Scoop: Dems Plan to Teach 2020 Candidates How to Talk to a Trump Voter

Metaeconomics does not favor either the Right-Isle or Left-Isle, Red or Blue States, but it does help form substantive questions for both Isles to consider. Also, as the rest of this Website makes clear, Metaeconomics is about balance in Right&Left-Isle, Market&Government which arises from careful, empirical based fact collection and analysis as a key part. Also, Metaeconomics highlights the need, like did Adam Smith in the Theory of Moral Sentiments book (Smith, 1759), the "other book" about the true nature of a Good Capitalism, to look to one's conscience, to empathize, which is how a moral community is formed, before making an economic choice. So, this piece by McCammond (2019) is intriguing because it raises the issue of just what is the moral ground as between Red (Right Isle) and Blue (Left Isle) States, that is affecting voter choices about who is to be the main force in the Administrative Branch, who is to be the President?

The piece points to how former Left Isle Senators Heitcamp and Donnelly, both of whom recently lost elections in Right Isle states, have implemented the One Country Project (see at: https://onecountryproject.com/# ) which will work to bring rural voters over to the Left Isle. As McCammond (2019) notes: Heitkamp and Donnelly will work with campaigns before the election, giving them messaging, data, polling, and a strategy to break through with these voters who "didn’t feel that we shared their beliefs" in past elections ... , and, also attributed to Donnelly: "Culturally, they’re focused on faith and family and country, and Donald Trump tells them all the time that we’re not, even though we are." Heitkamp adds: "What we heard on the ground is that the Democratic Party no longer speaks for the entire country" ... "They’ve forgotten the middle of the country and forgot to even show up.... (speaking to national leadership of the Left Isle party) ".. need to recognize that there are voters in rural America who will again vote for the Democratic Party if they hear ideas and goals that are consistent with what they need to thrive. The Democratic Party needs to be a 50 state party, and not just an urban party."

So, what is this all about? Can we make empirical sense of this, using Metaeconomics? I believe the answer is a resounding "yes", due to Metaeconomics highlighting the need to look at the Other-interest at work in each case. In effect, while both the Right and Left Isle in the US have historically shared a quite common set of values within a shared Moral Community, a shared Other-interest... such as greater economic opportunity for everyone, tolerance of diversity, social mobility, commitment to fairness, avoiding damage to the environment, and dedication to democracy (after Friedman, 2005)... for some reason politicians on either side of the Isle seem to believe only they represent these things. Also, as Adam Smith and other Economic Enlightenment thinkers taught us: The elements in this Friedman (2005) list are essential components of the Moral Dimension of a Good Capitalism, so why would not both Right and Left Isle rest on that foundation?

The important Metaeconomic based empirical question is: Are these moral values, such things as ensuring economic opportunity for everyone, uniquely different as between Red and Blue states? Is that really the case? What is the empirical evidence? A Metaeconomics based guess is that both Red&Blue have more overlap in what they share than most politicians are even aware.

On an important side-road.... and side-roads are especially important in rural areas!!... here: Especially with regard to economic opportunity and growth, which is a substantive concern in both Red&Blue-states, perhaps even more in the Red-states, the Friedman (2005) book needs to be considered by everyone, no matter which Isle is favored. The key point is, which is also made in Metaeconomics (What is Meteconomic Growth), that economic opportunity and growth is about both the Material&Moral, the Self&Other-interest, Market&Government: These are synergistic, they arise jointly, together. One is not possible without the other. Also, one can see some good ideas on both Right&Left-Isles, defined by ideas that have a fact base, a scientific base, an experiential base, what actually works, pragmatically speaking, and not just ideological claims.

So, both sides of the Isle need to look to the moral claims, the moral dimension, the moral community that actually works. Metaeconomics points to the likely empirical reality that both the Right and the Left Isles need to be 50-state parties ... with both Isles agreeing on the fundamentals of what makes for a truly liberal democracy based good capitalism. Seemingly we need to build and operate on a shared Other-interest that works toward a good capitalism for the entire US. The One Country Project points to this essential need.

Friedman, Benjamin. The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth. New York: Vintage Books, 2005.

McCammond, Alexi. “Scoop: Dems Plan to Teach 2020 Candidates How to Talk to a Trump Voter” Axios (April 25, 2019