Why Americans Hate Democrats—A Dialogue

[deek]

The unteachable ignorance of the red states.
By Jane Smiley

I say forget introspection. It's time to be honest about our antagonists. My predecessors in this conversation are thoughtful men, and I honor their ideas, but let's try something else. I grew up in Missouri and most of my family voted for Bush, so I am going to be the one to say it: The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not. (Well, almost 58 million—my relatives are not ignorant, they are just greedy and full of classic Republican feelings of superiority.)

Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states. There used to be a kind of hand-to-hand fight on the frontier called a "knock-down-drag-out," where any kind of gouging, biting, or maiming was considered fair. The ancestors of today's red-state voters used to stand around cheering and betting on these fights. When the forces of red and blue encountered one another head-on for the first time in Kansas Territory in 1856, the red forces from Missouri, who had been coveting Indian land across the Missouri River since 1820, entered Kansas and stole the territorial election. The red news media of the day made a practice of inflammatory lying—declaring that the blue folks had shot and killed red folks whom everyone knew were walking around. The worst civilian massacre in American history took place in Lawrence, Kan., in 1862—Quantrill's raid. The red forces, known then as the slave-power, pulled 265 unarmed men from their beds on a Sunday morning and slaughtered them in front of their wives and children. The error that progressives have consistently committed over the years is to underestimate the vitality of ignorance in America. Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are—they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence. The blue state citizens make the Rousseauvian mistake of thinking humans are essentially good, and so they never realize when they are about to be slugged from behind.

Here is how ignorance works: First, they put the fear of God into you—if you don't believe in the literal word of the Bible, you will burn in hell. Of course, the literal word of the Bible is tremendously contradictory, and so you must abdicate all critical thinking, and accept a simple but logical system of belief that is dangerous to question. A corollary to this point is that they make sure you understand that Satan resides in the toils and snares of complex thought and so it is best not try it.

Next, they tell you that you are the best of a bad lot (humans, that is) and that as bad as you are, if you stick with them, you are among the chosen. This is flattering and reassuring, and also encourages you to imagine the terrible fates of those you envy and resent. American politicians ALWAYS operate by a similar sort of flattery, and so Americans are never induced to question themselves. That's what happened to Jimmy Carter—he asked Americans to take responsibility for their profligate ways, and promptly lost to Ronald Reagan, who told them once again that they could do anything they wanted. The history of the last four years shows that red state types, above all, do not want to be told what to do—they prefer to be ignorant. As a result, they are virtually unteachable.

more at http://slate.msn.com/id/2109218/

[candy]

1. Americans hate Democrats? Aren't we Americans? n/t

[phantom power]

4. they're still framing the discussion, aren't they :-)

[Union Thug]

2. See, Marx was right about religion. That's all.

[MsAnthropy]

3. This is an excellent summary

Another of Smiley's good paragraphs:

"The reason the Democrats have lost five of the last seven presidential elections is simple: A generation ago, the big capitalists, who have no morals, as we know, decided to make use of the religious right in their class war against the middle class and against the regulations that were protecting those whom they considered to be their rightful prey—workers and consumers. The architects of this strategy knew perfectly well that they were exploiting, among other unsavory qualities, a long American habit of virulent racism, but they did it anyway, and we see the outcome now—Cheney is the capitalist arm and Bush is the religious arm. They know no boundaries or rules. They are predatory and resentful, amoral, avaricious, and arrogant. Lots of Americans like and admire them because lots of Americans, even those who don't share those same qualities, don't know which end is up. Can the Democrats appeal to such voters? Do they want to? The Republicans have sold their souls for power. Must everyone?"

[thomas_a]

5. Not Everyone Hates Democrats

Take a look at the election results map. Not the state by state map but the county by county map on the CNN web site. There are some solid blue states (Massachusetts rocks!) and some solid red states (Utah boo!) but most states, whether they went for Bush or Kerry, are not solid red or blue.

The southern states are derided as the land of Bush loving Deliverance characters but there are actually counties in Georgia and Alabama that went for Kerry and many counties in Tennessee. Even in Bush's home state of Texas, some counties recorded more Kerry than Bush votes.

Voters in Colorado, a dependable red state, replaced a retiring Republican Senator with a Democratic Senator. Boulder and Denver are as blue as they come.

I spent a good part of my childhood in Montana and I know that so many people there think the sun shines out of Bush's ass. But, it is not solid Red. The college town of Missoula (much more akin to Boulder, CO or Madison, WI than the rest of Montana) flipped off the rest of the state (as it so frequently does) and went for Kerry as did the old mining town of Butte, a one-time bastion of unionism. Also, the state elected a Democrat as governor, I suspect in reaction to the fact that the retiring Republican governor is so stupid that even Bush could outwit her with both his brain cells tied behind his back.

Yes, things look pretty grim right now for those of us who are opposed to republicanism but the force of history is with us and against them. Let's all resist the impulse to all form a Polish firing squad and instead regroup and prepare to launch a counter-attack. We lost a major battle but still have not lost the war.