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So a person in NYC can dictate what kind of laws a farm in Iowa has to abide by, when it's a completely different way of life and settings? No thank you! There is a reason why the electoral college vote exists. It's there to protect the states that don't have the coastal areas or beautiful mountains to bring in large vasts of tourist. Flyover states must be protected by the big cities, just as civil rights are needed to protect the blacks from all the whites in this country. If you cannot understand this logic, then there is no help for you.
Iowa is an odd example to pick to make this point, considering all of the power such a small proportion of the US population has over the selection of the Presidential candidates with its early Caucus. Let alone that Iowa does dictate laws the rest of the country has to abide by, with its corn/ethanol lobby that affects everything from fuel supply (and that gunk that is bad for motors) and the impact of subsidies on which foods are affordable/available for the rest of the country.
Here are some other good rural values: child abuse, spousal abuse, religious fundamentalism, racism, xenophobia, jingoism, authoritarianism, fear and loathing of anyone perceived to be different, willful ignorance, etc. Obviously not everyone in a rural area has those values, but they are widespread.
MSNBC host Joy Reid thinks that rural Americans are “the core threat to our democracy” and pointed to a series of tweets by liberal author Jared Yates Sexton that claimed Trump supporters “do not believe in the Constitution or any founding principles unless they're advantageous” as proof of her far-left theory.
She tweeted: "This is the core threat to our democracy. The rural minority -- the people @JYSexton just wrote a long thread about -- have and will continue to have disproportionate power over the urban majority."
"Rural Americans" = white people who do not adhere to the progressive ideology.
Because of the Electoral College, they wield a disproportionate amount of power. Their views are not always in sync with those of mainstream America.
Rural white Americans are disproportionately Evangelical Christians, against abortion, oppose equal rights for LGBTQ people, tend to be more xenophobic and hostile towards progress of any type.
As compared to suburban or urban voters, regardless of party affiliation, they are more conservative on every level.
Yes. I would say that they do pose a threat to standard American values.
When I was a kid, one of the worst insults you could throw at people, was to call them "farmers". That name implied stupidity and having backward values, in a society that was moving forward. To me, farmers and all truly rural people have always seemed not just ignorant, but conservative, racist and fundamentalist. Even in our blue state of Oregon, just going a few miles out of the cities, you can still encounter those who are mired in the worst parts of our past.
I lived in a city and attended an enlightened school in the University District, until age 11. Then we moved out to a small farm and I got a good perspective of the vast differences in these two opposed factions of our population. It was a cultural shock to me, being exposed to the ugliness and bigotry of those yahoos, after my earlier environment in town. Even the teachers and principal of the country school I had to attend, discriminated actively against "city kids" like myself. These people constructed the attitude I have towards them; I didn't go out there with any pre-formed, negative expectations.
What did they do? Call people with some perceived difference, names?
I think you need to get out more, then. The rural south is heavily Fundamentalist Christian and ultra-conservative. Look at the kinds of politicians that get elected there.
MSNBC host Joy Reid thinks that rural Americans are “the core threat to our democracy” and pointed to a series of tweets by liberal author Jared Yates Sexton that claimed Trump supporters “do not believe in the Constitution or any founding principles unless they're advantageous” as proof of her far-left theory.
She tweeted: "This is the core threat to our democracy. The rural minority -- the people @JYSexton just wrote a long thread about -- have and will continue to have disproportionate power over the urban majority."
"Rural Americans" = white people who do not adhere to the progressive ideology.
This is the problem with generalizations.
The Scotch-Irish are the "rural Americans" largely being spoke of. When they came to the USA they did not head to the city and ask what they could do for their country. They headed as far away from civilization as they could and were - from day one - distrustful of the government. This is why they had no problem with moonshine (not paying taxes, making dangerous brews, etc.) and also were known for incest, feuds and a number of other things we don't look up to today.
Note - I am not saying ALL rural Americans were like this or did this. And - now that the country is much larger - one set of rural Americans has little to do with another.
If you hang on these boards you will find MANY of these people who express the same opinions and say "wow, am glad I got outa there!" So are these people wrong? in some counties, 80% of the population has left - I would say that presents a danger to having a functioning society.
Constitution? I think they believe in it just like they showed with massive illegal liquor making - which continues to this day. But why make booze when million of good pill are being shipped in regularly from Big Pharma.
Or real about that crazy family in WV that was on TV.
Note - I lived in WV, TN, KY, PA, NJ and now New England so I do know a little about what is going on.
To put it in Trumps own terms - the "forgotten man" who is among the "uneducated he loves" is not a benefit to our democracy. I think bleeding hearts like myself would like to fix these things but Hero Libertarians like Rand Paul are too busy behind their locked gates and in their expensive suits.
BTW, I have smoked pot with many a country boy and spoke to them of many things and they wouldn't even know what the constitution is or "conservative" means. Rather they are looking to leave ASAP because they cannot make a living or a life...
There is nothing Red or Blue about this. WV was always BLUE. What there is is the usual in the USA - a lot of talk and a complete absence of action. Trump acts like he is do good at deals. Here is one for him. Open at least 10 plants or places of employment that pay decent wages and have a min. of 5,000 employees each - in WV. That would make a big difference. Of course, he also has to stop sending the opiates there,
Here are some other good rural values: child abuse, spousal abuse, religious fundamentalism, racism, xenophobia, jingoism, authoritarianism, fear and loathing of anyone perceived to be different, willful ignorance, etc. Obviously not everyone in a rural area has those values, but they are widespread.
Not saying rural areas are without its faults, but urban areas are hardly a utopia also, and I say this as someone who hates rural living.
We are a constitutional republic some people here and including this air head from msnbc should have not skip civic class in school!!
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I often hear people argue that the United States is a republic, not a democracy. But that’s a false dichotomy. A common definition of “republic” is, to quote the American Heritage Dictionary, “A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them” — we are that. A common definition of “democracy” is, “Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives” — we are that, too.
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We are a Republic. We are a representative Democracy. We are both and there is no conflict.
Okeechobee County FL is NOT in the Bible Belt. Try spending some time in rural Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, or Alabama and then try to tell me my perception of rural America is wrong.
I drove through Oklahoma couple weeks ago.......looked like mostly native americans and casinos to me.......
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