Writings

 As one of the few die-hard Democratic Congressional Staffers who appreciates Charlie Daniels, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams Jr. I figured I best take a stab at this before we keep losing more elections. In several recent conversations with Ivy League or well educated democrats the point has been made to me time and again “Why don’t those rednecks vote Democratic?” “Don’t they know they are voting against their own self interest?” “How can these poor people vote against their own economic status?”

To cure the insanity and insomnia of some of my more “overly educated & Ivy League” fellow Democratic friends I will try to explain so called rednecks to the rest of you who just don’t get it. First of all some of us make snap judgments about people we don’t know, to assume because they might be poor or less educated, that therefore they should vote democratic is a terribly elite, arrogant assumption! Just because someone inside the beltway or some “elite” defines rednecks as poor people does not mean that is how they chose to define or see themselves. How often in the history of human events have people ever defined themselves as condescending folks chose to view them?  Napoleon thought those “ignorant poor uneducated masses” of Spanish people would welcome him as a Liberator. He never took into effect the catastrophic consequences his anti-clerical French Revolution would have on occupying the Spanish people. They didn’t mind all that much when he deposed there ruling Monarchs, but because of their deep Religious convictions they soon rose up when he went after their clergy, causing Napoleon to later refer to Spanish people’s infinite insurrections as his “undying ulcer!”

 Multiculturalism, hyper- risk aversion and political correctness are not entirely meritorious accomplishments! Rednecks see themselves as simple people living in a modern time, a time that no longer attempts to discern a difference between right and wrong, let alone act upon it. Issues like gay marriage, 2nd amendment and partial birth abortion might seem unimportant to rich well-educated democrats but to most rednecks it is worth more than all the tea in China. They would gladly sell their beloved pickup trucks in a “New York Second” to live in a world with moral clarity, without ANY REALITY TV shows and “Wife Swap & Desperate Housewives” in primetime for the children to view. Rednecks see themselves as defenders of a moral way of life, where a man is right with the Lord and always exhibits humility before the Lord and the Law and is a good provider for his family! It is also important to respect authority in general and the rules specifically. For most rednecks the composition of a man’s character matters infinitely more than his economic class status. When they are rich they would never let on or brag about it neither.

Also it would be politically pragmatic if at some point we Democrats actually ran a candidate who talked in a folksy down to earth disposition. Some of us despise President Bush for his lack of intelligence and his inarticulate manner and I would remind my fellow Dems that we said the exact same thing about Reagan. Reagan and Bush have successfully ridden circles around us when it comes to articulating their message to average Americans. Of course I wish rednecks were more concerned about global

warming, Kyoto Protocol, abm treaty, and the fact that 90% of the world is furious with us at the precise moment we need their help the most but politics is the art of the possible and “That’s The Way I See It I’m A Simple Man.” (Charlie Daniels.) For better intellectual redneck insight I strongly suggest listening to Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Jr. and renting the movie” Once Upon A Time In The West”w/ Charles Bronson. The author proudly considers himself part REDNECK!