Listening to a Listener

Joe Simitian is the Santa Clara County Supervisor for the Palo Alto area.  Read: "Silicon Valley."  I attended a talk he gave yesterday at Palo Alto City Hall.  He shared with us (300 in the room)  what he learned from a series of three listening tours earlier this year.


Why he took embarked on Listening Tours:

• We (in the Palo Alto area) are living in a bubble in a bubble in  a bubble: 12% voted for Trump vs. 21% in Santa Clara, 32% in  California and 46% nationally.
• We know the rest of the nation is  not homophobic, Islamophobic, etc....we need to understand how they are  viewing things that led them to elect someone I feel is not qualified  to govern the nation.  To find out "what happened" I need to hear directly from the voters.

 He visited:

• Robeson County, North Carolina -- West of Wilmington and on the border with South Carolina
• Robeson and Cambrian are poor.  Robeson is rural; 1/3 below poverty level; 5:1 democratic and 70% non-white.
• Cambrian County, Pennsylvania -- Between Pittsburgh and State College in west central PA
• Macomb County, Michigan -- Industrial county directly north of Detroit
• Macomb  voted for Obama twice; is dependent on the (saved) auto industry; saw  its unemployment rate drop from 16% to 6% under Obama and voted for Trump with a 10%  margin.

He spent one week in each county and conducted over 100 interviews.  The  common characteristic among these three counties was that they voted for  Obama in 2008 and 2012 but for Trump in 2016. Joe spoke with a wide range of residents across the political spectrum -- in meetings, coffee shops, county fairs, etc. -- but was particularly looking for the people who had voted for Obama and switched to Trump.

Joe spoke with a wide range of residents across the political spectrum -- in meetings, coffee shops, county fairs, etc. -- but was particularly looking for the people who had voted for Obama and switched to Trump.

Here is a summary of what he heard:

The 2016 Presidential Election:

a. He heard less about the issues of the election than I expected:  Obamacare, social issues (abortion, etc.), immigration, the Wall, terrorism.

b. I heard an earful about Hillary Clinton: over and over and over again.  It was the most common topic people wanted to share. A democratic, Johns Hopkins (college) educated mayor said, "I would have voted for Stalin before I would have voted for Hillary." 

Explanations for not voting for Hillary Clinton

• Trust (email, Benghazi, Clinton Foundation) Joe: "I heard more about Bengazi than Obamacare!"
• Don't like her (corrupt, condescending, snooty-pooty, elitist)
• A woman.  
• Both men and women..particularly older women.
• "She only stayed married to Bill to advance her political agenda"
• "Not sanctioned in the Bible" (particularly in Robeson County, NC)
• Military + veterans: "Can't see a woman as Commander-in-Chief"
• Blue collar: "Not big on women being in charge"

c. Would another democrat have won?  Most said "Yes," Biden.  Some thought Bernie was more electable.  Even Hillary supporters suffered from an enthusiasm gap -- huge deficit in yard signs (people were lining up and making their own Trump signs!), democrats said: "lesser of two evils", weaker ground organization (than Trump).

d. Unions less of a factor: lacking enthusiasm, fewer Union jobs equals fewer people helping.

The National Democratic Party:

a. Voters viewed National races and Local races differently.  Democrats voted Democratic for local/ state races but for Trump at top of ticket.

b. The National Democratic Party focused on issues that did not seem important locally:  transgender bathrooms, homosexuality, inclusive treatment of minorities, the environment.  Whereas Trump was talking about "my jobs, my livelihood".  A Republican leader said: "I went to the marriage of a gay friend of mine.  I appreciated that he held it in his home.  That way it didn't need to be an issue with the church."  The feeling was the Dem party was rubbing social issues in their faces.

c. Same for pro-life and Guns.  The Thanksgiving holiday stretches to Monday.  Why?  This is the first day of rifle deer season.  This is the big holiday -- not a ski week as in Northern California.

d. Dem National Party is out of touch: Elitist, Condescending, Fringe Issues, Big City Party.  Dem party leader in Michigan: "We need to stop being the party that thinks we know what's best."

The Plight of These Americans:

Henry David Thoreau: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Joe: The Trump election shows us that the masses are no longer quiet.  Why was Trump attractive and his shortcomings overlooked?  "He was talking about things that mattered to me."

In each of these three counties, jobs have been leaving for 25 years or more:

In Robeson County textiles replaced tobacco.  Nothing with similar pay has replaced textiles.
In Cambrian County -- nothing has replaced coal and steel.
In Macomb -- Auto industry.

People knew to the day when the plants had closed in the community.  "I have 45% of my earning potential compared with 2001."  Such an exact calculation on the downward trend of wages marked by the closing of a major employer.

Joe: "What about TARP?"
Locals: "Didn't see it here. "After we pay all our taxes, where is the Federal government?  We don't see the benefits here."

20 year old: "When you grow up here you plan to get out."

Working Class: "We are working harder, getting paid less, pension is gone, health care coverage sucks."

Joe heard about lots of sickness, drug addiction.

Summary: "It's been the same story for 40 years.  Is anyone listening?  Does anyone get it?"  And then Trump came along "to the rescue".  At least he said what we've been saying and feeling.

"When he talked about jobs it was emotional heroin." 

"False hope is better than no hope at all."

"It is time to shake up the snow globe."

So what?

Joe's thoughts on what this mean for Silicon Valley, his constituents?   Why we (in Santa Clara County, CA) should care:

1. We can't leave millions of working, or want-to-be-working Americans behind-- it’s morally wrong.
2. It is risky.  When people are desperate they make desperate choices.  James Baldwin said,"The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose." Joe responds, "I met a lot of people who thought that they had nothing to lose."
3. California is a donor state: we send more money to DC than we get back.  Joe concludes:

All of us in this room as taxpayers are picking up the tab for these systemic failures in these communities I visited.  To look the other way is morally wrong, politically dangerous and unbelievably expensive.

Recording:

Here is my amateur recording of Joe's talk.  The sound quality is low but you can hear clearly what he is saying.  At the end (after minute 40:00) are questions and then a few dead, noisy minutes at the end (sorry).
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3m1gHkaUTHHOTR6aDFlek9LS0k

Joe Simitian:  https://www.sccgov.org/sites/d5/Pages/d5-supervisor-joe-simitian.aspx

-- Peter