A report from the Heartland

I buried my father-in-law on Tuesday.

And while I may at one point write about the service, what I really want to focus on is the wake.

We gathered at his house, and it was all family there.

Now, I had no intention of talking politics. My momma done raised me right. I was in a red state, and I was going to be a good boy.

But we started talking of this and that.

His late-brother's wife talked about going to LA on a business trip for the first time years ago, and for the first time seeing homeless on the street.

Rather than getting us on a topic of how these "people" were just lazy and shiftless, it led us to a conversation on how this was a national crisis which needed to be addressed, although, as she admitted, she had no idea how to do so.

We spoke about mental health, and housing affordability, and income inequality. We spoke about how we, as a society, have to have a discussion about what to spend scarce resources on.

Then my brother-in-law's wife chimed in. She talked at length about how the Affordable Care Act saved them. They had both struck out as entrepreneurs, and because of their various health issues were unable to secure insurance until Obamacare came into being.

Then they asked if I would ever move out to Indiana. While I admitted that the more sedate lifestyle had its benefits, I wouldn't make out here what I make in LA. And they said "cost of living!" And I said: Student loans!

They all groaned.

"You still have student loans??"

"Yes, from grad school."

This led to a 20 minute talk about how no one leaving college and starting out in life should be burdened with debt. I spoke about how in California community college is now free. They all agreed this was a good thing. We spoke of Germany's educational system, which is strong on vocational training, as most people don't need to go to university to make good livings.

We went on to climate change and how it was affecting us in California with increased fires, and Indiana with its crops.

What I'm saying is this: This is, contrary to what my fellow coastal elites so disparagingly say, not "flyover country". These are real people, who see the state of the world, and are concerned about the future their children will inherit.

Was I among more liberal Midwesterners? Maybe. I and my brother-in-law's wife have had many such conversations. But it would be foolish to assume that they were anomalies.

Yes, too any of their fellow-citizens are mired in hate and animus. But guess what? If you go to some parts of California or upstate New York, you'll find the same thing. We're just fortunate that they're the minority. And if you look at Texas, it's lumbering from red to blue. You don't achieve that by writing them off. You do it by diligent work, but talking face to face, by going house to house.

When resources are allocated to 2020, we shouldn't neglect the Indianapolis suburbs, or the Atlanta suburbs. Places such as those won us the House in 2018. We need to build a common-sense movement, one not based on the radical politics of either extreme, but on what will benefit the most. We're in a place where the political tenor is ignoring the vast middle, the middle which just wants a better life for itself and its children. They don't want the national socialist revolution of Steve Bannon, or the communist revolution of Bernie Sanders. They want healthcare, and education, and for America to be respected in the world. They're willing to listen to how to allocate resources, as long as everyone pays their fair share. They want government to work.

I buried my father-in-law on Tuesday. He was a good, kind, decent man. And there are many like him living now, who just want to be listened to.