This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Sen. John Edwards can thank his 'two Americas' speech for positioning him in the go-to spot for the vice presidency.

In addition to his attractive Southern demographics and personal charisma, Edwards, more than any other Democrat vying for the presidential nomination, gave average people a reason to get out and vote Democrat. His exhortations over the widening economic divide - what Republicans derisively call 'class warfare' - struck a populist chord and starkly illustrated the differences between the two parties.

'Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one,' Edwards declared in campaign stops over the winter. 'One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward. One America that pays taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks. One America that will do anything to leave its children a better life, another America that never has to do a thing because its children are already set for life.'

Americans are tired of the news of greedy corporate executives who run companies into the ground and leave with millions lining their pockets, tired of watching corporations relocate overseas on paper to avoid U.S. taxes, and tired of seeing their paychecks stagnate while wealth accumulates for the richest 1 percent like nothing this country has seen since the Gilded Age. Not surprisingly, then, Edwards' message hit a bull's-eye.

Now the rest of the Democratic Party should learn from what Edwards so ably demonstrated: To win back the nation's heartland, the Democratic Party has to, once again, appeal to the world of working stiffs.

Labor and working folks, regardless of region, used to be the core of the Democratic Party. It made perfect sense. The Democrats concerned themselves with decent labor conditions, safety regulations and minimum wages. Democrats supported middle-class entitlements, such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, education and public parks.

Republicans didn't really care about these things. Their overarching interests included cutting taxes on the rich, deregulating the workplace, undermining organized labor and privatizing entitlements - policies that advanced the interests of the moneyed classes.

But somewhere along the line, perceptions got switched. Somehow, a narrative was successfully sold to Middle America and the South in which the Republican Party represented red-blooded, authentic, work-a-day Americans. Democrats, meanwhile, became known as the party of elite cocktail party liberals who turn up their effete noses at everyday Americans' values and beliefs.

How this story gained currency is astutely laid out in 'What's The Matter With Kansas?' a new book by Thomas Frank.

Frank describes how economically struggling Kansans shoot themselves in the foot every time they vote Republican - yet dependably they do so again and again. Frank attributes this phenomenon to the success of what he calls the 'Great Backlash,' a conservative strategy that has mobilized voters with 'explosive social issues' - abortion, gay marriage, un-Christian art - then uses its political mandate to advance pro-business policies.

'The leaders of the backlash may talk Christ, but they walk corporate,' Frank writes. 'Values may 'matter most' to voters, but they always take a back seat to the needs of money once the elections are won.

'Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital-gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again; receive deindustrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors; receive electricity deregulation.'

According to Frank, conservatives have been allowed to get away with this sleight of hand - and as a consequence they continue to dominate American politics.

Frank lays part of the blame for workers' large-scale defection from Democratic ranks on the party itself, particularly members of the Democratic Leadership Council - Bill Clinton's 'New Democrats' sandbox - who decided that blue-collar voters weren't as important to the party as wealthy professionals and corporations, from whom campaign contributions can be exacted. The New Democrats' strategy was to stand firm on controversial social issues but to abandon labor on deregulation, NAFTA, upper-income tax cuts and other issues.

Without little-guy economic issues as the central driving force of the Democratic agenda, voters in the center of the country saw little reason to balance their conservative cultural values at the ballot box.

Which brings us to the current situation, where the middle states vote solidly Republican, as American workers lose ground with every new election.

John Kerry cannily brought Edwards onto his ticket to address this preposterousness. By pounding on the values of economic fairness, Democrats can regain the ear of those who stopped listening. They just need to start talking about the right things.

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Tribune Media Services