Rural Democrat: Jess Piper
February 22nd, 2024
“People always say that Missouri is a red state, and I say Missouri is an uncontested state.”
Jess Piper is the Executive Director of Blue Missouri and the host of the Dirt Road Democrats podcast. We discuss the reality of living in rural Missouri, the state of education, and the dearth of Democratic candidates across the state.
Rural candidates have little to no support from the state party, but Republicans enjoy the support of local churches. One-third of Missouri is rural, but there is not a single elected Democrat representing these areas. Uncontested races are bad for democracy and without Democrats in the race, there is no contest of ideas. In Missouri, for example, multiple school districts only have four-day school weeks, but there have not been elected Democrats who are willing to push back and properly fund these public schools.
Follow Jess on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/piper4missouri
Follow Mila on Twitter:
Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/
Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!
http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard
Take the Democracy Group’s Listener Survey!
https://www.democracygroup.org/survey
Want to support the show and get it early?
https://patreon.com/futurehindsight
Credits:
Host: Mila Atmos
Guest: Jess Piper
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producer: Zack Travis
-
Jess Piper Transcript
Mila Atmos: [00:00:04] Welcome to Future Hindsight, a podcast that takes big ideas about civic life and democracy and turns them into action items for you and me. I'm Mila Atmos.
It's 2024 and the future of America is in your hands. Democracy is not a spectator sport, so we are here to bring you an independent perspective about the election this year and empower you to change the status quo.
American democracy resides in states. That's where so much of the legislation that affects our daily lives is decided, all the way from school choice and reproductive freedom to ranked choice voting or voter ID laws. So one of our most favorite things to do on the podcast is to talk to citizen change makers who step up and get engaged at the local and state level, which we know is unglamorous but vital to our democracy.
Our guest today is Jess Piper. She was an English teacher for 16 years and ran for District One in the Missouri House of Representatives in 2022. She now serves as the Executive Director of Blue Missouri and also hosts the Dirt Road Democrats podcast. Jess, welcome and thank you for joining us.
Jess Piper: [00:01:30] Hi, Mila. Thank you so much for having me.
Mila Atmos: [00:01:33] How did you get involved in politics? Why did you run?
Jess Piper: [00:01:39] Well, I had no plans of being involved in politics, but I think, like so many people, after 2016, after the election of Trump, it sort of, you know, jarred me into activism. And the first time I ever marched was in January of 2017. But I was an English teacher, and I left my job and had no plans of doing anything else. In 2019, Missouri passed an abortion ban, and I was horrified by that. And in 2020, when I went to vote for Joe Biden, I didn't have a Democrat on my ticket for state rep. And I just told my husband when I came home, it's enough, you know, if nobody else is going to do it, then I'll do it.
Mila Atmos: [00:02:18] That's a great story. I mean, a lot of people... We like to say on on Future Hindsight that there's a lot you can do between voting and running for office, but definitely kudos to those who have the courage and the energy to run. So what got you off the sidelines was abortion rights, but that's definitely not the only issue. In rural Missouri. When you were on the campaign trail, what were the issues that were front of mind for the voters?
Jess Piper: [00:02:46] Education. You know, I was a teacher for 16 years, and I couldn't run for state rep and keep my teaching position, so I had to walk away. I walked away after 16 years with a master's degree, making $41,000 a year. We are 50th in beginning teacher pay in Missouri. We are 49th for educational funding. 30% of our schools are on a four day week. So parents are desperately looking for childcare in childcare deserts because the school's not open. So education obviously was front of mind for me, but also roads. I mean, we don't have shoulders out here. Health care. Our hospitals are closing. We've lost 12 rural hospitals in the last 20 years. So all of these things, I mean, I'm making Missouri sound like a really backwards place. But you know what? These are the things that need to be said.
Mila Atmos: [00:03:38] Yeah. Well, thank you for centering education first and foremost. And I know that you're super vocal about this on Twitter. And since you were a teacher, I feel like let's start there before we get into the other issues. You are specifically against the diversion of public school funding outside of this system, and you describe yourself as a rural mom fighting for rural schools. We all know, of course, that one of the conservative ideas in education is school choice. And for many of us, we think about charter schools in this context. And in New York City at least, they're often considered better schools, which is not necessarily true, but that is for sure the wide perception, and therefore a lot of people think that school choice is good for us. But what's the problem with school choice in rural areas, and how has that worked out in Missouri?
Jess Piper: [00:04:30] Well, there is no school choice. I live in a town of 480 people. So when they talk about market solutions, they're not talking about rural spaces across America, because I don't have a coffee shop, I don't have a grocery store, I don't have a Target. There is no one coming to a rural space to open up a choice school. So that just means that my daughter's school gets less money. She brought home a textbook that
was 20 years old and the binding... There was no book left. And I tweeted out that photo because that's very representative of what rural schools look like. And I had a lot of folks respond to me saying, "well, they don't need books anymore. They're online." And one: that's not true. We know that kids learn really well with books in their hands, not in front of screens. But also, that's really cute. Because do you think that all of these schools have internet access, right, or reliable internet access? So it doesn't work like that. There is no choice for us if your child is rural, if your child has a disability, if your child is gay, if you're gay, and they try to pull apart the fact that it's not always religious schools who are getting this funding, that is not the case. I don't know of any school within three hours of me that's private and not religious. Right? So this is funding. This is siphoning of public money and sending it into church coffers, which I think should bother everybody. And just the fact that it doesn't make sense. There is no choice.
Mila Atmos: [00:05:56] Um hum. Yeah. It doesn't make sense. There is no choice. And we should not be funding churches with our education dollars because, I mean, for starters, churches don't pay taxes. So it's a it's really insulting to have a taxpayer pay for church school. But in any case, be that as it may, you just mentioned also that 30% of Missouri schools are on a four day schedule. And in fact, I listened to your podcast about education, and you mentioned that that has been the case in some areas for 15 years. And I thought, wait, what? Like how did that come about? And how come the parents have not revolted? You know, I know in Missouri you can actually add a ballot measure to amend the state constitution. For example, in Kentucky, the Constitution explicitly prohibits public dollars to be spent outside of public schools, so that has effectively prevented, for the time being, campaigns to weaken public schools in Kentucky. So I'm wondering how a campaign to change the Constitution in Missouri has not been attempted specifically around schools.
Jess Piper: [00:07:05] So Missouri has much of the same language that Kentucky does. Our Constitution specifically prohibits public funds going to religious schools, but they're doing it anyway. And our ballot initiatives have been the way that we have, you know, legalized recreational marijuana, medical marijuana. We beat back right to work. We made sure that we expanded Medicaid. However, they're attacking our IP process right now to keep us from going around them and speaking directly to the people. But the four day week is not because schools save money. The four day week is because we can't recruit and retain teachers, because the teachers at my daughter's district start
out making $32,000 a year, because after Missouri retirement, they have $1,400 a month in their pocket because they can't afford to stay in these small districts. So it's a revolving door of teachers. These little districts put in time and resources into brand new teachers who leave the next year and head to Kansas City where they can, you know, eat. So it's very problematic. And we're under a GOP supermajority. So that means that Democrats don't even need to show up to work for bills to pass in our state. But what they've done is systematically defund our schools for ten years at least, and they've been in power for 20. And then they turn around and say, well, look, look how poorly these schools are doing. And you're like, wait, friend, who did this? Who took the money, who made sure that we couldn't recruit teachers, who has been attacking teachers, who's been attacking librarians? And then you want to turn around and put it on them. Like my whole focus of this is to say, who's been in charge and what have they done? And if they're showing you that there are failing schools out here, who's responsible? Right. You pulled the funding.
Mila Atmos: [00:08:56] Mhm. Well talking of funding, how much funding is spent per student in the state of Missouri. And does it differ in rural areas or in cities? And comparatively what do you think should the funding be?
Jess Piper: [00:09:09] It's inequality across the board. They might spend $18,000 on a kiddo in Saint Louis where they spend seven in my area. Right. It's based on taxes, on your local property taxes and business taxes. So you take a community like mine where the house across the street from me just sold for $20,000, right? That's our tax base. We don't have stores. We have a gas station and three smoke shops. I don't have a place to buy a gallon of milk. So basing our kids' education off of three smoke shops and, you know, a convenience store that's problematic. And that's what we're doing. And my school is not failing, by the way. We're still getting by even with a lack of resources.
Mila Atmos: [00:09:54] Hmm. Fascinating. So how is it surviving if you don't have the resources? Do you do fundraisers or what are you doing in order to make that work? Because I'm sure there are some schools with that kind of meager funding that that are failing.
Jess Piper: [00:10:09] Some of them are, and that's why they do go to four days a week so they can still keep well qualified teachers in the classroom because they're like, "okay, I only have to work four days a week. I can find a side hustle, you know, to be able to make my rent." But there again, like talking about fundraisers and things, we don't have folks who can afford to give money to the school. Right. Because most of the folks out here are poor. 50% of the kids in my local district are on free and reduced lunches, so they just get by like they've always got by, you know, with books that are 20 years old, with teachers who have been there for a couple of years before they leave, and maybe we got the best of them while we were here. I'm not sure, but it's not fair. It's not equitable. And this is something that, you know, we need to be talking about in Jeff City.
Mila Atmos: [00:10:56] Well, we're speaking at the end of January, and the battle for public school funding is really hot and heavy right now in the state of Missouri. There are a series of committee hearings on this topic in the state Senate, and there is a calling campaign to State Senator Koenig and Senator Rawden in order to prevent these bills from passing, basically to prevent diverting public funds away from public schools. Tell us more. What are these bills about and what are parents saying?
Jess Piper: [00:11:29] I knocked thousands of doors in rural Missouri. I never talked to one person who said, I don't want to fund my school. I want to send that money to a private religious school. That never happened. Everyone that I talked to is very happy, pleased, excited about their community school. I mean, we're the Mustangs and we want our kids to be the Mustangs, right? We don't want that taken away from us. When you close or consolidate schools because of a lack of funding, you lose your mascot. You lose Friday night sports, you lose the things that are important. Our schools are our epicenters of rural communities. If I don't want to hang out at the smoke shop, I've got the school, right. That's where we do our voting. That's where we go to get together. It's where we come together as a rural community. So what Senator Koenig and Senator Rawden are doing is absolutely outrageous. And I'll tell this to everybody. Those men took $100,000 combined from a billionaire out of Saint Louis whose entire mission is to defund schools, get rid of teacher retirement, and privatize these schools. So the fact that they are writing bills that they received $100,000 to do, I mean, I say it all the time, but I wish that everyone understood. The only reason these two men care about privatizing schools is because they receive campaign donations to care. They are not
listening to Missourians. I have never, like I said, heard anyone say, I just wish we could close my local school. And the same thing happened in Texas. And what gives me hope is that Texas so far has been able to stop school vouchers because the Democrats were against it and rural Republicans. They came together because rural Republicans know that they will face the wrath of their constituents when they close their local schools. And that is what gives me hope. These men are not doing it because they heard Missourians crying for this. They're doing it for campaign donations.
Mila Atmos: [00:13:24] Thanks for making it very plain. So you're now the executive director of an organization called Blue Missouri. Tell us about the organization's mission, because I think it speaks directly to one of the problems you have here that you didn't have choice at the ballot box, but also, it doesn't sound like you have people necessarily standing up in the Senate. You just mentioned there's a Republican supermajority in the House in the state lege, and so Democrats don't even have to show up.
Jess Piper: [00:13:55] People always say that Missouri is a red state, and I say Missouri is an uncontested state. We pass progressive ballot measures. We have recreational marijuana, right. People are excited about progressive ballot measures. So I have other folks say, then why do they vote for Republicans? Well, friends, they didn't have anyone to vote for. 40% of our seats went uncontested this year. When I go to the ballot -- because I'm executive director of Blue Missouri, I'm not running. When I go to the ballot, there's going to be no one for me to vote for. So you can't turn that around and say, well, this is your problem because you vote poorly. I don't have anyone to vote for. And so at Blue Missouri, that was their big mission. Most folks don't know that just because you put the D behind your name, you're not getting money from a state party. You're sure not getting it from the National Party, but in general, you're not getting it from a state party either. There are hundreds of down ballot candidates who don't receive a dime of state party funding, so it's every man for himself, right? I figured that out when I ran, and I was able to raise enough money to do it. But I look across the state and I see candidates who have $1,500, $2,000 to run a race, and you can't do that. And so the mission -- it was started in 2017 -- was to fund down ballot nominees to give them the funding, you know, that other organizations aren't willing to do and they're not willing to do it because of this, because these races aren't going to flip in a cycle. And so people are like, why would I give money to somebody who isn't going to win?
Well, because, say in the boothill they haven't had a candidate for 20 years. Two decades. No one's ever heard a Democratic message. You can knock on a door and they will say, I have never seen a Democrat in real life. And you're like, you have. You just didn't know it, right? But without candidates, there are no boots on the ground. There is no one doing the door knocking in local communities. And that not only impacts that district, but it impacts every race above it because there is no democratic message. And they're in those information silos. Right. And unless we have a candidate, they'll never hear it.
Mila Atmos: [00:16:08] We're taking a short break to hear about the Words To Win By podcast, a fantastic show from our friend, Anat Shenker-Osorio, and we'll be back with Jess Piper in a moment.
Anat Shenker-Osorio: [00:16:23] What if most things you've been told about politics are bullshit? Kick off 2024 by unpacking what it takes for progressives to win. From ousting Brazil's Bolsonaro to damming the red wave in the US midterms, tune in to the Words to Win By podcast. As we confront authoritarian regimes, corporate greed, and the conventional wisdom that unwittingly abets them. Season Three is out now. Listen and follow Words to Win By wherever you get your podcasts.
Mila Atmos: [00:17:00] And now let's return to my conversation with Jess Piper.
Well. So in your district, nobody's running. You ran and you lost, and you know that it's not going to get flipped in one cycle. But this was not without any repercussions, your campaign, even though you didn't win. And even though this is only just one step in flipping the seat, hopefully eventually. But tell us about what the impact was for the electorate in you running and also on your opponent's campaign.
Jess Piper: [00:17:34] The big thing was my opponent had to campaign. The big thing was he had to show up to forums, he had to talk to voters, he had to knock on doors. He had to call people. They haven't had to do that for decades. What he would like to talk about was Hunter Biden's laptop. What I forced him to talk about was schools and roads and hospitals and abortion bans. So when you run, you force these people to work, which is nice in and of itself. Right? They didn't just get a free ride down to Jefferson City, so I forced him to stay home. But more than that, too, I forced him to spend
money. So they raised $100,000 because I was raising money and they couldn't ignore me. So that money wasn't able to just sit in somebody's pocket in Jeff City and start chipping away at blue places in the state. When we don't run, they don't keep their money in their pocket. They go to Saint Louis and Kansas City and Columbia and start knocking doors there. Right? They give a GOP message where we're only hearing a blue message. So that's why it's so important, even when you know you won't win, even when you know the odds are stacked against you, it's still so important. It's also, frankly, undemocratic to not have someone to choose, right?
Mila Atmos: [00:18:51] Totally, I totally agree. I definitely think that you should always have people from both parties in the race having 41% of the seats uncontested, and only Republicans running is bad. But I would like to say also that it's to only have Democrats, which is the case in some places in New York, also not good. Like you said, it's undemocratic. You were talking about the fact that Democratic messages are not going out. And when you encounter some people, they're saying, oh, I've never met a Democrat before, which is not true. So rural Americans are widely believed to be conservative. We know now that's of course not true. So I've been wondering if there are so few rural Democrats, or is it a problem of messaging, of connecting the dots between rural values and democratic values, big D democratic values? Is it a problem of turnout or is it something else?
Jess Piper: [00:19:47] Well, what happened is, you know, Democrats pulled out of rural places. There is, you know, no party people coming here and trying to organize folks in my area. The GOP has also pulled out. But I'll say this, they already have built in organizations because they have a bunch of churches. So my little town of 480 people has four churches. Well, at least two of those churches are organizing for GOP values. They are, you know, pro-life. They are Pro-Second Amendment. They feel like their values align with the GOP. So the Republicans don't have to come into my space because the churches are organizing for them. But when I talk to rural Americans about their actual values, about economic issues and that sort of thing, they always align with the Democrats. And so it's just taking people, shaking them and reminding them this isn't who we are, right? We should have solidarity here for people who need a union wage, for people who need childcare, for people who need health care, for people who may need an abortion or a public school because we can't afford to send our kids to private schools. Solidarity friends. We're not voting for these people who are voting
against us just because they say, you know, they're anti-abortion. These people are not pro-life. And I know that your listeners know this, but really speaking to people in my community and saying, Missouri sent back $42 million last year that was meant to feed kids, hungry kids. They sent it back. Does that feel pro-life to you? Right. The Iowa governor I'm three miles from the Iowa line. The Iowa governor, she tweeted out yesterday a photo saying that Joe Biden's ideals don't match up with hers. She had a picture of razor wire and a tiny little shoe, saying that it is acceptable to drown women and children on the border that are trying to come over here. Does that sound pro-life? So just bringing this up and talking to people, it's called deep canvassing, but it's going to doors. And when I went to doors, sometimes I was there for an hour because, you know, it takes that long, because people want to understand why I look like them, why I talk like them. But I'm a Democrat, like, what's wrong with me? Right? And once they listen and they hear, they're like, oh, you sound like someone I would vote for. I still can't because I'm a Christian. I can't vote for you. But in their mind, I got the gears running, right.
Mila Atmos: [00:22:11] Well, it sounds like you should be running again. But speaking of running, we had a conversation with David Pepper, and I know he's involved with Blue Missouri. And, you know, one of the things that he said to us is that in these uncontested races, when you suddenly contest them, 50% of them flip, basically just because somebody else is there and, you know, they're tired of the incumbent who's been there for ten years, 15 years, and you're like, okay, well, there's somebody else, finally, that we can vote for. In some places it's as simple as showing up. But specifically in Missouri, how can you get more people to run, to at least have choice?
Jess Piper: [00:22:49] I think that we really need to be leaning on the Democratic Party and asking them to do more than what they're doing to increase their presence in rural spaces. One third of Missouri, 33% of this state is rural. We do not have one elected Democrat from a rural space. That's problematic. And that's on the party for leaving, for dropping out, for taking the money. And I get it. I understand why people would say, I think we could flip these three seats. Let's pour every resource we have into these three seats. But you left 160. There are 160 other places that need resources. Right. And if this strategy worked, of just picking the most likely to flip Missouri would be in great shape. But instead we are rock bottom. We do not have one Democrat elected statewide, not one, and we haven't for three years. So if I could say anything and I
would talk to the party and say, you need to do something, it's time to stop walking away from people. It's time to bring people a message. Be forceful. And if you followed me on Twitter, you know I don't sugarcoat anything. I tell folks the truth, and I point to where the problem is. This is the problem. This is how we fix it. Let's do it.
Mila Atmos: [00:24:07] Well said. You're very well informed, so it's a pleasure to learn all of this about the state of Missouri. We actually had a conversation with Sarah Kendzior in 2021, also in Missouri, and she was worried about the state of Missouri becoming irreversibly red at that time, which is exactly what you're saying, three years ago now. Right? Whereas before it was solidly a purple state. And most notably, of course, Claire McCaskill was a longtime Democratic senator representing Missouri. So speaking of Senate races, what are you hearing on the ground about Senator Josh Hawley running for reelection? And does a Democratic candidate stand a chance?
Jess Piper: [00:24:48] I don't know that we stand a chance, but I don't hear good things about Josh Hawley, not even from Republicans. I don't hear anything good coming out about him in places like mine. I know that people always want us to be completely divided, but I have to talk to Republicans because they're my neighbors. That's everybody at Walmart and Hy-Vee. Everyone's a Republican, so I don't hear good things about him. I don't know that we can flip it, though. I mean, I'll work and do whatever I can. I knocked doors for Claire out here in 2018. I was the only person that I know knocking doors in northwest Missouri for her. People were against her because she was a Democrat. They had no issues with her. They didn't understand what she did. They didn't understand how she helped Missouri or harmed Missouri. Either way, they just knew she was a Democrat and they didn't like her. And that's what I'm saying is the whole point is that we have to be out talking to these people, not just in election cycles, but every single day, right? Visiting and talking with people about democratic ideals, because Josh Hawley, he's lying. He acts like he's for unions now. He tried to go to a UAW strike in Wentzville, Missouri, and they were like, "what are you doing? You tried to pass right to work laws. What are you doing, Josh?" He is showing up and pretending that he is someone he's not and is someone who's been watching politics. I can't believe... It's just he's lying outright lying about his positions and his past positions. But it might work. You know? It might work.
Mila Atmos: [00:26:26] Yeah, well, I think it's a problem when people are just going to be voting straight ticket without actually understanding what people are standing for. You know what the candidate is all about. I want to turn back to education here because it's clearly a big issue in Missouri. If you could wave a magic wand, what would you do to fix education in Missouri?
Jess Piper: [00:26:52] I would probably start with teacher pay, because we know one of the best indicators of a kiddo doing well is having a well qualified teacher. So I would increase the pay so that I could increase people wanting to go into education. I have friends that work at the university that's not far from here. Northwest is really known for producing teachers. They're not getting education candidates. They're not getting folks wanting to go into education anymore. And I have a son who is a special ed teacher, and I can feel it. Right. So I would start with teacher pay and then I would increase the funding for schools. I would stop the scam, the scheme of siphoning money from public schools. Missouri is sitting on a $2 billion, um, amount of money that we got from Covid and from the feds for different things. We're sitting on this money, and instead of looking at what we could do for education to make things better, they're talking about tax cuts, right? These folks are not serious about the business of education. They did this purposefully. The money was defunded so that they could show everybody that public schools are bad. They're failing. Send your kid here and it's going to take a long time to unwind that. But I know because I talk to folks, they don't want this privatization scheme. We need to fund the teachers, fund the classrooms, and quite frankly, have our lawmakers stop attacking teachers and calling them names like groomer, pedophile, all the things that they say, you know, that are outrageous. And when you're dealing with teachers, you're dealing with rule followers, people who don't like to stand up. And it's probably different in other places. But I know rural educators who are always the kindest people who take everyone into consideration and try to do the best they can. When someone calls them a name, it's like devastating, right? It makes them go, I don't want to do this anymore. And that's what they're doing here.
Mila Atmos: [00:28:50] Hmm. Tell us a little bit about your own campaign, because you were also the subject of being called names as a teacher, and essentially it prevented you from returning to teaching after you ended your campaign.
Jess Piper: [00:29:05] Yeah, it's difficult because of where I am. But, you know, I talked about the fact that women should have bodily autonomy. And so if I tried to go back to teaching right now, probably half of the folks in the district that hired me would say, I don't want my kid in her class, right. She's a liberal. She preaches politics or whatever, which is absolutely untrue. But that's what I'm dealing with. So I think it is worth noting that if you run in a place like I did, your life is liable to change. If you have a business, people may not come to your business anymore, right? You're dealing with special circumstances that don't happen to folks when they run in, say, Saint Louis or Kansas City. So yeah, my life was completely turned upside down for the better at this point. But I loved my job, I loved teaching, and I don't have that career anymore.
Mila Atmos: [00:29:54] Hmm. What did you learn about running for office in your district that is informing your work today, and you wish more people understood about politics, specifically in your area?
Jess Piper: [00:30:10] I would say that it was worth it. At the end of the day, it was completely worth it. I talked to so many folks that I wouldn't have. They heard that our values are the same. Even though we vote for different political candidates, it's hard to demonize someone when you speak to them at your door. And I'll say this too. I was attacked constantly online. I have to mute my comments because, you know, it's just hundreds of folks calling me names. But when you knock at a door, that doesn't happen, even if they know you're a Democrat, even if they think that you might be, you know, the devil incarnate, they're still going to be nice to you at the door. And that every rural candidate that I've talked to has had the same experience, right? I had one woman throw me off her porch and I had one man say something inappropriate, but other than that, they were regular, everyday interactions with folks. So I hope that people aren't discouraged from running, thinking that they're going to be attacked in these ways, because that isn't necessarily true.
Mila Atmos: [00:31:11] Yeah, that's good to remember. So what are two things an everyday rural citizen can do in defense of democracy? Small d democracy.
Jess Piper: [00:31:24] Vote, obviously. And if you don't have someone you know on your ballot, if you don't have a choice, maybe you can do it or you know someone who can do it because like you said, it is just, you know, undemocratic to not have a choice
on a ballot. But more than that, even if you are a Republican, even if you vote Republican, straight ticket when they're trying to take away your local school, you have a voice. You should contact these people. And I think a lot of people don't think that. They think that it stops at voting and it doesn't. It's constantly -- and I think about this because I was a teacher -- it's constantly correcting. Helping them show what you want, your values and how they can represent that in legislation. The bad thing is, at least in Missouri and several other red states, our legislators don't write their legislation. They get it, you know, straight from boilerplate legislation from ALEC or, you know, Koch-run industries, or other donors. So the funny thing is, pay attention to them when they're in session, listen to them, watch them, question them, and guide them to do better.
Mila Atmos: [00:32:33] Yeah, I think one thing that is often not understood is that your elected representative, you have a right as a constituent to contact them, and even if they may not read your email or listen to your voicemail, there is a staffer who compiles all of these messages, tallies them, and shares them with your elected rep. I think it's really important that people do this work and do the reaching out and email is so easy, you know, it's faceless.
Jess Piper: [00:33:00] Yeah.
Mila Atmos: [00:33:00] To your point, it's not like being face to face. But rest assured, whatever comment you have for somebody who is elected in your district as a constituent, they have to read your mail and listen to your voicemail. So tell me a little bit about how you started Dirt Road Democrats, and what is the audience that you're trying to reach?
Jess Piper: [00:33:21] I'm speaking a lot to my folks, to my rural, progressive folks, and just being a cheerleader saying, "we are here. I see you. I know you're here. I've been here the whole time. So let's be louder. Let's talk to each other." And the name actually came from... I was on Twitter one day and I said, you know, I'm a rural progressive. I'm the real deal. I live out here. And someone said, you're a dirt road Democrat. And I was like, can I use that? He was like, absolutely. So the name just makes sense because I am who I say I am. You know, we live on a small farm with a couple of acres and a donkey and some cows and, and, you know, just living the life. I will say this to a lot of folks will tell me if you don't like it, if you don't like Missouri, move. And that's not the
point. It's my state, too. This is my state, and I should be able to have a say here. And just because I'm not a Republican doesn't mean that every kid in my town should suffer from, you know, a defunded school. So we're not moving. I've drawn my line in the sand. I don't like traffic. I don't like having to talk to people when I walk out my door. And this is where I'm staying. This is where I'm going to live. And I just can't stop fighting because I'm not leaving.
Mila Atmos: [00:34:33] Yeah. Well said. It's good to be in it to win it. Well, also, just to make a difference in your immediate environment. Right? To your point, just because you might have different values doesn't mean you have to live someplace else. And good schools are for everybody. Good schools are for Republicans and Democrats. Right. And also roads. You know, you said your roads don't have shoulders. Good roads are for everybody too. I feel like this is sometimes lost, that we're fighting about the same things for the same things.
Jess Piper: [00:35:01] Exactly. Your listeners may not know. If you are, you know, driving down the road and a combine is coming against you. You've got nowhere to go. Those things are huge and we don't have shoulders. So it really is, it is a big issue.
Mila Atmos: [00:35:13] Wait, so you're just driving off the road and you're like on dirt when a combine comes through?
Jess Piper: [00:35:17] Yeah. You're just going to have to move. You're going to have to find a space, you know, in the grass on the side and let them go through. So yeah they're huge.
Mila Atmos: [00:35:24] Yeah. Yeah. I mean I've seen combines. As a fun fact, I was an exchange student in rural Idaho many, many years ago when I was a teenager. So I've seen combines in real life. Uh, not not just in a magazine. Yes. Well, um, so tell me a little bit about your reach on the podcast. Do you know if other rural Missourians are listening to you?
Jess Piper: [00:35:47] I hear from them. You know, if I, if I go into the weeds with, say, an author, they're like, huh? But if I'm talking, you know, with a local politician about what's going on. Yes, I hear from them and they're like, just yes, please just keep saying
this. And that's a lot of motivation too, is that I don't just have a social media presence, but I talk to them. They talk to me, I talk to them. We send messages. I don't know them in person, but, you know, they feel like they're alone in their little town. And sometimes I can feel like that too.
Mila Atmos: [00:36:16] Yeah, well, thank you for producing the podcast and reaching other rural listeners and also people like me in the city. I learned a lot. Thank you so much. So as we're rounding out our conversation here today, looking into the future, what makes you hopeful?
Jess Piper: [00:36:34] The kids. And you know, I taught high school for so long, but I was just talking to a student from Northwest who called me last night. She was talking about the abortion ban, and she said the same thing. What makes you hopeful? And I said, you. You. You talking, you listening, you trying to gather facts and make decisions about policies in this state. And I have five kids myself. I know that they didn't live in a world with an abortion ban. They didn't live in a world where gay folks couldn't get married. They didn't live in a world where trans folks were attacked just for, you know, needing to use the restroom. So my hope is that these kids are looking around and seeing that their government is not representative of them or their values, and that they're going to do, quite frankly, what my generation didn't do, right, that they're able to say no more, we're not going to do this anymore. So they they make me very hopeful.
Mila Atmos: [00:37:29] Yes, it's very hopeful. Young people are very hopeful nowadays. They really are real activists in their own communities. Thank you very much, Jess, for joining us on Future Hindsight. It was really a pleasure to have you on the show.
Jess Piper: [00:37:42] Thank you Mila, I really enjoyed it.
Mila Atmos: [00:37:45] Jess Piper is the executive director of Blue Missouri and host of
the Dirt Road Democrats podcast.
Next week on Future Hindsight, we're joined by Sam Wang. He's professor of neuroscience at Princeton University, where he established the Princeton Election
Consortium, and the Gerrymandering Project, which does nonpartisan analysis to understand and eliminate partisan gerrymandering at a state-by-state level.
Sam Wang: [00:38:19] Gerrymandering is indeed an offense against democracy. I think we have this naive view that that democracy should just be people voting, and then we get what we vote for. I would characterize that as being like our faith in markets where we think that markets will take care of things, but actually markets need rules.
Mila Atmos: [00:38:34] That's next time on Future Hindsight.
And before I go, first of all, thanks so much for listening. If you like this episode, you'll love what we have in store. Be sure to hit that follow button on Apple Podcasts or the subscribe button on your favorite podcast app, so you'll catch all of our upcoming episodes. Thank you! Oh, and please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts. It seems like a small thing, but it can make a huge difference for an independent show like ours. It's the main way other people can find out about the show. We really appreciate your help. Thank you.
This episode was produced by Zack Travis and me. Until next time, stay engaged. The Democracy Group: [00:39:28] This podcast is part of the democracy Group.