CURTIS, Nebraska - The only health clinic here is shutting down, and the hospital CEO has blamed Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s signature legislation. But residents of Curtis - a one-stoplight town in deep-red farm country - aren’t buying that explanation.

“Anyone who’s saying that Medicaid cuts is why they’re closing is a liar,” April Roberts said, as she oversaw lunch at the Curtis Area Senior Center.

  • pack@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    They are sooooo close. Yes, our system of health care, which requires private partnerships that need to profit is the problem. And, the current party in power is exacerbating that issue. Theses people can be brought into the fold if you don’t spend your time doing victory laps for being right. End of the day they are still humans that deserve health care, regardless of if they voted “wrong”.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      My experience is that a lot of people are completely closed to factual argument. It’s like their brains shut down as soon as you introduce a number. They’re not necessarily stupid people, just intimidated or untrained in information, and I find it very difficult to communicate with someone who puts equal weight in some pundit saying, “US healthcare is the best in the world” and an OECD chart that shows US life expectancy is 5 years shorter than “peer” nations.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldOP
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      19 hours ago

      Theses people can be brought into the fold if you don’t spend your time doing victory laps for being right.

      I actually agree with you, but I don’t think these people in particular are the ones coming into the fold. It’s the ones who are realizing they’ve been lied to and changing their minds, and yes, people really, really need to stop throwing it back in those people’s faces.

      To me, we’ve hit 1941, and folks need to understand that you’re going to have to ally with a few Russians with whom you have a mutual disdain if you want to take down the fascists.

      • pack@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        Maybe. Maybe some are too deep, but you don’t need all of them. The margins are tight enough converting a few percentage to agree with a public option is enough to make it happen.

      • snooggums@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        It’s the ones who are realizing they’ve been lied to and changing their minds, and yes, people really, really need to stop throwing it back in those people’s faces.

        If they can’t handle being mocked for making stupid decisions in the past then they will just go right back to voting for the leopards as soon as things improve ir pressure from the fascists increases. They should feel shame and actually learn from it.

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldOP
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          19 hours ago

          They should feel shame and actually learn from it.

          This point-of-view is shortsighted and silly. Those votes are needed, and you just saw it nine short months ago. At some point you are going to have to grow up a little.

          • snooggums@lemmy.world
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            18 hours ago

            That is the kind of attitude that leads to Harris courting Republicans like Cheney without addressing all of the terrible shit Cheney does support.

            Worked out great!

            • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldOP
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              18 hours ago

              The problem wasn’t that Harris courted Cheney.

              It was that she stared down a whole population of Americans who got poorer under Biden and said publicly: “I wouldn’t do anything differently.” It also didn’t help that she told all of these increasingly impoverished people to just be joyful for three months of her campaign before even addressing anything policy-wise.

              But, at the end of the day, if you want people’s votes, you’re going to have to figure out how to display some level of empathy, because openly hating everyone who votes differently hasn’t worked to win them over to your side.

              • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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                16 hours ago

                I’m not convinced that “showing empathy” is the way to court Republicans. It’s just seen as weakness, and weakness is a joke to them.

                I’m thinking back to my grandmother’s funeral in Appalachia. She had a small terrier as her companion in her final years. They were inseparable. Multiple of her male relatives made the joke “I thought we were just going to toss the dog in the grave and bury him with her”. Hardy-har har. The dog was small and therefore weak and therefore a joke.

                There were similar scenes between my mom and her coworkers when my dad was in hospital dieing of COVID-19. I’m not going into them because I already done triggered myself.

                Anyways, that’s how I ended up with a surprise dog to take back home to a blue state. He’s still a good boy, even though he’s now a grumpy teenager.

                • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldOP
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                  15 hours ago

                  I’m not convinced that “showing empathy” is the way to court Republicans.

                  I feel like I’m being very clear here, but let me clarify.

                  I’m not referring to the sadistic people that you’re referencing. There is, I think, a distinct difference between the cultists and the voters that Democrats can scrape off with a little effort.

                  I’m referring to the ones who are showing regret for their vote, because most Democrats seem content to push away all those votes without any regard for the fact that you absolutely need to flip the people you can in order to change the party alignment of the Federal Government.

                  • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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                    15 hours ago

                    Thank you for clarifying. TBH I got who was saying what a tad mixed up in the thread.

                    I can get behind not outright mocking folks that seem interested in leaving the cult. I just also think the sadistic and casually cruel folk are the norm rather than the outlier, based on experiences growing up in a Red State and visiting as an adult.

              • snooggums@lemmy.world
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                17 hours ago

                But, at the end of the day, if you want people’s votes, you’re going to have to figure out how to display some level of empathy, because openly hating everyone who votes differently hasn’t worked to win them over to your side.

                First of all, I hate them for who and what they voted for and not becsuse it happened to be different. This isn’t some pick a team and hate everyone else thing, they chose evil.

                I also don’t want their votes, and chasing those votes is a fool’s errand. Spending the time motivating disengaged people to show up like Obama and other candidates with positive messaging is the path to success.