A thoughtful article on working class support of Republicans.

April 2004 Harpers Magazine. Lie Down For America, How the Republican Party Sows Ruin on the Great Plains by Thomas Frank.

Frank has a book titled, “ What’s the Matter with Kansas,” that will be released in June.

Frank starts his piece by pointing out that “the poorest county in America is not in Appalachia or the Deep South. It is on the Great Plains… and it went solidly for Bush in 2000.” When he mentioned that fact to one of his friends, she was perplexed and asked the question, “How can anyone who has worked for someone else vote Republican?”

That is the question that Frank sets about answering. I cannot do justice to his article in a short review, so I will only offer some of the more salient points.

He labels the working class support of the Republican party as the “Great Backlash.” The backlash is in reaction to many perceived wrongs. Those wrongs range from busing to un-Christian art. The one thing in common is that they are all cultural wrongs and they are wrongs that have been identified by the right.

According to Frank, “the primary contradiction of the backlash: It is a working-class movement that has done incalculable, historic harm to working-class people.”

Frank goes on to say, “The leaders of the backlash may talk Christ, but they walk corporate. Values may “matter most” to voters, but they always take a back seat to the needs of money once the election is won.”

The reality on that point is nailed by Frank as he points out, “Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains. Vote to make our country strong again; receive de-industrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors; receive electricity deregulation.” As Frank says, “ Their grandstanding leaders never produce, their (the movements true believers. My annotation) fury mounts, nevertheless they turn out every two years to return their right-wing heroes to office for a second, a third, a twentieth try. The trick never ages, the illusion never wears off. “

From that point in the article Frank builds the case for his argument. The working-class of the great plains, a group that was once known for its populism, is in the clutches of tricksters who are in the hip pocket and dedicated to the elite and money interest of this country. In following their heroes of the right, the working class of the plains are in the process of rolling back the whole twentieth century.

For anyone who wants to know the answer to the question of “how can someone who has ever worked for someone else vote Republican.” this article is a must read.

Is this online? It does sound great.

The quotes were taken from the magazine.

I'll try to take a look at it at the library.

One Market Under God was fantastic, as was the Conquest of Cool. Baffler's good too. Yeah, so he gets a little excited at times (like his bizarre rant on cultural studies), but sharp nevertheless.

I have found some very good things in their magazine. I will certainly look this one up. Even though it is evident does he go into what harm is being done?

This is an issue I think about constantly: Why those who are not served
by the Republicans, from Great Plains folks to Freepers, continue to support
them.

Its clear that the Republicans know they cannot win elections relying solely
on their true constituancy of the wealthy, and must con other groups in to
voting for them. What's confusing is why it works so well. It seems quite
simple to me: The Limbaughs and Hannitys exist to channel peoples rage
towards the very folks who have traditionally fought for working people,
and away from the wealthy power elite. They blatantly use Christians by
terrifying them with things like gay marriage, and offering the Republican
Party as the only alternative. Why can't these people see how they are
being manipulated?

Here's why.

What Franks is saying is that the GOP/corporatists have hijacked Populism. He is correct.

Populism, in my view, comprises three great elements:

1. Traditional moral values (conservative).

2. Demand-side Economics (lib/left).

3. Isolationism (could be either).

The Corporatists have tricked the working class by claiming (not without some justification) that the cultural heritage of populism was abandoned by the Democrats in the wake of the '60s.

They hid their supply-side economics in a veneer of demand-side rhetoric.

And they pretended to Isolationism by railing against the United Nations, etc.

But the thing is, they can't pretend to Isolationism anymore with the PNAC plan now being implemented. Corn-fed children of the Plains are DYING in Iraq for no good reason, and that is gnawing at the working class. The lack of job creation serious enough that the specter of Herbert Hoover now rightfully haunts the GOP and, as Franks points out, the continued betrayal of cultural issues means the GOP hold on the populist mind is severely weakened and good be broken very very VERY soon. Like this November.

but as long as Christian leaders continue to direct their flocks to the GOP,
an unfortunate number will continue to go there. That is the "traditional
moral values" angle. I don't know what can be done about that. Moral
values have changed, and they are not going to unchange no matter how
repressive laws we are threatened with.

One angle of attack is to always refer to corporations as "soulless." The Christian Faith Frauds such as Falwell and Robertson and deep in the corporate bed. It is time to redirect economic anger back at its source, "soulless" multinational corporations. This connection between the laissez faire free market "God" and the Christian God must be broken while there is an emotional wellspring to draw on.

O

Very good points.

There is something else going on here as well. George Wallace was able to refocus poor southern populist anger away from "evil" corporations (post depression) to "evil" government (post civil rights movements). It was a form of anger jiu jitsu.

The base of the anger however was economic and class based. The cleverness was in the ability to take economic anger and rebirth it as social anger. As fear based emotions are more clearly tied to threats to one's core identity rather than the more "fluid" economic situation, you get a poor person voting against his own economic interest because of cultural anger.

They finished this magic act with a neolib/con, market based "theology" that promised unending wealth riding the free market tiger. Even though this flew in the face of the fading memories of the Great Depression, it appeals to the American cultural notion of rugged individualism.

It doesn't matter if it's a crock, it is a crock that is meticulously constructed and supported ad nauseum by a multi billion dollar phalanx of Con think tanks, media shills, and marketing hype.

It's all very well constructed and very effective. At some point however, the walls of Jericho will come tumbling down.

O

is completely in the crapper. Haven't lived there for many years but do remember the part of town that was known as "Hoovers Orchard" when I was a kid. Maybe it can be renamed "Bush's Orchard".