President Biden’s State of the Union Address is the perfect time to take a break from housekeeping issues and focus on national defense issues that are of prime importance to rural voters. Many rural voters refer to the president as the commander-in-chief and view his primary job as keeping the country safe.
It was not lost on rural voters during last week’s primary election that the Democratic Party placed a disproportionate amount of focus on Arab voters in the state of Michigan. No mention was ever made of rural voters. While you and I may understand why that was the case, to the average rural voter it just appears as another snub and reminder how unimportant they are to the Democratic Party. The underrepresented groups in politics in the upper Midwest sort out as follows:
My Township appointed my daughter as Deputy Clerk and she helped run last month’s election in Michigan. I took her lunch every day and spent time with voters of every kind. I was surprised at how much these voters knew about what was actually going on at the border we share with Mexico as well as the national security risks we are facing. The State of the Union Address is the perfect opportunity to address these issues, to acknowledge and reconnect with the rural voter, and to demonstrate how focused the president is on Commander in Chief issues. It is not the place to engage in the culture wars or focus on housekeeping issues.
Rural voters are keenly aware of the red flashing lights on our military defense board
At a fundraiser for wildlife habitat in Michigan last year, the host asked everyone in the room who had military service or an immediate family member who did, to stand up. Nearly all 300 people in the room stood up including me. 18% of residents in my Township are veterans - this is three times as many as the population at large. At the same time the following issues are in the news every day. Rural voters pay attention to these issues and talk about them:
• We are fighting a proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine.
• We are supplying and backing a war in the Middle East.
• We are engaged in saber rattling with China with respect to Taiwan.
• At the same time China is engaged in a massive military buildup including of its nuclear weapons arsenal.
• The US is suffering a massive ammunition shortage. The U.S. Army reports that it is running out of ammunition. NATO reports the same.
• Russia built an ammunition depot on Ukraine’s border and reportedly moved tactical nuclear weapons there.
• Russia has purportedly developed a nuclear weapon that can be deployed in space that would release an EMP sufficient to knock out large swaths of satellites.
• President Putin wondered aloud last week "(Western nations) must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don't they get that?!" It is hard to envision a clearer threat than this.
• Because of the possibility of Donald Trump being reelected for a second term as president, Germany is in talks with France and the United Kingdom about becoming a nuclear power and building its own stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons.
• We have a crisis at our southern border that must be addressed.
• We are in the midst of a massive campaign to put electric vehicles on the road but we have not yet secured our supplies of the lithium and rare earth minerals required to build those cars, 90% of which come from foreign countries and can be disrupted at any time.
• We are dismantling much of our reliable but dirty energy generation infrastructure without publicly reassuring rural voters that someone has their eye on power generation during a time of war. And indeed there are climate change scientists making this same point.
I was surprised and impressed when a neighboring farmer asked me whether or not solar panels are immune to an EMP attack. I hadn’t thought of that -- this is an excellent question.
As Tom Suozzi pointed out “The best politician is the politician who says what the people are thinking already. If the number one thing on people’s minds is the border crisis, you’ve got to talk about the border crisis, and you’ve got to talk about how to solve it.”
The Commander in Chief needs to talk about Commander in Chief issues
The State of the Union Address is the chance to establish the narrative that President Biden is the one to trust on national defense. The way to think about this is to ask yourself “Would President Zelenskyy talk about this issue?” President Putin? If not, don’t bring it up in the State of the Union Address. I suspect President Biden party has solid talking points on Russia, the Ukraine, the Middle East, and China and it would be presumptuous of me to add anything on those. I do have the following suggestions:
• Talk about the ammunition shortage.
I am aware that the administration is indeed taking steps to address the ammunition shortage. Talk about that. Republicans have. Rural voters want to hear that you are addressing that issue.
• Take this opportunity to pivot to plug-in hybrids as a national defense issue.
We are in the midst of a massive campaign to put electric vehicles on the road yet we have not secured our supplies of the lithium and rare earth minerals required to build those cars, 90% of which come from foreign countries and can be disrupted at any time. In the meantime President Trump is making the argument that fully electric vehicles don’t work for rural America. That is mostly true at this point. Rural America, however, does like plug in hybrids which solve all of the problems of all-electric EVs. And in fact a plug-in hybrid is a much greener solution than an all-electric EV simply because we can put five times as many plug-in hybrids on the road with the same amount of lithium and rare earth minerals that go into just one all-electric EV. And there are many steps we can take to ensure that those EV’s are plugged in as much as possible. This is a terrific opportunity to show strength and push back on environmental purists within the Democratic Party. I hear all the time that while President Trump routinely goes against his base and instead leads his base where he wants them to go, President Biden allows his base to lead him where his base wants to go. This is a great opportunity to show that this is not the case.
• Take this opportunity to establish a Strength and Resilience Czar.
While this is probably not the time to raise the specter that China might be installing EMP-resistant solar panels while we are not, it is the perfect time to announce the creation of a Strength and Resilience Czar. This position would keep an eye on everything that we are doing as we transition to green energy from a national security and defense point of view. I have heard rural voters raise the concern that perhaps we should be moth balling our coal-fired plants and ensuring that gas-fired gas plants can be converted to coal because coal is plentiful and can be stockpiled. Natural gas is not easily stockpiled and gas lines can be easily destroyed. The Czar would also work to ensure that we are not dependent on foreign supply chains.
• Discuss the efforts we are making to revitalize nuclear power in the US.
I am surprised at how much support there is among rural voters for nuclear power. And I know several people who work at power plants of various kinds. This is the place to discuss the efforts that we are making to revitalize our nuclear power industry. It is a strength and resilience issue.
• Seize this chance to talk about rural fiber optic as a national security issue.
Give an update on the rollout of the rural broadband initiative put into place by President Biden. Never portray this as a “benefit” to rural voters. Instead use the defense narrative to tout rural broadband as just another way the President is making rural America strong and resilient as we enter uncertain times.
• Change the narrative on the border crisis.
Republicans are running on the border crisis and have blatantly refused to pass legislation they approved to help President Biden address that issue. That is not going to change. What Democrats can change, however, is the narrative. I have been developing a solution that removes the focus from our southern border and I have been socializing a new approach with both my urban and rural friends. I plan to write that blog and publish it in the next day or so.
Conclusion
President Trump has been seizing the narrative that he is the better choice for national security and defense. At the same time rural voters have been ignored. Don’t focus on those issues in the State of the Union Address. We talk about those issues enough as it is. Instead use the speech to focus on meaty issues and seize the mantle of being the right choice from a national security and defense point of view. And take the opportunity to reconnect with the rural voter.