Over five years and in more than two dozen communities across Wisconsin, Katherine Cramer went to places where people gather \u2013 diners, gas stations, wherever \u2013 and asked people to talk to her about their big concerns. Many of them welcomed the chance to be heard.<\/p>\n
And a key theme of what they told her in rural areas was their resentment — that they were on the short end of things, that their opinions don\u2019t count \u201cdown there\u201d in Madison and Milwaukee where powerful people make decisions. \u201cWe don\u2019t get our fair share,\u201d and government was not serving their interests. That was what Cramer heard from many people.<\/p>\n
The result of her extensive listening tour was a book published this year by the University of Chicago Press, titled Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker<\/em>.<\/p>\n Cramer, a professor of political science and director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service at the University of Wisconsin \u2013 Madison, described what she heard and learned at an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d program Wednesday at Marquette Law School.<\/p>\n Some issues came up often in the conversations she had, Cramer said, including difficulties in getting health care and health insurance. But a broader sense of resentment and distance from those who are better off and have more power came through strongly. That showed up in discussions of voting, she said, where specific issues often were of less importance than questions such as whether a candidate \u201cgets people like me\u201d and respects people who live in rural areas.<\/p>\n Cramer recalled how she was given pause by a question one person asked her: When do you take showers? She answer that she takes them in the morning. The person told her that a lot of people in that community take them when they get home from work because they are working grueling jobs \u2013 sometimes two or three of them \u2013 and are dirty at the end of the work day. And they don\u2019t get paid well, the local economy is not good, and they don\u2019t feel they\u2019re getting ahead. But people who work in government have easier jobs, and have things like health insurance and pensions.<\/p>\n A lot of the people who felt like this are determined to stay where they live and are loyal to their communities, Cramer said. They also don\u2019t want government to do more to solve their problems. She said a sentiment she heard often was, \u201cLook around in our community. Whatever government is doing is not working for us. Why would we want more of it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn a lot of ways, our rural communities are experiencing a sense of loss,\u201d Cramer said. People have a sense that the money is going to the cities, and they are in a recession that has gone on for 30 years.<\/p>\n Is there a way back from the resentment? One positive thing is \u201cthe fact that you all are here today,\u201c she told the audience of about 200 in the Appellate Courtroom of Eckstein Hall. She took that as a sign of people wanting to listen. People, she said, are unhappy with today\u2019s politics and divisiveness.\u00a0 She said things that reduce divisions are \u201cthe start of the turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n But change will take deliberate effort. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen just by chance that we\u2019re going to understand each other better,\u201d Cramer said.<\/p>\n