Let me try to state my problem with books like White Rural Rage and the perspective they exemplify. (Nathan Robinson has a good review of the book here and here is another critique from Ryan Zickgraf). Working through such arguments helps to illustrate differences between those on the center-left, including establishment Democrats and even liberals, and those further to the left, such as democratic socialists and left populists.
Here is an overly simple typology to help explain the difference between the center-left (basically the mainstream Democratic Party) and the left:
Center-Left: the main problem in America is Republicans (or conservatives)
Left: the main problem in America is capitalism (or neoliberalism) and empire
Now in part this simply reflects differences in values. The left critique is more systemic because those on the left want much more systematic change, whereas those on the center-left basically want Democrats to run things and pass mildly liberal laws. Thus, for Democrats, if they have power, say in a state like Connecticut or a city like New York, well, problem solved. The left, on the contrary, sees Democratic run cities and states as still having massive, structural problems that the Democratic Party is unwilling and unable to resolve.
Just because the right is usually wrong doesn’t mean the Democrats are correct. America’s cities look nothing like Republican caricatures of them but they do have enormous, unresolved problems and injustices, these just look very different from the claims of the right.
In so far as the center-left has different values and desires from the left you can’t simply say they are “wrong”. After all, they have identified the problem for them—Republican voters and the Republican Party.
But I do think that this is wrong, or misguided, in three key ways, and helps to explain why we should be on the left, not the center-left.
First, blaming large swathes of voters is strategically stupid. If you want to win over citizens to your perspective, so that they will embrace your values, vote for your party and referenda, and join your organizations, you don’t shit on them and dismiss them as racists, deplorables, rednecks, backward, etc.
Yes, there are people who have vile racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc. views. But many don’t. Many people are persuadable, undecided, simply sit out elections, etc. They aren’t defined by bigotry and can be persuaded (see those who voted Obama, Trump, then Biden). And even those with vile views can change their minds. We should be trying to do this. Changing people’s minds is a fundamental part of democratic politics!
Bernie Sanders embodies this perfectly. He walks into an auditorium at, say Liberty University, recognizes the differences he has with many of the students, and tries to persuade them. To reiterate, this is what politics is all about!
So, it’s strategically stupid to dismiss millions of citizens as the problem and has made the Democratic Party non-competitive and basically non-existent in many rural and small town areas of the country. Write them off and reap the reward.
Second, it’s not an accurate depiction of how people are. Attitudes aren’t fixed, they change over time and over generations, both among individuals and across society at large. Witness how in a single generation a large majority of Americans went from opposing same-sex marriage to supporting it, to the point now that it is practically mundane in America, 20 years after it was weaponized to turn out conservative voters in 2004. Witness changing attitudes on race, gender relations, etc. These are not fixed. People’s attitudes do change, so writing them off as fixed is simply inaccurate. It is also politically myopic, because going back to the first point, a major part of politics is trying to persuade people to join you and to change what is possible. (Witness another simple example, as Americans have become more pro-choice in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned).
Third, it fails to understand the nature of power in America. America is not run by middle class rural whites. Yes, voters matter in a representative democracy, even one as oligarchic as ours. Still, the fact, as political sociologists, scholars of American politics, political theorists, and ordinary citizens all agree on, is that our country is more or less run by a ruling class of political and economic elites. Blaming ordinary voters just doesn’t really get at the problem. The Bernie perspective, which blames the 1%, the corporate oligarchs, and the structures of neoliberal capitalism, is correct as an explanation and touching back on the first two points, more likely to yield fruit, since this perspective can persuade people to join us, change their attitudes, and thus hopefully build a large majority to change the system.