Brian Groh, a novelist, published this piece in the New York Times titled, "The Radicalization of a Small American Town." The "small town" is Lawrenceburg, Indiana, population 5,042, in the southern part of the state, not far west of Cincinnati. Here's an excerpt:
Over the past four years, my hometown has become radicalized. This is a loaded word, but it’s the only way to describe it.
As recently as 2008, I saw Bill Clinton speak at our community center, where the crowd was so large that people had to listen to him from loudspeakers in a nearby firehouse. The mood was electric. “People are broke at the end of every month,” he said. “This has to change.” He promised that with Democratic leadership, it would. An aggressive new energy policy would bring jobs, with higher incomes.
And this promise was very welcome. At the time, the best job I could find was at a call center, selling home security systems. But I felt hopeful. I stuck an Obama sign in my yard and a campaign bumper sticker on my old Corolla. Like a lot of my neighbors, I believed that Democrats would, in fact, improve the town’s fortunes, and on election night, Barack Obama carried the state.
But things didn’t improve. Not really.
In other words, Obama didn't/couldn't follow through on his promise of change. And that became fertile ground for others to move in and influence rural politics. In that vein, it is a strategy of People's Action to fight that radicalization. I first learned of founder George Goehl and his work in this regard in an episode of Chris Hayes' podcast, "Why Is This Happening," which provides a great overview of this organization that is working actively to counter the actual white supremacy and white nationalist organizing that is radicalizing many parts of the rural United States.
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