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What Right About Nebraska...How the Democrats Lost the Heartland of American Populism
By Doug Krieger
What’s Right about Nebraska: How the Democrats Lost the Heart of American Populism
This article is both old and fresh—especially, given the fact that the Democrats attempted (but miserably failed) to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in Ohio in the special congressional election (August, 2005). We used to do that when I played football . . . underdogs by 5 TDs and we only lost by a field goal—hey, we actually won—given the fact our loss was an embarrassment to the other team, right? So, gleefully the Dems. jump on the Dean bandwagon of interpolation and witness a sea change in the American body politic—that’s like saying we went to Iraq to spread democracy and freedom. Frankly, when Dr. Dean wakes up, after just missing the ferry (nice jump, though), the Dems. will do another revisionism of history and we’ll take a deep breath, sigh of relief, as the more things change, the more they stay the same.
By Doug Krieger – www.the-tribulation-network.org
Liberal Democrats don’t get it. America’s "book ends" don’t get it. Kerry’s on a boat somewhere and will wait until next week and film it. Barbara Streisand has never even seen it and wouldn’t know it if it were starring her right in the face. George Soros is scared to death of it; while, MoveOn.org knows it’s coming right at them—but, alas, Thomas Frank, allegedly, a recent convert from it, really can’t figure it out either—though try he may. Thomas sees and attempts to analyze it in "What’s the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America," but discovers "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."
Now, I’m not saying that I really see it all either—however, since East Coast transplant Frank, from affluent Johnson County near Kansas City, KS tried to figure it out—why can’t I give it a shot, since my ancestors, who hail from the heartland, are the victims of his analysis; and, besides, I’ve been transplanted to the Left Coast? Furthermore, I bear strong Populist Democratic roots `a la William Jennings Bryant, the Olympic-size looser of Democrat Presidential aspirations and Christian fundamentalist, all wrapped inside an enigma.
Truthfully, however, I’m a bit ambivalent in addressing the obvious—but for the sake of the effete left-wing of Americana who can’t see the forest for hugging the trees, nor distinguish adult stem-cell research from embryonic-stem cell research, I am pressed to do so and sidestep the remarks made by author Bill Watterson: The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.
A TRIP THROUGH THE CORN BELT
It was just about overdue for me to head to Hastings, Nebraska and visit the land of my forebears. So, in the summer of 2003—traveling east on I-80—we plunged fifteen miles or so south and discovered where three generations of German-Russians landed to work for the Burlington Northern Railroad and carve out their homesteads about twenty miles east of Hastings College in a quaint little berg called Sutton. Johannes (changed to John), Karl (changed to Carl) and Georg (changed to George) knew full-well that the old patriarchal system which ruled their households, from Catherine the Great’s invitation in 1763 to homestead the Volga region (and keep out the marauding Moslems) until 1890 (when they landed on Ellis Island), was gone for good—this was AmeriKa!
Man, why did Dad leave this beautiful place (it was summer, wet, and not winter)—just because an old Dustbowl or something? Maybe Tom Daschle (also Volga Deutsch) knows why they left? Couldn’t believe it—there to my left was Spady Motors (huge—probably the biggest dealership in town) and related to me. Why, Grandmother Spady-Krieger would have been proud of me to own a car dealership. Then there was Krieger Electric—he looked pretty prosperous too. All hard working, no doubt. There was the little Emmanuel German Congregational Church—of course, on the south side of the tracks that run through Hastings (incidentally, the wrong side)—it’s now a little Church of Christ but still looks the same, and you could still see the old frozen-in-time warehouses near the tracks where scores of relatives worked.
Then off to see Hastings College—overwhelming for the size of Hastings—really kind of a neat place. Lots of cool, old looking buildings scattered amongst huge elms and one-third the price of California federalist-style mansions nestled throughout the campus area. You’d never know that in the 1950s and ‘60s this was the fulcrum, the bastion for Billy James Hargis’ Christian Anti-Communism Crusade. This private Christian College would have been the delight of the anti-evolutionist Bryant—and a great place to release a more modern version of his "Cross of Gold" speech.
FLASH TO SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – c. 1950s
Mom was having a hard time choosing between Adlai Stevenson and Dwight D. Eisenhower. We were listening to these things called "conventions" on our super-doper Zenith Radio (could get short wave too)—didn’t have T.V. I think she finally voted for Ike—but I wouldn’t know that for sure, never asked—I mean, when you’re eight-years old, and being into dirt clod fights and all—didn’t care.
We moved to Sacramento and I started the third grade. Mom, now a single parent, did her best to raise us kids and wanted us to be near dad—that’s why we moved. She later got a job at the Almond Growers/Blue Diamond—got up everyone morning, made us breakfast, and took off to work in her neat little brown outfit, super early. One day she came home and told us kids—"Well, I’ve been fired! I tried to organize a labor union with the other girls and the bosses kicked us out . . . but the Teamsters are going to take care of me and you kids, so don’t worry." I’ll never forget that day. "The Teamsters? Maybe they’re a baseball team that helps people like us?"
Over at dad’s house the Presidential elections were taking place—some time in the mid-fifties. Dad and Margie (my step-mother who once picked fruit in the Santa Clara Valley before it was a highway—also a rabid Democrat) were voting Democrat—something about Harry Truman convinced them that the Democrats were for the little guy—"and that guy Hoover nearly destroyed us in the Mid-West. If it wasn’t for Roosevelt, we’d all have starved . . . the Democrats care for people like us and we’d probably vote for a jackass if they ran one." (Note: Dad had no idea that they actually did this on several occasions.)
At the time I thought that was kind of funny—but all these stories about my roots tell a tale that Thomas Frank really doesn’t understand too well.
Then, along came Cuba, the bomb, and the commies. Dad even built a family bomb shelter in his new home in Carmichael—it too was kind of neat—I just had to figure out how to get across town fast enough to get down there and survive a couple of weeks while the radiation clamed down and somehow allowed us to come out of hiding to scavenge for food, and meet the other bomb shelter survivors, and continue the fight.
"The Democrats used to be hard on communism—I can’t figure out why they’re not any more . . . I’m not planning to vote this time around" (quoting Dad). "Anyway, every time I vote for a Democrat, I get audited on my taxes. Another thing, if we let the reds take over, we’ll be isolated and their atheism will take over too." Humm . . ., "their atheism—what’s that got to do with voting for Republicans?" "Nothing son, I just feel that way."
FLASH TO THOMAS FRANK
Frank, being from Kansas, doesn’t really understand why these populist, died-in-the-wool Roosevelt Democrats, keep voting against their economic well being. I mean, why on earth you would vote for a party that is anti-union, pro-tax cuts for the rich and famous, outsource-NAFTA specialists, pro-monster-plantation-ADM-to-the-world-against-small farmers, and in general, the Party of Big Business, Country Clubbers, Oil moguls and everything that bespeaks of "the rich get richer?" These people must be self-haters or just plain ignorant rednecks—in sum, hicks that just can’t figure out the obvious.
I’m trying to make the obvious, the obvious. It’s like voting, while holding your nose—someone’s got to do it! Now, populist Bryant—later of Scopes-Darrow Monkey Trial fame—celebrated his farmer-labor populist roots WITHIN THE FRAMWORK of Christian evangelical fundamentalism—an experience, most likely, observed only from the outside, by Frank (no offense to his intellectual genius-void-of-sacredness-style piece of social science pandering to the Left).
FRANK—WOULD YOU GET INSIDE MIDDLE-AMERICA’S BRAIN!
Frankly (no offense here), along with Clark Gable’s remark to Scarlet, they (i.e., these former Roosevelt-Truman Democrats) don’t really "Give a da…" (Better to leave out the "mn" because I know Frank can figure it out better).
Life was hectic in Sacramento in the late 1950s. We’d go back to the Mid-West for visits now and again—but it was obvious, Dad and Mom we’re desperately trying to live the American Dream—although they had no idea it was called that and, if they did, it didn’t mean all that much to them, they we’re trying to survive. But, what was happening in the Mid-West, the South, the West in general, and especially in the Great Central Valley of California, among these Democrat-style Populists, was a sea-change in the way they viewed their Party.
In this aspect, Frank’s right—as far as they were concerned; the RLs (Radical Left) took over. The white Northerners among them tolerated the Civil Rights movement—some even heartily supported it because it was fair and right for all Americans to have a piece of the pie—but, of course, the Southern Strategy was in full force by the late ‘60s and, along with the embrace of the social agenda of the RLs—well, it was only a matter of time before the Southern Strategy would join the Northern social malcontents. Thence, Reagan’s one-two punch blew these populists clean off the Democrat radar screens and into the arms of a "kinder and gentler" America—notwithstanding the fat-cat country clubbers (who are hypocrites anyway—and we fully intend to take over the Republican Party in any event).
LET’S GET TO THE CORE OF THE MATTER
My buddy, Dene McGriff, took off to a Christian camp near Sacramento and met with some young families who tried to get his goat—i.e., "Hey, Dene, Bush is the best thing that ever happened to America—Right? And, he’s a Christian, right? So---aren’t you voting for Bush?"
Dene (whose relatives come from Oklahoma, just south of Kansas in case certain social scientists don’t know where that’s at) wouldn’t take sides and said his "citizenship is in heaven – no thanks, I won’t take your bait." He also warned them about getting involved in one-issue politics.
Then, Mike M., getting a little more serious, spoke up: "McGriff, abortion trumps everything . . . and as far as I am concerned, that’s the only issue that matters." Yes—he really did say this and he really meant it (Mike’s folks were conservative Catholics, but he now attends a little evangelical Jesus People-type gathering with like-minded anti-abortionists). See, we’re talking real world here—you don’t need another social scientist blathering about why people vote Republican and against their pocket books.
Sue me—it’s the truth! You get right down to it and you’re left with this overriding sense that these people, my people, feel totally disenfranchised by the Democrat Party—
Please view entire article/graphics/links @ http://www.the-tribulation-network.com
About the Author
Doug is a member of the "Last Days Network" . . . a group of evangelical pundits providing news and analysis on Religion in Politics. "Applied Biblical prophecy," apostasy and deception, the impact of the New American World Order System, and the influence of the Religious Right and Left upon American culture--are topics discussed by the group. He is an educator in the public schools (California) and an administrator.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/7001.html
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