Observations from drive-time
For what it’s worth.
Friday was #BeBraveDay called by the Visibility Brigade. I stood alone on the Flint St. overpass above I-240 westbound in Asheville at drive-time for nearly two hours. I held up the sign above the whole time. At seven words readable from an overpass, “A DECENT LIFE SHOULDN’T BE THIS HARD” doesn’t fall neatly into the Race Class Narrative “shared value-villain-vision structure” and I’m no messaging guru. I want to share what I observed over those two hours.
What polling tells us is that both major parties have a branding problem. People feel abandoned by both. As Anand Giridharadas put it, “I just feel so profoundly undefended right now by the well-meaning people” [meaning the Democratic Party and people with small D democratic values in “the big powerful press”]. So do many others. It’s why so many these days identify as independent, and why Democrats’ favorability ratings hover around 34 percent.
So I prepared this sign with the struggling 20-year-old student I met on Tuesday in mind and for people who feel unheard and undefended.
Drivers passing below threw many thumbs-ups, two thumbs-ups, waves, honks and headlight flashes. But it was the diversity of vehicles that caught my attention. Sure, there were Subarus (ubiquitous here), plus Hondas and Toyotas, and even one Mercedes. But positive feedback also came from lawn-service pickups, work vans, personal pickups, a couple of semis, and aging beaters with hanging body panels and peeling paint. I read the latter set as the sorts of voters and non-voters Democrats have lost to despair, disgust, and apathy.
The only negative reaction was a guy who yelled out his pickup window from below, “Then stop voting for Democrats!”
Pedestrians passing on the bridge included a 30-ish couple I would guess were not Team Blue. Male and female both gave me versions of, “Boy, you’ve got that right.” An older couple asked if I was fighting for democracy, read the sign, and thanked me. Two high-school-to-college-age girls in a white Toyota stopped on the bridge behind me and asked what the sign said. When I spun it around, they both threw a thumbs-up and gave a little cheer. They belong to the generation that largely sits out elections, probably like the lawn service crews, pickup and beater drivers.
I’m not trying to sell this particular message. It’s just that our other sign protests in bluer neighborhoods are more partisan and geared toward movement-building. That’s needed, of course. (“I’ll have what she’s having” events.) But activating the non-voters who don’t believe anyone has their backs is key to Democrats being once again in a position to help them. Moving Democratic pols from being able to help them to actually helping is the next step, but one step at a time. Rebuilding trust must come first.
Rather than some version of “Save democracy” or “Trump is a fascist,” less-engaged neighbors may first need to feel that someone understands their struggles and has their backs before they’ll trust that we are not simply seeking power for power’s sake. They can see that every day on TV.
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