| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
299 pages ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-285) and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue: Small towns, big trouble -- Essential minority, existential threat -- Rural ruin -- The greatest political hand ever dealt -- Cultures at war -- The unlikely king of rural America -- Conditional patriots -- Race and rurality -- Despair, distraction, disillusionment, and democratic decline. |
| Summary |
"White rural voters hold the greatest electoral sway of any demographic group in the United States, yet rural communities suffer from poor healthcare access, failing infrastructure, and severe manufacturing and farming job losses. Rural voters believe that our nation has betrayed them, and to some degree they're right. In White Rural Rage, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman explore why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and why, as a result, they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions. Their rage -- stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media -- now poses an existential threat to the United States. Schaller and Waldman show how vulnerable U.S. democracy has become to rural Whites, who, despite legitimate grievances, are also increasingly inclined to hold racist and xenophobic beliefs, to believe in conspiracy theories, to accept violence as a legitimate course of political action, and to exhibit antidemocratic tendencies. Rural White Americans' attitude might best be described as "I love my country, but not our country," Schaller and Waldman argue. This phenomenon is the patriotic paradox of rural America: The citizens who are most likely to show off their patriotism are also the least likely to defend core American principles. And by encouraging rural Whites' anger rather than addressing the hard problems they face, conservative politicians and talking heads create a feedback loop of resentments that are undermining American democracy. Schaller and Waldman provocatively critique both the structures that permit rural Whites' disproportionate influence over American governance and the prospects for creating a pluralist, inclusive democracy that delivers policy solutions that benefit rural communities. They conclude with a political reimagining that offers a better future for both rural people and the rest of America." -- Jacket flap. |
| Subject |
Proportional representation -- United States.
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Rural population -- Political activity -- United States.
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Rural-urban relations -- United States.
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Democracy -- United States.
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United States. Congress. Senate.
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United States -- Politics and government -- 2021-
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POLITICAL SCIENCE / General.
|
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United States. Congress. Senate. (OCoLC)fst00530422
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Democracy. (OCoLC)fst00890077
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Politics and government. (OCoLC)fst01919741
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Proportional representation. (OCoLC)fst01079244
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Rural-urban relations. (OCoLC)fst01201131
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
|
| Chronological Term |
Since 2021
|
| Added Author |
Waldman, Paul, author.
|
| Other Form: |
Online version: Schaller, Thomas F. White rural rage First edition. New York : Random House, [2024] 9780593729151 (DLC) 2023041430 |
| ISBN |
9780593729144 (hardcover) |
|
0593729145 (hardcover) |
|
