Seven years ago, for one night, the attention of the national political class in this country was on a small town in the middle of Virginia called Farmville. The occasion was the vice presidential debate between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. A handful of Farmville’s 8,000 residents were in attendance. Most of the debate focused on issues that no one even pretends to care about anymore, like Donald Trump’s tax returns, and the fact that Trump called Rosie O’Donnell a fat slob. There was also a lot of talk about the internal politics of faraway countries like Syria.
What didn’t come up, in any meaningful way, is what either party would do to help towns like Farmville. And that’s odd, when you think about it. By the time Tim Kaine, Mike Pence and the national press corps showed up in 2016, Farmville had been bleeding population for many years. The median income in Farmville was an obvious cause for concern — it was less than half the median income in the United States, and dropping. Thousands of residents lived in poverty. And yet, despite that, all that the residents of Farmville heard during the debate were vague promises and cliches about an economy that would soon “work for everyone,” and leave no one behind.
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