Comments on: Middle America Explained

By: prospero

prospero — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 04:39:18 +0000

There’s enough blame on New Orleans to go around. One thing to note: Repairing and building levees in New Orleans or anywhere in the country is a job that is delegated to the federal Army Corps of Engineers. And the plain fact is that the federal government has underfunded that work, particularly during the current Bush administration.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 17:05:08 +0000

I may be a bit obtuse, but it seems to me that the vast majority of so-called “red” states, counties, whatever are simply more inclined to think that they are responsible for themeselves and do not want government intrusion into their life, whereas the “blue”s solution for everything is more government nannyism – because the government can take care of you better than you can. Marx explains it more clearer, but the left would never claim that is what they are doing.

A few years ago, I attended Toastmaster meetings, and one of the members was a member of the John Birch Society, which campaigns against Communism. I thought, “didn’t we already win this war?”. What I discovered is that it is merely recast as leftist that are hell-bent on redistributing wealth.

I’m not sure if it is class or culture, but if more people of all sides would study the constitution, economics, and critical thinking, many issues that are “blue” or “red” would be quickly solved. Free enterprise works, and that is a fact. Free enterprise helps people escape from poverty. Make this one change in your daily habit: whenever you hear (or you say) “the government needs to spend money on…”, replace it with “I need to spend my money on…”. The point is, it is not governement money, it is OUR money. I strongly encourage everyone to read The FairTax Book – it puts many things in perspective.

And, while I am venting, New Orleans was let down by politicians (mostly THEIR OWN politicians) for DECADES. Besides failing to build sufficient levees to protect the city from something as immediately imminent as a Cat 4 hurricane, the Big Easy has been awash in corruption for decades, and THAT is the real problem. New Orleans has more oil, better harbors and more access to the country than Houston, but Houston became a much larger and better city than New Orleans because the oil companies did not want to deal with all the kickbacks and other schemes that businesses are forced to deal with daily in the Big Easy. Run business out, and soon it is up to the government to “take care” of the poor, which means a redistribution of wealth from taxes.

It seems to me our biggest problem with poverty, class, and race divide is simply because many politicians get re-elected and pundits get money by exploiting specific classes and races.

By: Gregory

Gregory — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 07:09:09 +0000

Well, an ex-Fort Smith blogger. I go to college now, so some would call me a Fayetteville blogger. But you never know with these things….

By: prospero

prospero — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 05:19:52 +0000

I, too, have lived in both places. I grew up in Eastern Washington, which is about as Red as it gets.
Brooks is guilty of the same over-generalizations that Red Staters complain are applied to them by Blue Staters. I know lots of people in liberal places like Seattle and Portland and elsewhere who don’t obsess about their jobs or feel smug about how environmentally correct they are or live in large houses. They value their families, are religious and feel pretty darned happy about their choices, too. They’re just as tired of being told that their “liberal” ways are ruining the country as conservatives are at being told they are insensitive Bible thumpers.
That’s great that you want to move back to Fort Smith. But don’t go feeling that the folks in Fort Smith are somehow morally superior to people in Seattle or other Blue states (gad, I am so tired of the Red/Blue nonsense).
I agree with Adam: There are many people in the Red areas (a great many) who aren’t happy. They don’t have the money to be content and their situation under the Bush Administration is only getting worse (poverty is up during the Bush years).
I think you’re wrong: We DO have a class divide in this country. The hurricane damage to New Orleans shows how dramatic it is. We need to stop fighting over silly cultural issues and focus on the deep economic divisions in this country that are driving the less fortunate deeper and deeper into poverty.
I’d recommend “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” by Thomas Frank as a start on this issue.
That said, best wishes in your move. I hear Fort Smith is nice.

By: adam

adam — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 21:54:45 +0000

I read that the other day. I can’t remember where I got there from. We must be reading some of the same blogs.

I disagree that they are that much happier though. I too have lived in both regions. Born, raised, and educated in Indiana, I saw some of what you are talking about: people largely happy with their place in life. But that was mostly because they had enough money to make that possible. I think it most definitely IS a class issue in most cases. As you said, these are the areas of the content. But around the corner or (literally, in Evansville Indiana) across the tracks from these areas are the areas of the malcontents. Those that have been failed by education, health care, and capitalism in general.

I don’t have answers, but I can see the problems. And I see some of the same problems faced in the ghettos of the Bronx as I do on the southeast side of Evansville, IN.