You are not wrong but you're also asking people who feel their immediate future is in jeopardy to look beyond the woes of their small town and consider the larger, interconnected global economy. I'm a Silicon Valley tech worker so my reality is far different than this scenario, but we've got to find a way to frame the conversation in terms that will engage the other half of the country who do feel this way. Who knows, we might even find out that they have some good points.
> you're also asking people who feel their immediate future is in jeopardy to look beyond the woes of their small town and consider the larger, interconnected global economy
First of all, the nationalist assumption that humans are sociopaths and care only about themselves is wrong; they try to promote anger constantly, but that's not the normal state of affairs. Healthy people care about others.
Second, what I'm talking about will benefit their small town and them personally. As I pointed out in detail, reductions in trade harm them directly. Economic problems harm them directly. Working class people in the U.S. wouldn't be in so much jeopardy if they had health care, better education, better unemployment insurance and welfare benefits. All this directly affects them.
> we've got to find a way to frame the conversation in terms that will engage the other half of the country who do feel this way. Who knows, we might even find out that they have some good points.
That assumes "we" don't. The issues are political and ideological, not economic. The GOP has rallied anger, racism, and populism to such a degree that Trump won the Presidency and a known child molester almost won in Alabama. The issue isn't policy; the angry people have no interest in economics, but in ideology and political warfare, to the point of destroying non-ideological national institutions (e.g., the judiciary, the FBI, the IRS, the State Department, etc.). The Democrats are cowards and avoiding political fight, pretending it's policy while their enemies fight scorched earth war. Predictably, they are losing ground rapidly.
The only places economic arguments matter are ones like HN, where some still value reason and knowledge.
Could you possibly direct us to what definition you are using for Nationalism? Judging by your words, it doesn't remotely resemble anything I've ever read.
