, and Biden is the same as Obama, which makes him radical as well. Hillary Clinton is also radical in my opinion. A moderate Democrat would be someone like John Bel Edwards or Joe Manchin or the late Robert Byrd.
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