On Rural America: Understanding Isnât The Problem
As the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump is being sorted out, a common theme keeps cropping up from all sides-âDemocrats failed to understand white, working class, fly-over America.â  Trump supports are saying this.  Progressive pundits are saying this.  Talking heads across all forms of the media are saying this.  Even  some Democratic leaders are saying this.  It doesnât matter how many people say it, it is complete bullshit.  It is an intellectual/linguistic sleight of hand meant to throw attention away from the real problem.  The real problem isnât east coast elites donât understand or care about rural America.  The real problem is rural America doesnât understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out.  They donât want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because the donât want to admit it is in large part because of choices theyâve made and horrible things theyâve allowed themselves to believe.
I grew up in rural, Christian, white America. Â Youâd be hard-pressed to find an area in the country that has a higher percentage of Christians or whites. Â I spent most of the first twenty-four years of my life deeply embedded in this culture. Â I religiously (*pun intended) attended their Christian services. Â I worked off and on, on their rural farms. Â I dated their calico skirted daughters. Â I camped, hunted, and fished with their sons. Â I listened to their political rants at the local diner and truck stop. Â I winced at their racist/bigoted jokes and epithets that were said more out of ignorance than animosity. Â I have also watched the town I grew up in go from a robust economy with well-kept homes and infrastructure turn into a struggling economy with shuttered businesses, dilapidated homes, and a broken down infrastructure over the past thirty years. The problem isnât that I donât understand these people. Â The problem is they donât understand themselves, the reasons for their anger/frustrations, and donât seem to care to know why.
In deep red, white America, the white Christian God is king, figuratively and literally.  Religious fundamentalism is what has shaped most of their belief systems.  Systems built on a fundamentalist framework are not conducive for introspection, questioning, learning, change.  When you have a belief system that is built on fundamentalism, it isnât open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and in a position of power.  The problem isnât âcoastal elites donât understand rural Americans.â  The problem is rural America doesnât understand itself and will NEVER listen to anyone outside their bubble.  It doesnât matter how âunderstandingâ you are, how well you listen, what language you useâŚif you are viewed as an outsider, your views are automatically discounted.  Iâve had hundreds of discussions with rural white Americans and whenever I present them any information that contradicts their entrenched beliefs, no matter how sound, how unquestionable, how obvious, they WILL NOT even entertain the possibility it might be true.  Their refusal is a result of the nature of their fundamentalist belief system and the fact Iâm the enemy because Iâm an educated liberal.  At some point during the discussion, âThatâs your education talking,â will be said, derogatorily, as a general dismissal of everything I said.  They truly believe this is a legitimate response because to them education is not to be trusted.  Education is the enemy of fundamentalism because fundamentalism, by its very nature, is not built on facts. The fundamentalists I grew up around arenât anti-education.  They want their kids to know how to read and write.  They are anti-quality, in-depth, broad, specialized education.  Learning is only valued up to the certain point.  Once it reaches the level where what you learn contradicts doctrine and fundamentalist arguments, it becomes dangerous.  I watched a lot of my fellow students who were smart, stop their education the day they graduated high school.  For most of the young ladies, getting married and having kids was more important than continuing their learning.  For many of the young men, getting a college education was seen as unnecessary and a waste of time.  For the few who did go to college, what they learned was still filtered through their fundamentalist belief system.  If something they were taught didnât support a preconception, it would be ignored and forgotten the second it was no longer need to pass an exam. Â
Knowing this about their belief system and their view of outside information that doesnât support it, telling me that the problem is coastal elites not understanding them completely misses the point. Â
Another problem with rural, Christian, white Americans is they are racists. Iâm not talking about white hood wearing, cross burning, lynching racists (though some are.) Â Iâm talking about people who deep down in their heart of hearts truly believe they are superior because they are white. Â Their white God made them in his image and everyone else is a less-than-perfect version, flawed, cursed. Â The religion in which I was raised taught this. Â Even though theyâve backtracked some of their more racist declarations, many still believe the original claims. Â Non-whites are the color they are because of their sins, or at least the sins of their ancestors. Â Blacks donât have dark skin because of where they lived and evolution. Â They have dark skin because they are cursed and cursed people donât deserve the things Godâs blessed whites do. Â God cursed them for reasons and it isnât proper to question them. Â If God cursed them, then treating them as equals would be going against Godâs Will. Â It is really easy to justify treating people differently, poorly, if they are cursed by God, will never be as good as you no matter what they do because of some predetermined status given to them by an almighty God. Â Once you have this view, it is easy to lower the outside groupâs standing and acceptable level of treatment. Â Again, there are varying levels of racism at play in rural, Christian, white America. Â I know people who are ardent racists. Â I know a lot more whose racism is much more subtle but nonetheless racist. Â It wouldnât take sodium pentothal to get most of these people to admit they believe they are fundamentally better and superior to minorities. Â They are white supremacists who dress up in white dress shirts, ties, and gingham dresses. Â They carry a Bible and tell you, âeveryoneâs a child of Godâ but forget to mention that some of Godâs children are more favored than others and skin tone is the criterion by which we know who is and who isnât at the top of Godâs list of most favored children.
For us âcoastal elitesâ who understand evolution, genetics, scienceâŚnothing we say to those in fly-over country is going to be listened to because not only are we fighting against an anti-education belief system, we are arguing against God.  You arenât winning a battle of beliefs with these people if you are on one side of the argument and God is on the other.  No degree of understanding this is going to suddenly make them less racist, more open to reason and facts.  Telling âurban elitesâ they need to understand rural Americans isnât going to lead to a damn thing because it misses the causes of the problem.
Because rural, Christian, white Americans will not listen to educated arguments, supported by facts that go against their fundamentalist belief systems from âoutsiders,â any change must come from within. Â Internal change in these systems does happen, but it happens infrequently and it always lags far behind reality. Â This is why they fear change so much. Â They arenât used to it. Â Of course, it really doesnât matter whether they like it or not, it, like the evolution and climate change even though they donât believe it, it is going to happen whether they believe in it or not.
Another major problem with closed-off, fundamentalist belief systems is they are very susceptible to propaganda.  All belief systems are to some extent, but fundamentalist systems even more so because there are no checks and balances.  If bad information gets in, it doesnât get out and because there are no internal mechanisms to guard against it, it usually ends up very damaging to the whole.  A closed-off belief system is like your spinal fluid-it is great as long as nothing infectious gets into it.  If bacteria gets into your spinal fluid, it causes unbelievable damage because there are no white blood cells in it whose job is to fend off invaders and protect the system.  This is why things like meningitis are so horrible.  Without the protective services of white blood cells in the spinal column, meningitis spreads like wildfire once itâs in and does significant damage in a very short period of time.  Once inside the closed-off spinal system, bacteria is free to destroy whatever it wants and does.  The very same is true with closed-off belief systems.  Without built-in protective functions like critical analysis, self-reflection, openness to counter-evidence, willingness to re-evaluate any and all beliefs, etc., bad information in a closed-off system ends up doing massive damage in short period of time.  What has happened to too many fundamentalist belief systems is damaging information has been allowed in from people who have been granted âexpert status.â  If someone is allowed into a closed-off system and their information is deemed acceptable, anything they say will readily be accepted and become gospel.  Rural, Christian, white Americans have let in anti-intellectual, anti-science, bigoted, racists into their system as experts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, any of the blonde Stepford Wives on FOX, every evangelical preacher on television because they tell them what they want to hear and because they sell themselves as being âone of them.  The truth is none of these people give a ratâs ass about rural, Christian, white Americans except how can they exploit them for attention and money.  None of them  have anything in common with the people who have let them into their belief systems with the exception they are white and they âspeak the same languageâ of white superiority, Godâs Will must be obeyed, and how, even though they are the Chosen Ones, they are the ones being screwed by all the people and groups they believe they are superior to. Â
Gays being allowed to marry are a threat. Â Blacks protesting the killing of their unarmed friends and family are a threat. Â Hispanics doing the cheap labor on their farms are somehow viewed a threat. Â The black President is a threat. Â Two billion Muslims are a threat. Â The Chinese are a threat. Â Women wanting to be autonomous are a threat. The college educated are a threat. Â Godless scientists are a threat. Everyone who isnât just like them has been sold to them as a threat and theyâve bought it hook, line, and grifting sinker. Â Since there are no self-regulating mechanisms in their belief systems, these threats only grow over time. Â Since facts and reality donât matter, nothing you say to them will alter their beliefs. Â President Obama was born in Kenya, is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood who hates white Americans and is going to take away their guns. Â I feel ridiculous even writing this it is so absurd but it is gospel across large swaths of rural America. Â Are rural, Christian, white Americans scared? Â Youâre damn right they are. Â Are their fears rational and justified? Â Fuck no! Â The problem isnât understanding their fears. The problem is how to assuage fears based on lies in closed-off fundamentalist belief systems that donât have the necessary tools for properly evaluating the fears.
I donât have a good answer to this question. Â When a child has an irrational fear, you can deal with it because they trust you and are open to possibilities. Â When someone doesnât trust you and isnât open to anything not already accepted as true in their belief system, there really isnât much, if anything you can do. Â This is why I think the whole, âDemocrats have to understand and find common ground with rural America,â is misguided and a complete waste of time. When a three-thousand-year-old book that was written by uneducated, pre-scientific people, subject to translation innumerable times, edited with political and economic pressures from Popes and kings, is given higher intellectual authority than facts arrived at from a rigorous, self-critical, constantly re-evaluating system that can and does correct mistakes, no amount of understanding, no amount of respect, no amount of evidence is going to change their minds, assuage their fears.
Do you know what does change the beliefs of fundamentalists, sometimes? When something becomes personal. Â Many a fundamentalist have changed their minds about the LGBT community once their loved ones started coming out of the closet. Â Many have not. Â But, those that have done so because their personal experience came in direct conflict with what they believe. Â My own father is a good example of this. Â For years I had long, sometimes heated discussions with him about gay rights. Â Being the good religious fundamentalist he is, he could not even entertain the possibility he was wrong. Â The Church said it was wrong so therefore it was wrong. Â No questions ask. Â No analysis needed. Â This changed when one of his step children who he adores came out of the closet. Â He didnât do a complete 180. Â He has a view that tries to accept gay rights while at the same time viewing it as a mortal sin because his need to have his belief system be right outweighs everything else. Â This isnât uncommon. Â Deeply held beliefs are usually only altered, replaced under catastrophic circumstances that are personal. Â This belief system alteration works both ways. Â I know die hard, open-minded progressives who became ardent fundamentalists due to a traumatic event in their lives. Â A really good example of this is the comedian Dennis Miller. Â I saw Miller in concert four different times during the 1990s. Â His humor was complex, riddled with references, and leaned pretty left on almost all issues. Â Then 9/11 happened. Â For whatever reasons, the trauma of 9/11 caused a seismic shift in Millerâs belief system. Â Now he is a mainstay on conservative talk radio. Â His humor was replaced with anger and frustration. Â 9/11 changed his belief system because it was a catastrophic event that was personal to him.
The catastrophe of the Great Depression along with the progressive remedies by FDR helped create a generation of Democrats from previously die-hard Republicans.  People who had, up until that point, deeply believed the government couldnât help the economy only the free market could change their minds when the brutal reality of the Great Depression affected them directly, personally.  I thought the financial crisis in 2008 would have a similar, though lesser, impact on many Republicans.  It didnât.  The systems that were put in place after the Great Depression to deal with economic crises, the quick, smart response by Congress and the administration helped make what could have been a catastrophic event into merely a really bad one. People suffered, but they didnât suffer enough to where they were open to questioning their deeply held beliefs.  Because this questioning didnât take place, the Great Recession didnât lead to any meaningful political shift away from poorly regulated markets, supply side economics, or how to respond to a financial crisis.  This is why, even though rural, Christian, white America was hit hard by the Great Recession, they not only didnât blame the political party theyâve aligned themselves with for years, they rewarded them two years later by voting them into a record number of state legislatures and taking over the U.S. House.  Of course, it didnât help matters there were scapegoats available they could direct their fears, anger, and white supremacy towards.  A significant number of rural America believes President Obama was in charge when the financial crisis started.  An even higher number believe the mortgage crisis was the result of the government forcing banks to give loans to unqualified minorities.  It doesnât matter how untrue both of these are, they are gospel in rural America.  Why reevaluate your beliefs and voting patterns when scapegoats are available? Â
How do you make climate change personal to someone who believes only God can alter the weather?  How do you make racial equality personal to someone who believes whites are naturally superior to non-whites? How do you make gender equality personal to someone who believes women are supposed to be subservient to men by Godâs command?  How do you get someone to view minorities as not threatening personal to people who donât live around and never interact with them?  How do you make personal the fact massive tax cuts and cutting back government hurts their economic situation when theyâve voted for these for decades?  I donât think you can without some catastrophic events.  And maybe not even then.  The Civil War was pretty damn catastrophic yet a large swath of the South believed and still believes they were right, had the moral high ground.  They were/are also mostly Christian fundamentalists who believe they are superior because of the color of their skin and the religion they profess to follow.  There is a pattern here for anyone willing to connect the dots.  âRural, white America needs to be better understood,â is not one of the dots.  âRural, white America needs to be better understood,â is a dodge, meant to avoid the real problems because talking about the real problems is viewed as âtoo upsetting,â âtoo mean,â âtoo arrogant,â âtoo elite,â âtoo snobbish.â  Pointing out Aunt Beeâs views of Mexicans, blacks, gaysâŚis bigoted isnât the thing one does in polite society.  Too bad more people donât think the same about the views Aunt Bee has. Itâs the classic, âYouâre a racist for calling me a racist,â ploy.  Or, as it is more commonly known, âI know you are but what am I?â
I do think rational arguments are needed, even if they go mostly ignored and ridiculed.  I believe in treating people with the respect theyâve earned but the key point here is âearned.â  Iâll gladly sit down with Aunt Bee and have a nice, polite conversation about her beliefs about âthe gays,â âthe blacks,â âillegals,ââŚand do so without calling her a bigot or a racist.  But, this doesnât mean she isnât a bigot and a racist and if Iâm asked to describe her beliefs these are the only words that honestly fit.  No one with cancer wants to be told they have cancer, but just because no one uses the word, âcancer,â it doesnât mean they donât have it. Just because the media, pundits on all sides, some Democratic leaders donât want to call the actions of many rural, Christian, white Americans, âracist/bigotedâ doesnât make them not so.  Avoiding the obvious only prolongs getting the necessary treatment.  America has always had a race problem.  It was built on racism and bigotry. This didnât miraculously go away in 1964 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. It didnât go away with the election of Barack Obama.  If anything, these events pulled back the curtain exposing the dark, racist underbelly of America that white America likes to pretend doesnât exist because we are the reason it exists.  From the white nationalists to the white, suburban soccer moms who voted for Donald Trump, to the far left progressives who didnât vote at all, racism exists and has once again been legitimized and normalized by white America. Â
The honest truths that rural, Christian, white Americans donât want to accept and until they do nothing is going to change, are:
-Their economic situation is largely the result of voting for supply-side economic policies that have been the largest redistribution of wealth from the bottom/middle to the top in U.S. history.
-Immigrants havenât taken their jobs. Â If all immigrants, legal or otherwise, were removed from the U.S., our economy would come to a screeching halt and prices on food would soar.
-Immigrants are not responsible for companies moving their plants overseas. Almost exclusively white business owners are the ones responsible because they care more about their share holders who are also mostly white than they do American workers.
-No one is coming for their guns. Â All that has been proposed during the entire Obama administration is having better background checks.
-Gay people getting married is not a threat to their freedom to believe in whatever white God you want to. Â No one is going to make their church marry gays, make gays your pastor, accept gays for membership.
-Women having access to birth control doesnât affect their life either, especially women who they complain about being teenage, single mothers.
-Blacks are not âlazy moochers living off their hard earned tax dollarsâ anymore than many of your fellow rural neighbors. Â People in need are people in need. Â People who canât find jobs because of their circumstances, a changing economy, outsourcing overseas, etc. belong to all races. Â
-They get a tremendous amount of help from the government they complain does nothing for them.  From the roads and utility grids they use to the farm subsidies, crop insurance, commodities protectionsâŚthey benefit greatly from government assistance.  The Farm Bill is one of the largest financial expenditures by the U.S. government.  Without government assistance, their lives would be considerably worse.
-They get the largest share of Food Stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
-They complain about globalization but line up like everyone else to get the latest Apple product.  They have no problem buying foreign-made guns, scopes, and hunting equipment.  They donât think twice about driving trucks whose engine was made in Canada, tires made in Japan, radio made in Korea, computer parts made in MalaysiaâŚ
-They use illicit drugs as much as any other group. Â But, when other people do it is a âmoral failingâ and they should be severely punished, legally. Â When they do it, it is a âhealth crisisâ that needs sympathy and attention.
-When jobs dry up for  whatever reasons, they refuse to relocate but lecture the poor in places like Flint for staying in towns that are failing.
-They are quick to judge minorities for being âwelfare moochersâ but donât think twice about cashing their welfare check every month.
-They complain about coastal liberals, but the taxes from California and New York are what covers their farm subsidies, helps maintain their highways, and keeps their hospitals in their sparsely populated areas open for business.
-They complain about âthe little man being run out of businessâ then turn around and shop at big box stores.
-They make sure outsiders are not welcome, deny businesses permits to build, then complain about businesses, plants opening up in less rural areas.
-Government has not done enough to help them in many cases but their local and state governments are almost completely Republican and so too are their Representatives and Senators. Â Instead of holding them accountable, they vote them in over and over and over again.
-All the economic policies and ideas that could help rural America belong to the Democratic Party: raising the minimum wage, strengthening unions, infrastructure spending, reusable energy growth, slowing down the damage done by climate change, healthcare reformâŚall of these and more would really help a lot of rural Americans.
What I understand is rural, Christian, white America is entrenched in fundamentalist belief systems, donât trust people outside their tribe, have been force fed a diet of misinformation and lies for decades, are unwilling to understand their own situations, truly believe whites are superior to all races.  No amount of understanding is going to change these things or what they believe.  No amount of niceties is going to get them to be introspective.  No economic policy put forth by someone outside their tribe is going to be listened to no matter how beneficial it would be for them.  I understand rural, Christian, white America all too well.  I understand their fears are based on myths and lies.  I understand they feel left behind by a world they donât understand and donât really care to.  I understand they are willing to vote against their own interest if they can be convinced it will make sure minorities are harmed more.  I understand their Christian beliefs and morals are truly only extended to fellow white Christians.  I understand them.  I understand they are the problem with progress and will always be because their belief systems are constructed against it.  The problem isnât a lack of understanding by âcoastal elitesâ of rural, Christian, white America.  The problem is a lack of understanding why rural, Christian, white America believes, votes, behaves the ways it does by rural, Christian, white America.
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