Governor Palin, Rednecks, and Catholic Rednecks Oh My

There is post of great interest over at VOX NOVA called The contradictions of “redneck rhetoric,” or why Palin does not represent “rural culture” by a regular poster by the name of Michael J. Iafrate.


Michael's posts are always very thought provoking and this post is no different. IMHO his post and some very good insights are colored by a slight partisanship and if I may say the slight tendency to put those that might not run in the same political circles in some huge box. Lets be honest we all have that fault at times.

One of the biggest faults I find with this post (that sadly I suppose we must all fight against) is too look at the very interesting and important topic of American rural culture (Rednecks especially) through a partisan lens. During an election year in its final exciting months that is something we must all be aware of.

The unfortunate sub theme of his post is that GOVERNOR PALIN IS A BIG OLE FAT FRAUD used to fool us rural Americans. Now Michael offers no facts for this but just assumes. He ends is tome with these words:

And if we keep contesting the empire’s definitions, I’m willing to bet that “rural america” surprises everyone this time around by clearly shouting that they — that we — can see through the bullshit.

Well again as I said as the election gets down to its final exciting weeks even people of good will can get a tad excitable.

This new Woman Governor and the fact that she is a fraud is just assumed by Mr Infrate. He is a poster of some quality and I see this lack of "backing up" his kinda of broad swipes at the good Governor as a tad of electoral frustration.

This is natural even among those promote that Catholic Social Justice issues. For instance the best reporter on the issue of immigration , .which was the Catholic Social Justice Issue of the this Century so far, points out the partisan blinders so well in his article today at No friend to Latinos on immigration.

With some notable exception swe Catholic supporters of McCain hate to deal with McCain views on prohibited forms of stem sell research and Michael and others have problems (though oddly not voiced with as much vigor) dealing how Obama and others screwed the poor and immigrants for political gain and short term advantage . It is the nature of the political beast. We again all fall prey to it. Even the best of Catholic Progressives I think

Now I do expect that Michael will give a further post how Palin is a big ole fraud in the future and I hope to engage those arguments. At least we shall have some facts to engage instead of frustration perhaps over political developments and I look forward to that.

Let me cut to the chase and recommend two articles. Mr Infrate seems to have a problem with why these "rednecks" seem to like Palin. What Michael is calling rednecks is often in political terms called Jacksonians democrats. Mr Infrate as he is madly groping in the wind as to why McCain /Palin is liked should perhaps look at this in more political terms.

The very good blogger From Burke to Kirk and Beyond... has a great post on this at From U.S. News & World Report...Old Hickory Lives! . A must read for both Republican and people like Mr Infrate that seem a tad baffled. "Rednecks" and often kindred groups such as my beloved Cajuns of Louisiana are Jacksonians. In that post please review the very good article that Burke links too that shows how this political dynamic operates.

Even if the dominant image of the “normal rural american” were true and unfabricated, Republican upper middle-class “rednecks” who attempt to promote their values through the cipher of “rural america” reveal yet another contradiction embedded in their tactics: since when is it true that just because something is supposedly “normal” in the wider culture that that phenomenon should be glorified and assumed to be right?


One thing he misses — and some of our commenters who take issue with his post have pointed this out — is that all the talk about “normal, white rural” culture, for or against, also obscures the fact that there simply is no one “white rural culture,” not matter how much as some commentators continually insist that there is....

Umm this is true but is anyone really disagreeing with this? I think it is apparent that my native North Louisiana kin rednecks are different in some degree from our jorts wearing Univ of Florida Tebow Loving Panhandle rednecks brothers and sisters. That they are different in some degree than their Coal Mine more Industrial based rednecks cousin in WV and Penn. In fact has not Republican success the last couple of election cycles been to recognize these differences?

In reality, “rural” american values are much more complex than FOX News and Catholic bloggers make it out to be. “Redneck rhetoric” obscures the fact that incredibly important progressive social, political movements have originated in the South, in Appalachia, and in other marginalized communities in the united states. Appalachia, for example, has a tremendous radical history of labor movements which could be described as anti-capitalist. Despite the insistence that the republican party is the party of “normal redneck americans,” consider that West Virginia was, until the first (s)election of George W. Bush (in which about 50% of our country went a little bit crazy), a solidly democratic state. (For an account of Appalachia’s radical political tradition, see the collection Fighting Back in Appalachia: Traditions of Resistance and Change edited by Stephen L. Fisher.) Appalachia’s tradition of radical politics — a politics that has nothing in common with those of Gov. Palin — continues today in eco-justice movements, most visibly against the practice of mountaintop removal mining. Countless groups exist today that give expression to alternative rural american values that demolish essentialized descriptions of what “real rednecks” believe and that complexify the picture of rural america. Consider, from the Appalachian context alone.

Let me say for the record that I am self proclaimed Catholic Redneck. I am a convert and I live among my people. I am proud of it.

Mr Infrate seems to want to break some major discovery here but I am afraid that this is as they say "germans" For us rednecks that live in the south this not new news. We Louisiana folks still have relatives (there are a few left) that venerate Huey Long like he was a part of the Trinity. FDR was a saint down here and my grandparents are still loyal democrats because of FDR. So it might shock people but the fact that at least Southern Rednecks have not been Wall Street Republicans comes as of no shock. By the way what is Governor's Palin's stand on "Mountain top removal"? Well Michael gives us no answers besides red herrings.

Even if the dominant image of the “normal rural american” were true and unfabricated, Republican upper middle-class “rednecks” who attempt to promote their values through the cipher of “rural america” reveal yet another contradiction embedded in their tactics: since when is it true that just because something is supposedly “normal” in the wider culture that that phenomenon should be glorified and assumed to be right?

WTF?

The same people who glorify their “normal rural america” construct are the same people who denounce the increasing “normalization” of homosexuality, for example, even within supposedly “traditional, rural” populations, and the same people who denounce our over sexualized american culture, insisting that this “normal” cultural trait should be resisted. Which is it? Is “normal” to be resisted, or is it to be glorified?

I must admit he loses me here. Perhaps he can explain this more. I find the 21 century redneck is pretty cool with gay guys and gals (to each his own) they might not agree with it but they draw the LINE AT GAY MARRIAGE. Who knew that Pope Benedict is a redneck because he draws the line at that too.

Shall we glorify every aspect of what is called “normal, white, rural” america, including alcoholism and domestic abuse? Rather than mindlessly romanticize “normal, white, rural” culture, shouldn’t we nurture the ability to think critically about which aspects of that, or any other, culture are healthy and in keeping with the Gospel, and which are not?

What? We have countless programs and education about spousal abuse and alcoholism in the most "redneck of areas" I very much admire Michael's advocacy of the legitimate plight of the people of West Virgina. He did a series of posts on that I thought was stellar. However perhaps he needs to realize that we though we like Hank Williams uh we just realize it is still a song and not Holy Writ to live life.

And again, assuming the constructed image of the middle-class redneck is true, why should Christians be clamoring for a political candidate that represents “middle-class” america when our Catholic faith explicitly teaches us that our political candidates and our political life together should primarily represent the poor? Vatican II and subsequent Catholic social thought has taught us that we are to be a Church of the poor and that the measure of the moral health of any society is the poor.

Again I am getting confused here. First Southerners and rednecks were part of progressive life and now a few paragraphs later they are wife beaters and "middle class Americans". I think we all know that live down here that Middle Class as to rednecks is a fluid term.

In addition to the friends Morning’s Minion listed who do not fit the “normal white” description, we could also call to mind our rural family and friends (whose who are “white” and those who are not) who, for example, may “love” their guns but who would never in a million years vote for the McCain-Palin ticket. More and more “country folk” that I know personally never ever had such hateful politics, or if they did, they’re quickly learning the contradictions and dangers of Republican ideology.

I actually know quite a few rural folks that are voting Obama / Biden. However strangely they do not see McCain as "hateful politics" or see me as a representative of "the contradictions and dangers of Republican ideology". Maybe it is redneck tolerance and us not being too full of ourselves. We feel strongly about our individual beliefs but we don't see each other as something "evil" because we are democrat or republican. I think I read something in the Compendium of Catholic Social Justice realating to how that is a good idea.

Those of us from peripheral regions of the united states, regions that should obviously have a say about what “rural values” are, must not allow republican elites to define “rural america” according to their politics of fear and hate.

Good grief. More hyperbole. Hide the Children the evil Republicans of fear and hate are coming your way!!!! Like I said even the most rational of posters can get excitable .

Michael makes some good points and indeed the history and in fact current dynamic of rural populism is something to examine. In fact did we not see that in the primary this past year with Huckabee? In fact is not McCain/ Palin tapping into that?

There are some good points here and hopefully they can be examined again once we get past the heat of the election cycle.

Update- I think for Michael's sake I should clarify a part of his post- He said:
The media, of course, will not report the fact that more people turned out for an Alaska Women Reject Palin rally than for the down-home “Welcome Home Sarah” rally held on the very same day. Such realities do not jive with the master “redneck narrative” that the media seeks to preserve.

I have actually researched this and the numbers are of some dispute. However it is apparent that this rally was not some kind of Catholic Social Justice event. The same website that Michael cites had this entry:

The most important issue for women is Palin’s is unwavering stance against reproductive rights for women and girls. The vast majority of women, even those who would categorize themselves as “pro-life” or “anti-abortion”, believe that exceptions should be made in the case of rape, or incest. Women who remember the dark days of back alley abortions, and the deaths of so many beautiful young women, know that abortion will never be eradicated. They want abortion to be safe, legal and rare, and they cannot relate to Palin’s position. Neither can women who really stop to think what life would be like in Palin’s America if their 12-year old daughter became pregnant after being raped by her father.

Looking at various groups that supported this rally it appears the culture of death was a big part of it. Michael in all his postings is very pro-life. The fact that Mr Infrate seemed not to realize that a large contingent of this rally was not for Catholic Social Justice/ Catholic Worker type rural concerns but were for the right to an abortion should not be attributed to his own beliefs but perhaps to his naivete.