Revenge of the Cletus Coalition
By Ron Marr (08/19/05)
To most of us who live in rural America, the intellect and character of many urban Democrats is virtually non-existent. We see them as condescending elitists who reside in a secular humanist fantasy world. They hate individualism. They hate anything and anyone that is opposed to a government sponsored nanny state. We see them as falling somewhere between fascist and socialist, seeking to control others "for their own good," but believing that their inherent superiority exempts them from the laws and rules applicable to others.
They do not seem to believe that wars are sometimes necessary; they do not seem to believe that evil exists. They do believe in religion and marriage, but only when they can bend these institutions to fit whatever whim brings them immediate gratification. They believe that the means justifies the end, as long as it is their means that requires justification.
Mostly we see them as being utterly obsessed with status and money, adult teenagers who are still waging a psychological battle against the mandates laid down by their long-suffering parents. We see their idiotic, self-possessed, ludicrous, pseudo-convictions as being nothing but the continuation of adolescent angst and rebellion.
Thus, it comes as no surprise that liberal Democrats are consistently baffled when rural voters grow increasingly hostile to their agenda. To their way of thinking, the rural vote should be ripe for the picking. Liberal Dems can't comprehend why the folks with grease on their hands and dirt under their fingernails are not begging to slurp from the government trough. They feel the income-impaired and under-educated cretins - The Cletus Coalition if you will - are voting against their own economic self interest when they support a Republican.
This is where the liberal Democrat hits a cultural obstacle which can never be traversed. To them, money is always the most important thing.
Followed closely by "fitting in."
The rural Redneck voter, the one who makes $7 an hour at the hide plant, barely graduated high school, and enjoys the heck out of a six pack of Bud and Monday night bowling leagues, has a different take. He many not have a masters in Peace Studies or sociology, he may not have visited the Sistine Chapel, and he may never have rubbed elbows with Johnny Depp outside the Viper Club.
But he knows something that the urban liberal will never grasp. Mainly, that there are a lot more important things in life than money. Mainly, that accepting the herd mentality is a pretty sorry way to lead your life.
I recently read of a new, Democratic survey on this very issue. Why, it questioned, do the rural voters despise the Democratic Party? What makes the residents of all those red states - those folks who live paycheck to paycheck and are more likely to sell plasma than buy a plasma TV - refuse the largesse that could be gained by simply succumbing to group think, marching in lockstep, and accepting the dogma of the left?
The answer had to be frightening to the Democratic pollsters. They found that, even if rural residents are dissatisfied with Republican economics, even if they oppose the war in Iraq, even if they let that cold turn to pneumonia because they lack insurance and can't afford a doctor, they will still not side with the liberals.
The reason is simple, but invisible to the left because it goes against the bedrock of their core theology. To the majority of rural voters, it is cultural issues, not money, that come first. There are the specific arguments - guns, the 10 Commandments, abortion, gay marriage, diversity and tolerance mandates and a host of others - but the wonky left cannot fathom that the rural voter paints and thinks in broad strokes. Laws against gun ownership equals an attack on liberties. The rural resident intends to protect himself and his family; not farm it out to an incompetent bureaucrat. Laws against the 10 Commandments, and laws supporting abortion and gay marriage, are perceived as an attack on their religious freedoms. The "I'm ok, You're ok" mindset does not play in the Red States, at least not outside the cities. You call them as you see them in the hinterlands, not as Teddy Kennedy and Oprah and Tim Robbins would like you to see them.
According to the details of this poll, many of the rural voters, even those who were less than fond of George Bush's Republican Party, went so far as to label Democrats as immoral and morally bankrupt.
With insights like that, it strikes me that those stupid hicks are a pretty sharp bunch.
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