Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse

Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse by Timothy P. Carney

Timothy Carney is a conservative commentator, but in this book he outlined the playbook for Democrats to overcome Trumpies. The Democrats have tended to move far to the left and disregarded the religious, assuming they will just go for Trump. However, while the regular church-goers tend to be very conservative, they supported Trump much less than they supported other Republicans. They tend to vote for him because he is lesser of evils. The Democrats have written off the religious and pandered to the left with many policies and priorities that are offensive to the religious. This leaves them voting for Trump.

As for the Trumpies, most of them tend to be those without hope that live in hard-hit areas with little sense of community. They tend not to be regular church-goers or to have any significant community involvement. There is little industry and little hope. However, they still have a desire to be independent. They don't want the government to tell them what to do.

The left includes the wealthy urbanites. They tend to have many social groups. They are involved with school groups, children's sports teams, churches and more. The "conservative right" also tends to be heavily dialed into church and community. Even in areas with struggles, the community keeps them together as they work to help each other. People that claim a religious affiliation, yet rarely attend church tend to be the most alienated and the most Trumpy.

Churches have historically been a primary part of community. That is were people of all backgrounds in a city worshipped and socialized. The church provides community benefits and a way to both serve and be served. Church schools provided a place for people to learn together. Government has taken upon many of the functions that churches had provided. However, this has come at the expense of community. The government provides the schools and the welfare for all in need. Government even restricts churches and others from engaging in similar activities. (You can get in trouble for opening a homeless shelter in your house.) However, government imposes it from on high. There is no worship or service. The community is lacking and thus the despair is increased.

The Democrat approach is often to attack the financial aspects of despair, but that does little to fix the core problems. Trump uses scapegoats, like immigrants, to help entice those longing for the good 'ol days. This seems like a path forward, but will also likely not help very much. We need a better approach to get community back,