GOP up north: yesterday and tomorrow

Chuck Frederick, a columnist at the Duluth News-Tribune, wrote a fine historical piece Tuesday explaining the historical role the Republican Party has played in Northern Minnesota and Duluth, now considered a Democratic stronghold. Though not mentioned in the piece, the Iron Range was also a Republican stronghold in the pre-FDR years. All of this changed with the labor and progressive movements.

Of course, in honor of the GOP convention in St. Paul, Frederick interviews a poli sci professor who thinks the strong Democratic margins in Minnesota’s 8th can be closed by “the right candidate” and infers that John McCain might be that candidate. That’s just being polite, though (we want to make our guests feel welcome). McCain may do better than Bush here, but I think it will remain in DFL hands for the time being.

To be fair, I think the fact that the Range and Duluth aren’t deeply competitive swing districts yet (much like the Brainerd area or today’s Rochester) is an extension of our labor traditions and unique mix of immigrant groups in the first half of the 20th century. The further we get away from our traditions, however, the more it seems we adopt the expected roles of our population groups.

I see this in my generation on the Range, which is now always at least three or four generations separated from our immigrant ancestors. Lo and behold, young people with techie jobs break Democrat 2-1 (The Dems are liberal Dems, the Republicans are libertarian Republicans a la Ron Paul). Blue collar workers vote for lunch bucket Dems when times are bad and soothing social conservatives when times are good). Target shoppers lean blue. Wal-Mart shoppers lean red. A large portion of the population willingly accepts the term “redneck,” displaying the Confederate flag on their trucks even though, as Frederick reminds us, this was a deeply pro-union state during the Civil War. The flag doesn’t stand for the South or even states’ rights; it stands for accepting ignorance and social decline as a viable lifestyle choice. That last one troubles me the most. I like to joke about being from a small town on the Range, growing up in the country. But that doesn’t make it OK to treat women like crap or believe that the world’s problems can all be attributed to people who look different than me. I see a lot of that these days. It’s always been there, but it’s getting ugly in the light of the 21st century. At the same, I can’t help but marvel at the resilience of the people on the Iron Range and wonder if there really is something special about this place: a silent power that allows us to endure.

In truth, the segmentation of the electorate along demographic and socio-economic lines rather than regions will probably lead to wholesale political realignment, perhaps even new political parties, in our lifetime. Then the wordsmiths of the future will write about this quaint time on the bubble of change. The role of the Iron Range, northern Minnesota and my people is very much in a state of flux.

Comments

  1. wholesale political realignment? New parties?

    I think that’s what much of the country already thinks about the DFL party. Or maybe what the Metro area DLFers think about the Range delegation.

  2. I doubt new parties will take shape. Many of us thought the Independence Party might take off with the election of Jesse Ventura but it never materialized (the moderates who vote independent are just not invested enough to make a go of it). Others like the Greens, etc all have some good ideas but are small groups of fringe activists that cannot generate much excitement for a movement. Who knows though, I have been wrong once or twice before:). Here in Washington DC (out here working temporarily) its all about the money- follow the money and you will find why particular elected officials vote a certain way.

    Amber

  3. Thanks for the post, Amber

    I don’t doubt one minute that the donor lists influence the parties. True for both sides. Actually, it might be seen as more of a business arrangement between the parties and their regular donors.

    The IP was a cult of personality regarding Jesse Ventura. Same with Ross Perot before him. That doesn’t work. But what I’m talking about is realignment. I think that realignment will ultimately end up being free trade/progressive and anti-immigration/social conservative/pro-tariff. That might not compute for today’s political parties, but we can follow the trend line.

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