ASHLAND – Although the chaotic primary season may have some questioning the state of our country, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted believes American democracy is alive and well.
“Democracy works. It’s the greatest system in the history of the world. And it’s going to work right here in Ohio,” Husted said.
Husted spoke Thursday evening at the Sheriff’s Annex on East Main Street at a State of the State event sponsored by the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce series.
The title of Husted’s address was, “What in the world is happening to American democracy and can we still believe in it?”
Husted reminded the audience that just one year ago, no one would have thought Donald Trump would be the Republic nominee or that Bernie Sanders would push Hillary Clinton as far as he did, but that is exactly what has happened.
Recent polls show that 60 percent of Ohioans have a negative opinion of each candidates.
“In the history of Ohio presidential elections, there has never been a candidate who stood for the presidency who ever had negative rating of 50 percent prior to the election, and yet we have two candidates who are at essentially 60 percent.”
To illustrate what is going on in our country, Husted told the story of his hometown, Montpelier, Ohio.
“It’s not just a political statement, it’s a story of economic and social change in America,” Husted said.
Located in Williams County, Montpelier has a population of about 4,000 people. Husted described the village as a farming community with a manufacturing sector that supported the auto industry that was thriving in nearby Toledo and Detroit.
“It was a place where people worked for manufacturers and had good lives,” Husted said. “But it was a place that has seen a great deal of change.”
Husted’s father, two uncles and an aunt worked for the same company, Mohawk Tools, which at the time employed around 400 people.
For awhile, Montpelier and its residents prospered.
“It was a full-service kind of community,” Husted said.
By the mid-1980s, that all started to change as globalization and automation hurt the area’s manufacturing sector. Many of the manufacturing facilities closed or cut jobs.
“The company my dad worked for, it closed. Understand, it employed 400 people in a town of 4,000. There wasn’t a lot of places for those folks to go.”
Husted’s family members were forced to move to find new jobs.
“They had worked in the in the machine tool industry their whole lives, and at 50 years of age, they didn’t have many options,” Husted said.
“It created not only economic anxiety, it also created social anxiety,” Husted said. Separated families left people without a support network or safety net.
Besides the factories closing, many of the family farms in the area were bought up by corporate farms.
“There’s nothing special about the story of my town,” Husted said. “Why is that? Because it happened in every town in rural America.”
Husted said that there’s no way to turn back the clock; globalization and automation are here to stay, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“If you work in technology or you have the right kind of education or you’re in one of those growing industries, there’s never been more prosperity,” Husted said. “There’s a lot of good things about what’s happening in the economy, but if you don’t have the right kind of education or skills, or you’re working in an industry that’s facing intense global competition or it can be automated, times have really never been tougher.”
Husted said understanding what is happening to the people in those categories is key to understanding what is happening in America.
Since 1999, adjusted for 2014 dollars, household incomes have dropped by 16.1 percent. In Williams County, the decline has been more severe – 26.7 percent, the worst rate in Ohio. This drop has left households unable to save for retirement or kids’ college funds.
Husted said people from places like Williams County are tired of hearing politicians repeatedly promise that they are going to fix things and make things better, only to watch things get worse for the common person.
A friend told Husted that people in Williams County were going to definitely vote for Trump because the establishment has lied to them for too long and they don’t want them making decisions for them anymore.
“I believe this is good news. It’s a wake-up call. I think a wake-up call has been sent in the election process this year, where people have said, ‘You know what, if I don’t pay attention, I could get sent packing,’” Husted said.
Both sides have been forced to question their long-held ideological views, but change takes a long time, Husted said.
“I don’t think when November gets around, that the verdict will be handed down. I think it’s going to take a long time. In the meantime, I believe we need to have a conversation in our country about the economy. And I believe that’s the message that the people of America were trying to send. That the working-class Americans need their leaders to be honest with them about what it will take for the American middle class to achieve victory in a globalized, automated economy.”
Husted says Americans have realized that change is not going to come just from who is elected as President or in Congress.
“For the most part, the things that are going to make their community better are not going to come from Washington. They’re going to come from moms and dads, labor leaders, faith leaders, educators, chambers of commerce,” Husted said. “The people right there in your own community, that look at the drug problem and say how are we going to fix it. That look at the education problem and say what are we going to do that’s better. Where business leaders and educators and people that make up the core of this community, all of you, say, ‘You know what. We’re not going to wait on Washington. We’re going to solve the problem ourselves.’ Then we’re going to tell them what we need to get it done.”
Answering the question given in the title of his address, Husted said he thinks people can see the answer.
“We can believe in it because in 2016 American democracy is working. It’s sending a message that both political establishments are shaken to the core and they understand that they need to change.”
While some may bemoan the current economic situation, Husted asked the audience if they would rather have been alive now or at other times in our country’s history, fighting for freedom in the Revolutionary War, struggling to preserve our country in the Civil War, facing global conflict in World War I or World War II.
“Hasn’t every generation of Americans faced something tough? That’s what democracy is about,” Husted said. “It’s time for this generation of Americans to recognize that the change that’s happening, this global automated economy, is real. That people are being left behind and that we need to reach back and help them as we grow and move forward. As we compete and try to win against the rest of the world, we have to look out for all Americans, built on the foundational values that made us great: freedom, hard work, personal responsibility, compassion for our fellow citizens. That’s what it’s about.”
