The Caricature of Country People | Tristan Shields

The Caricature of Country People

This is George. He lives in District 18. Despite what Fox News may want you to believe, George is not a cow. In fact, not all farm animals in District 18 are cows.

There’s nothing about living in the woods that makes you a member of the Tea Party.  When Fox News wants to showcase Trump Country they do the easy, cheap thing and drive 40 miles west from DC on Rt66 to Marshall, where my opponent lives. They set up their cameras in the 18th District and announce to the world,  “This is Trump Country.”  You and everyone else who live here knows that’s just not true.

Before I took a hard look at politics, I believed my vote in District 18 never counted.  I thought I was surrounded by people who didn’t think like me. I was seduced by the caricature that country people think and live one way and that I was the exception to the rule.

But I’m not the exception. Frankly, there’s nothing about driving a tractor that makes me want to deny anybody affordable health insurance. There’s nothing about fixing a culvert that makes me think that global warming is a hoax.  There’s nothing about picking a horse’s stall that makes me want to deport anybody.

It’s hard to have a conversation when you’re repeatedly told that you don’t exist.  If you feel like I do and you’re tired of being ignored,  let’s  shake things up in District 18.

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