What's the Matter with Us?
Back in October, Ace of Spades asked, "What's the Deal With Texas Democrats?" His answer, I think, could plausibly explain the embittered local Democrats who chatter around me all day. As I've written before, this county is so Republican that if, on the eve of the next election, space aliens kidnapped two of every three GOP voters, the Republicans still would win.
The result of that is the kind of ugly mediocrity in politics that bedevils any one-party state; infighting in party caucuses determines every outcome, issues never come up for serious public debate, and while lip service is paid to conservatism and religion, the real agenda is inertia.
But it also means the local Democrats are such a minority that, outside the city, which functions as a sort of anti-county, they have no real prospect of winning, and thus no experience of governing. Nor do they want any, in most cases. Where they gather, as in my newsroom, the talk is relentlessly negative, impractical, fatalistic, and full of pinings for the freedom of Canada. Texas, it seems, has that type, too.
One of those Texas liberals, of course, is Molly Ivins, who is, not surprisingly, regarded as a goddess in my newsroom. Good thing they'll never read Protein Wisdom's dead-on skewer of her style:
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Consciously or not, Ace of Spades' post title echoes the recent book, "What's the Matter With Kansas? which I plan to comment on soon. In looking up the data on its publication, I found a perfect example of the kind of madness that affects a liberal mind trapped too long in a Red State county. Among the reviews posted of the book was this doozie, written from my current home city:
Whew. A textbook case of Red State Liberal Syndrome. The symptoms:
1. Not even addressing the relevant issue (you don't learn anything about the book from this "review"), just heaping abuse on people on the other side.
2. Spouting every shibboleth, rapid fire, to make a rant stew without regard for argument or logic.
3. Extremely shoddy history: just one example, mixing up the timeline of the "In God We Trust" motto on the coinage (it began to appear during the Civil War and became universal in 1938, it had nothing to do with McCarthy). For another, reducing the extremely complex religious views of the founders to a one-word answer (even the deists among the founders seemed to regard a civic Christianity as a good thing for the masses).
4. Simplistic fatalism: "Kansas, et al. hate us."
5. Getting it obviously, verifiably, factually, fundamentally wrong, and not caring. Of the 21 people who gave the book one star in the Amazon reviews, only five are from Kansas. The rest come from 14 other states, including California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
The result of that is the kind of ugly mediocrity in politics that bedevils any one-party state; infighting in party caucuses determines every outcome, issues never come up for serious public debate, and while lip service is paid to conservatism and religion, the real agenda is inertia.
But it also means the local Democrats are such a minority that, outside the city, which functions as a sort of anti-county, they have no real prospect of winning, and thus no experience of governing. Nor do they want any, in most cases. Where they gather, as in my newsroom, the talk is relentlessly negative, impractical, fatalistic, and full of pinings for the freedom of Canada. Texas, it seems, has that type, too.
Liberals from the coastal cities aren't quite as nasty, or flat-out lunatic, as Texas Democrats seem to be. And maybe that's because coastal liberals are more smug and self-satisfied with their liberalism -- living as they do in a reassuring liberal bubble-- while Texas liberals, on the other hand, are not protected by any such bubble. Unlike their San Fransisco correligionists, they feel threatened and marginalized, and are determined to lash out -- thuggishly, if necessary -- against their perceived oppressors.
One of those Texas liberals, of course, is Molly Ivins, who is, not surprisingly, regarded as a goddess in my newsroom. Good thing they'll never read Protein Wisdom's dead-on skewer of her style:
Well howdy, this here’s Molly Ivins, nationally syndicated pain-in-the-ass, Official State Hemorrhoid of Texas, warning track liberal, & all-around hoot & a holler. In case you’re wondering why I sound like Minnie Pearl, that’s my schtick, okay? I been flogging it for 50 years, I cain’t think of anything new, so piss on a midget if you don’t like it.
* * *
Consciously or not, Ace of Spades' post title echoes the recent book, "What's the Matter With Kansas? which I plan to comment on soon. In looking up the data on its publication, I found a perfect example of the kind of madness that affects a liberal mind trapped too long in a Red State county. Among the reviews posted of the book was this doozie, written from my current home city:
What's the matter with 1-star reviewers? Oh, they're Kansan.
Let me see . . . Kansas has the 24th highest divorce rate by state in the country and Massachussettes has the lowest. That's right. The gay marriage state has the lowest divorce rate per marriage in the country! Blue states pay the most in taxes and receive the least. Red states pay the least in taxes and receive the most. Murder rates are higher in red states than blue states . . . Wait, wait . . . I'm confused by all the 1 star reviews asking "what's the matter with Massachussettes?" The answer: nothing. Blue states are where family values, compassion in the form of collective help for the poor (in red states), and traditional (i.e., the "faith of our founding fathers") values all reside. Somehow, bushwhacked folks in Kansas and like states seem to believe that they can catch up to the immaculate values of liberal states by legislating morality. How about y'all deal with the moral troubles in your own backyards and stop feeding at the federal trough, first!
By the way, blue states are the states most likely to get attacked by terrorists, and people in them DON'T SUPPORT BUSH'S APPROACH TO THE WAR ON TERROR (just look at the returns from NYC and DC, the two cities actually affected on 9-11)! Which just goes to show, I guess, that Kansas, et al. hate us enough that they're willing to watch their huge federal handouts disappear in the event of another, blue-state crippling attack. Thanks, folks. How `bout a new rule. If you haven't been a state for over 150 years, quit pretending you know what the liberals who won the revolutionary war against the theocrats meant by democracy. Support the theocrats in your own states if you want, but we've already fought these wars (one was revolutionary and the other "civil") and, frankly, I don't feel like fighting them all over again so we can finally get God and state separate again, like our deistic, non-Bible believing founding fathers wanted.
Look it up in the dictionary, folks. Deist. That's D - E - I -S - T. As in, pyramids were on dollar bills long before the McCarthy Era's revisionistic "in God we trust" was printed there. Maybe some of you states aren't old enough to remember, but the original pledge of allegiance didn't even mention God. This was another 50s addition to fool the new, pro-slavary, Jim Crowe states into believing that we were a nation founded on Jesus.
Oh, and finally, the author who wrote this book, to answer some one-star review questions, IS Kansan. So now ya know.
Whew. A textbook case of Red State Liberal Syndrome. The symptoms:
1. Not even addressing the relevant issue (you don't learn anything about the book from this "review"), just heaping abuse on people on the other side.
2. Spouting every shibboleth, rapid fire, to make a rant stew without regard for argument or logic.
3. Extremely shoddy history: just one example, mixing up the timeline of the "In God We Trust" motto on the coinage (it began to appear during the Civil War and became universal in 1938, it had nothing to do with McCarthy). For another, reducing the extremely complex religious views of the founders to a one-word answer (even the deists among the founders seemed to regard a civic Christianity as a good thing for the masses).
4. Simplistic fatalism: "Kansas, et al. hate us."
5. Getting it obviously, verifiably, factually, fundamentally wrong, and not caring. Of the 21 people who gave the book one star in the Amazon reviews, only five are from Kansas. The rest come from 14 other states, including California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
Labels: Democrats, What's the Matter with Kansas
