Anger, Bitterness and Small-Town America

[Renaissance Man]

So, today I decide to log on to DU because I wanted to catch up on the latest manufactured outrage, and behold, there's something new. The only problem is that the "new" isn't really new, and it should be common knowledge for anyone who halfway pays attention to economic patterns and trends and what has happened over the course of the last 25 years.

I was raised in small-town America in the South in a community with a tax-base primarily supported by people working in marine and fisheries, oil refineries, textiles. You name it, the blue collar worker was there to work the job. Small businesses (the local pharmacy, convenience store, a few small banks and small mom-and-pop clothing retailers were there) and you felt some sense of security and you held a belief that the American Dream was possible, even in what is often a small part of America often forgotten. You know small town America -- little league baseball games, Friday night football games, cotton candy and the county fairs, etc. Everything America was intended to be in a little encapsulated space.

Small-town America felt the pinch of Reagan economics and somehow managed to "get by" enough to endure the savings and loan crisis and the ensuing government bail-outs and waited for the day where a man like William Jefferson Clinton would save America from itself, right? After all, something just had to be done about the welfare queens driving off in their Caddy's right?

Wrong.

In my small-town America, Wal-Mart eventually invaded, and everything that I had known about my piece of small-town America was destroyed. NAFTA ushered in a period in which a small textile plant that employed workers at $4.25 an hour with minimal benefits (in the 80s) decided to ship its jobs to Mexico, and my small-town lost half of its population. People felt the pinch in their pockets, and couldn't afford the very modest lives that they'd built for themselves.

Thanks to upward mobility and that chemical engineering degree and a little Affirmative Action, our family was able to thrive, while watching small-town America collapse into economic decay.

Horrible.

This all tells me that yes, people are bitter, angry and frustrated, and they certainly shouldn't be pandered to by multi-millionaires that vote for and "laugh away" back-door trade deals and bankruptcy bills that keep small-town America in its current condition while simultaneously shipping GHB toys to its children, only to make sure that they just may have enough money to buy milk at $4 a gallon.

Honesty. Try it. It feels good. Even better from someone wanting to be YOUR president.

[scheming daemons]

1. K&R .... despite your teletype font....

;-)

[jefferson_dem]

2. Wow. Great post.

Oh the irony.

It's the most "offensive" politicos, hacks, and shills who tell us we should be "offended" in the first place...by the truth.

[ShortnFiery]

3. Kudos! Thank-you for your thoughtful post.

I also grew up in a "very small" town 106 people. No joke. I had to be driven 8 miles to attend school because we only had a Post Office, Pool Hall and American Legion Hall on a dirt main street.

As such, I can relate to your narrative. If it wasn't for my father doing better and moving our family away (to the big city of Pierre, SD), I'd be back there. If I were lucky, I'd be working at the Sale Barn or milking cows one of the small dairy farms.

Rural life is a hard working and tough life even when times are good. People are resilient but the economic policies of the D.C. power elites has seemingly sucked the life out of My Home Town. :(

Thanks again for putting it so well. :hi:

[The River]

4. Good Post

K&R

[airduster]

5. You miss the point, Renaissance

Why did Obama say that people who lose their jobs "cling" to religion? Can't he think that people sometimes genuinely believe in God?

Jeez.

[scheming daemons]

6. Read "What's the matter with Kansas?" It answers your questions and ....

...shows how Obama is exactly right.

[MadBadger]

7. You do realize that Obama himself is a religious man

What do you think he is, an atheist?

[Renaissance Man]

8. Actually, I understood him quite well.

Perhaps, if you viewed the video from his speech in Indiana, you would have understood this point.

When people have become so cynical that they have accepted that Washington won't do a damn thing for them economically, then they refocus on the things that they feel won't change -- their churches, families, and some preconceived notion that they are being threatened in some way (either by gay marriage, the right to bear arms, or some other non-sensical wedge issue that is intended to divide the electorate).

People tend to cling to the things that they feel won't upset or disappoint them, and more often than not, religion is one of those things. I should know it. My dad's a reverand.

Meanwhile, while people cast their ballots on wedge issues, they're totally neglecting that they're taking it up the rear from Washington that consistently votes against their economic interests. If anything, he actually strengthened and encouraged their faith because he realizes that with the hell-hole that has become our economy, their religion and clinging to it may be the only thing that is left (you know, after their pensions, social security, homes, and jobs are gone).

[unapatriciated]

30. Yes Yes

That is exactly how I understood what he said. In fact I was having trouble getting enthused with is candidacy until now. I voted for Edwards and did not think Obama really understood what has been going on since the early 70's. He showed me he had the courage to voice what we all know to be true.

[SunsetDreams]

9. you miss the point apparently

He meant clinging to religion (God) this way. If you are religious, we say God will provide for our needs. God will answer our prayers and deliver us from the nightmare that we are living in.
Unfortunately God can't fix our gas prices, our mortages, our bills, grocery prices, Iraq war, our family members being killed over there.....because it's all man made.

That's what he meant.

[sudopod]

10. Because people who don't believe in God

attend church religiously for twenty years. :p

[phrigndumass]

15. Another one bites the dust?

airduster has ceased to be.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

27. tell me how its done

I would love to know how to get the cement pizzas delivered.

You can pm me if necessary (if rules prohibit discussion on this issue).

[phrigndumass]

29. it's not me ...

the mods are using the force, and the force is with them :D

[krkaufman]

38. Wow. That was short-lived. 6 posts and gone.

edit: What did they do to warrant tombstoning? Some post elsewhere, certainly. The above nonsense doesn't seem offensive.

[lmbradford]

36. he is a christian...

Don't you think it is logical that he understands why people are religious? Of course he does, he was trying to say that they become one issue voters because they don't believe the economic promises of the politicians anymore because they have been lied to for so long.

[krkaufman]

37. No... YOU missed the point.

They *had* jobs, religion and/or guns. Now all they have is religion and/or guns.

And rather than addressing the core of their problems, economics, politicians have instead been pandering to these "other" concerns, as well as ginning-up new bogeymen to substitute where the typical lightning rod issues don't grab 'em.

[SunsetDreams]

11. Great post , thank you

I couldn't agree more, and thank you for sharing your story.

[celophan012]

12. Once again, someone ignores key parts of Obama's comments

That people "cling to religion" when they are unemployed. As if employed people didn't "cling" to religion. Or guns.

[scheming daemons]

16. You're quoting out of context....

....but you knew that already....


being as you are a repeatedly banned troll returning yet again.

[Kajsa]

22. Celophane- for everyone else reading this,

Let's stop this BS right now, OK?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5462777&mesg_id=5467601

[phrigndumass]

28. That's two in one thread ... dust

Mods must be using new technology to find the zombies ...

:loveya:

[Swamp Rat]

13. Yeah you rite!

:thumbsup:

[NoFederales]

23. Great Pic! Can you do that with Choctaw? nt

NoFederales

[Swamp Rat]

26. Thanks

I think the version I created is sufficient to get the point across, but you are welcome to create another. The more the better! :hi:

[NoFederales]

32. Most of my files were lost in a fire and my great uncles will not

speak of the past (I try to understand this, but ............). Maybe someday I will take up the search again; finding photos is the most troubling, next to the story tellers.

I hope you are able to market your ideas, they are very good.

NoFederales

[phrigndumass]

14. Kicked & Rec'd ... government cheese

Reagan's answer to small-town America was government cheese. When my twin sister and I were teenagers living with our mother who earned $130 a week bartending in a small town, we needed government cheese. That's all that trickled down to us.

Growing up, I've lived everywhere from NY (Queens) to Phoenix to small towns in the midwest. The hardest times we've ever experienced were when we lived in small towns. Life really was bitter for us. I'm happy to see a presidential candidate actually understand that and elaborate on it.

If it weren't for government-backed programs, I would have never been able to afford college. Two degrees later, I managed to put a lot of that bitter life behind me. My mother still lives in that small town, but now she has help from her family.

Good read, Renaissance Man!

[anonymous171]

17. Hillary, by trying to land a knockout blow, opened herself up attacks on her support on NAFTA

and Walmart.

[K Gardner]

18. Excellent thread, RM.. welcome to DU and keep posting ! K&R

[fuzzy otter pop]

19. my brother by another mother.....

I'm
a
small town
white boy
raised working class
in a double wide

now I am in law school
and
i say

Obama called just like I see it
and
just like it is

[Renaissance Man]

20. Ironic

I'm in law school as well. Just edit white for black and double-wide for single family home, and we practically had the same experience.

It's nice to know that we both know what small-town America is and we both know that Sen. Obama is pretty much speaking the truth.

[Scurrilous]

21. K & R

:thumbsup:

[bhikkhu]

24. And the whole thing set to music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTW0y6kazWM

This is one of my favorite tunes they play on NPR, and something of a manifesto of where we are, with a great political message as well.

[knixphan]

25. Yes! Honesty!!

[Tatiana]

31. Recommended. Another HONEST and TRUTHFUL poster that "gets it." n/t

[blondie58]

33. Great read. Renaissance Man

and a big welcome to DU. Keep 'em coming, this was great. I love it when someone states the truth, which is basically what Obama did.

[mcollier]

34. Yeah Blondie

Watching the Sunday talk show pundits "Cling" to the statements made by Obama was a clear example of how out of touch and wrong they are about Obama... They could not quite the crowd that was cheering as Barack was speaking the truth...

Listen to the crowd get louder...

[azmouse]

35. kick

[krkaufman]

39. k'd.. well said. n/t

Too late for an r.