The strangers in their own home are those who "cling to their Bibles, their beers, and their guns". This is how Rampini describes the population of Americans who are left out of the increasingly liberal society of the United States. It is not only the ideology that is changing to be more accepting of gay marriage, abortion, and universal healthcare, it is also the changing market that has become more open with globalization. "Poor, white men can simply no longer achieve the 'American Dream' as easily as they once could" asserts Rampini.
He likens this to a political cartoon that he recently saw where white, American men are waiting in a seemingly immobile line to pass through a gate to get to the "American Dream". However, from the side there is also a line of minorities and immigrants who are cutting in front with the help of Liberal legislation. He uses this imagery to show us that success is no longer limited to one group or demographic of Americans. It has rather become more equal. Equality is something that many democracies work to create and maintain but where the US and the left fell short was in readjusting the job market to protect the middle and working class, especially in the mid-west.
This is the "Fly Over Country" that Rampini is referring to. It is the forgotten Americans in the middle of the country, in the middle class, or between success and poverty, who brought Trump to victory. While leadership focused much of their efforts on the coast, the mid-west was forgotten. Rampini suggests that in order to bring equality and logic back into American society, Americans and Washington must find a way to make those who were forgotten feel represented without losing the social progress the United States has made in the past few decades.
Watch the interview here:
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