To the Editor:

Re “Democrats Need a Rural Strategy,” by Michael Tomasky (Op-Ed, Nov. 8):

As a rural Democrat, I propose a truly extreme long-term solution for the Democratic Party in rural America: Start by actually caring about the lives, communities and cultures of rural America.

Don’t care because there are votes to be garnered or Senate seats to be captured but because these are fellow human beings who have been crushed by forces that are beyond their control — but not beyond our control as a united people.

The fixes are not hard to imagine: rural broadband, quality health care, good education (small classes are no problem here), good roads, not just those that whisk interstate commerce from one urban center to the next but well-maintained secondary roads linking communities to their neighbors.

But perhaps the most difficult (or is it the easiest?) solution of all is the most fundamental: respect.