Because there are not enough threads about the South on here lately... [View all]

[renie408]

I am a southerner. I live in The South. I like grits, I go barefoot a lot, I can make a mean gumbo and watermelon is considered dessert in my house many nights in the summer.

We do not own a gun or a Confederate flag.

We do not go to church at all, much less a Baptist church.

We are not conservatives.

I have said this before elsewhere, but I will restate it for the record here: I was born in Charleston, SC; lived in Atlanta, Ga, for much of my childhood; and now live the furthest north I have ever lived, which is about thirty minutes south of Charlotte, NC. My family tree (of which my 82 year old mother is very proud) has governors, Revolutionary War heroes and prominent South Carolinians scattered throughout it's branches. We also have slave owners on my father's side, of which we are not proud at all.

I like it here. This is home.

That does not mean that I do not recognize that the South has problems. BIG problems. But this impression that a lot of DUers seem to have of southerners going around obsessing about the Civil War, waving Confederate flags, singing Dixie and longing for the good ole days of Jim Crow or even slavery is just crazy. Are there racists here? You bet. Show me some place where there AREN'T racists. Are there unintelligent people here? Of course there are. But no more so than anywhere else. In my kid's high school, mixed race couples were common and not really commented upon. Black girls won Homecoming at least twice in the five years that they were in school, as I recall. The cheerleading squad was mixed. I have only heard the 'N' word in conversation a few times IN MY ADULT LIFE and those were with much older, dyed in the wool racists. Actually, even when I was a child (I will be 50 in two months), I would have been spanked HARD if I had ever said that word. I really don't think there is more racism here than anywhere else. I am not denying the experiences of the black DUer who has been the victim of racism his whole life in the South. I am saying that there is no way to tell if his experience in other parts of the country would have been significantly different. Had he been black in Philadelphia I am guessing he may have had just as hard a time. What about something another DUer mentioned...the 'stop and frisk' laws in other places? Where was the last race riot in the South? Of course, some places are less racist than others and there are racists pockets all over the country. But, basically, racism is a form of clannishness and, I am guessing, clannishness is a natural human deal. Racism may morph, but I imagine it will always be an issue that needs to be dealt with.

Now, what we do have here is genuine conservatism. I am thinking that conservatism dovetails quite nicely with the Southern tendency to enjoy tradition and ceremony. The other thing we have down here maybe more than other areas of the country is RELIGION. And religion also enjoys tradition and ceremony. Personally, I think that is probably far more to blame for the way the South votes than anything else. Tell somebody down here that your white kid is dating a black kid and 9 out of 10 people won't blink. Tell them you don't go to church and they give you strange looks. Tell them you are an atheist and they will sidle away from you in a hurry. I am telling you all, religion is a MUCH larger factor in southern conservatism than racism.

Conservatism is, at its heart, the reluctance to accept change. I think that some conservatives EVERYWHERE are becoming more acutely conservative because of the rate of change this country has been experiencing over the past ten years. Everything is changing so fast all the time. Technology, social issues, religion...America today is not much like America just ten years ago.

Come to some place like the South where, I admit it, we literally TALK slower than other regions and the rapidity of change must be seriously intimidating to those people who are reluctant to change in the first place. So, between the fear of change and the influence of religion, politically the South is doubling down on conservatism right now. But the thing is...change is inevitable. I have a lot of friends who have changed parties over the past ten years. They used to vote Republican and now they don't. They may call themselves Independents, but they do not identify with the current Republican party. The South trends more conservative than other areas and may always do so. But it isn't because Johnny Reb wants to refight the War of Northern Aggression all over again. Like have said repeatedly, the only place I ever hear the Civil War mentioned is HERE.

I would also like to point out that this thing of tarring the entire southern half of the country with the same brush is pretty mentally lazy. I am thinking Alabama and Mississippi are a whole 'nother kettle of fish from the rest of us. At least, we were always raised to think that Alabama and Mississippi were sort of the red headed stepchildren of the South, but that may have just been because we were in South Carolina and everybody has to look down on somebody.

Anyway, I go through life with people acting like I should apologize for being an atheist, liberal, Democrat in upstate SC without having to come to the DU and feel like I need to apologize for being born and raised in the South. It is ironic that every other generalization that gets made here is usually leapt upon immediately by the politically correct police, but generalizations about the South are just fine. Another form of clannishness? Maybe.