Oct 23, 2024
Matt Crawford speaks with educator and author Matthew Ferrence
about his book, I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural
Decay. When a progressive college professor runs for the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a deeply conservative
rural district, he loses. That’s no surprise. But the story of how
Ferrence loses and, more importantly, how American political
narratives refuse to recognize the existence and value of
nonconservative rural Americans offers insight into the political
morass of our nation.
Ferrence and I discuss how we feel voters are being spoken at
instead of to and how the machine of politics makes some outcomes
predetermined against the will of the people who vote for those
exact outcomes. A great read at any time in our history but
especially now.