These Democrats are used to being outnumbered by the local Republican majority, but as their numbers continue to dwindle, those who remain are feeling increasingly isolated and unwelcome in their own communities. The party’s brand is so toxic in the small towns 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh that some liberals have removed bumper stickers and yard signs and refuse to acknowledge publicly their party affiliation. (AP) - Some Democrats in rural Pennsylvania are afraid to tell you they’re Democrats. Rural America is ground zero for what Thomas Main and James Traub would describe as “the rise of illiberalism.” In his most recent New York Times article, Thomas Edsall has described the global rise of nationalism and populism as being “the revenge of the places that don’t matter.”
