Last updated on 2018-10-25
You’d think rural America would see the harm done by Trump’s tariffs, his slow and only election-motivated backing of ethanol, and his lazy ignorance of the languishing Farm Bill and realize America needs a change in management. Alas, rural America continues to vote with its gut instead of its brain. A new survey by Zogby and DTN Progressive Farmer finds Der Führer still popular in farm country…
Our newest poll shows rural residents remain satisfied with Trump’s win by a margin of 54.4% to 35.2%. Zogby polled 1,271 rural residents and farmers for this survey (margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points).
Zogby asked rural residents if, given a chance, they would cast their ballots differently than they had in 2016. More than 70% said no, although that endorsement may not sound deeply felt [Dan Miller, “The Pulse of Rural America,” DTN: The Progressive Farmer, 2018.10.01].
…even though they recognize Trump is ignoring American agriculture:
Rural residents and farmers said they are satisfied with the current direction of the United States — 52.4% expressed satisfaction, 40.7% are dissatisfied. The margin tightens when respondents are asked if they are satisfied with the president’s work on farm policy — 45.5% are very or somewhat satisfied, 30.7% are somewhat or very dissatisfied.
Respondents to the Zogby poll do not give the president or GOP a free pass on rural issues. Only 30.2% believe President Trump devotes enough attention to rural America. Forty-seven percent believe he misses the mark. That sentiment is especially true in the East (53.6% said no); in the Central U.S. (48.6% said no); and among younger voters (53.4% said no) [Miller, 2018.10.01].
Don’t count on rural discontent with bad Trump policies to translate rationally into rural voting for non-Trump candidates.
Also, say the Zogby numbers, don’t count on the youth to save us:
Voter enthusiasm in this midterm election cycle is high. When asked if they are more or less likely to vote this year compared to a presidential election year, 57.4% said they are more likely to vote this year. Only 20.7% said they are less likely to vote. Voters in the western United States and those 65 years and older are more motivated than other regions and age groups to vote in the coming election. Voters 29 years old or younger are less inclined to vote in this election, Zogby finds [Miller, 2018.10.01].
We rural Democrats have one month to turn those trends around. That’s a big ship—or steam tractor—to turn, and that turning radius may be more than a month wide.
Only 30.2% believe President Trump devotes enough attention to rural America.
The bright side says if Drumpf paid anymore attention to rural affairs all farmers would be bankrupt- morally and economically.
Bob Dylan was right, when ya got nothing, ya got nothing to lose.
“Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime,
Didn’t you?
People’d call, say “Beware doll, you’re
Bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t walk so proud
Now you don’t talk so loud
About having to be scrounging for your
Next meal.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRDQZdrb2rY
First trump took the crops, then trump took the climate, now trump will take the social security nets that have sustained us, and proves it daily with the children’s concentration camps.
Now they want us to believe that by degrading us, we will not vote, we will stay home because we feel that it does not matter. I say bullpuckey to that, we will vote and we will win because we know true evil and that is what we will be voting out.
There is a penetrating piece of journalism by Ryan Lizza in the online Esquire which examines rural attitudes and exposes the underlying political attitudes of rural America.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/amp23471864/devin-nunes-family-farm-iowa-california/?__twitter_impression=true
As a one time farm editor who has continued reporting on farm issues on a stringer basis, I have witnessed with dismay a hardening of a conservative attitude in rural America that regresses into a feudal mindset. And few people have noticed that there is really no such thing as a family farm left in America. A huge majority of the farms have been integrated into the corporate food system. Even if the farms are listed as family owned, they are controlled through contracts of debt, lease, or production by corporate headquarters. Farmers seemed to have learned nothing from the farm crisis of the 1980s.
In the 60s, banks exploited the farm market as a source of revenue. Bankers covered the countryside selling what they called “capital farming.” It was a scheme whereby farmers took out loans and kept expanding their holdings through rotating debt as corporations do. The same idea was applied to home mortgages, which resulted in the Great Recession of 2009. The capitol farming notion received a boost under Nixon through Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz. [http://downfalldictionary.blogspot.com/2014/01/earl-l-butz-just-plane-stupid-joke_5639.html] Butz wanted to get government out of farming and promoted the policies that integrated farms into corporate agriculture. Those policies received a greater charge under Reagan, which created the conditions for the farm crisis.
Farmers are partial to the ideas that they are lords of their manors and CEOs of business operations. But they refuse to admit how dependent they are on government subsidies to help manage their level of debt for farm equipment and operating expenses. It was once the goal of family farms to attain self-sufficiency and independence, but now the goal for many is to be “economic movers.” The irony is in Trump’s move to subsidize them further to replace the incomes they are losing through his tariffs.
America’s capacity for overproduction has made government deal with stabilizing food production to prevent feast-or-famine cycles. In the meantime both crop and livestock production is taken over by specialized factory operations of which most farmers are merely a part. The government subsidies keep the system working so we have, at least up to this point, no shortages or outpacing in our food supplies.
Meanwhile, rural America indulges itself with illusions of being the lords who are managing the world’s nourishment. Trump voices their aspirations—he who has built a fortune through deceit and fraud.
Those who understand the shaky economic foundation of our agriculture realize another farm crisis is in the making and Canada and Mexico may be needed to save us.
In the third graph from the end, that word should be “overpricing” not “outpacing.” I have no idea how autocorrect came up with that change.
Great link and good view point Dr. Newquist. Farmers could strike, but that would show their folly in all of this. Steel workers are getting ready to do just that. Meanwhile, how is the steel industry doing? Not so good for workers.
“The commitment that he has to steel is unprecedented,” U.S. Steel chief executive David Burritt said in August, after Trump visited a U.S. Steel plant reopening in Granite City, Ill. “He’s with us and we’re going to do everything we can to support him because this is not just good for U.S. Steel. This is great for the United States of America.”
Yet the trickle-down effects are far harder to predict. Steel companies, while supportive of the tariffs, have experienced wild gyrations in their business in recent years and can’t be certain the lucrative new protections will stick around. So even in this time of sudden prosperity, some analysts say, they must be disciplined with worker pay and benefits.” Washington Post 10/04/2018
Senator from rural Nebraska, wingnut Ben Sasse, says Drumpf not fit to lead America because if his inability to refrain from dividing Americans.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ben-sasse-brett-kavanaugh-trump-lead-senate-supreme-court-metoo-a8568111.html
We’ll see if Nebraskans take it out on Sasse or finally return to reality.
Corn prices are higher now than they were at this time of year both last year and the year before. My nephew, a grain farmer, sent me a Snapchat of him combining corn. The counter was bouncing between 260 to 300 bushel an acre on what he called “mediocre land”. I guess this is common with the new corn seed. He expects an increase in the price of corn of 30 cents per bushel by February. His bank agreed so they are only selling their contract corn and holding the rest until the spring. he ain’t hurting or he would have to sell at a lower price. . .
“You’d think rural America would see the harm done by Trump’s tariffs” THIS IS CALLED AN UNTRUTH. Trump’s tariffs haven’t harmed anyone. As a matter of fact Trump and his trade experts (as opposed to amateurs from the last two administrations) have reached more favorable treaties with Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, the European Union and Turkey. Trump is presently the first president to stand up to the Chinese who have been stealing our intellectual property for generations. During these trade discussions China threatened our Framers. Instead of folding like a wet napkin of the past Trump stood up to China to protect American interests and set aside $12 Billion dollars to help American farmers. (The assistance hasn’t been needed because our crop prices have remained pretty much level).
“Trump is ignoring American agriculture” THIS IS ALSO AN UNTRUTH. If negotiating a better deal for the American people while at the same time reserving funding to the tune of $12 BILIION to help American farmers is in some way ignoring Farmers you are living in a world of make believe.
“We rural Democrats have one month to turn those trends around.” When you exude lies through the “democrat mouth” you turn off Americans who know your statements were lies and many of those Americans are Farmers who vote. Now, ask yourself, would you vote for someone who throws out clear lies or someone who doesn’t? I think it is a mistake to continue to spout untruths as it turns the people away from you.
The Purdue/CME Ag Group’s Ag Economy Barometer is at its lowest reading since October 2016. It cites trade and weather concerns as the main sentiment driver now. Per Farm Futures: https://www.farmfutures.com/farm-life/ag-economy-barometer-falls-lowest-reading-october-2016
In September, a third of producers, 33%, said they expect financial conditions on their farm to be worse a year from now, compared to 24% who felt that way in August and just 18% in June.
Pence has opened a new offensive against China claiming the US won’t be bullied. Excuse me while I die laughing. Okay, I’m better now.
Seems like the bullies are all in the Kremlin Annex with the scattershot mouth with no brain behind it, in orange sherbet color.
It’s ok. None of you are farmers anyway and you are posting things yo know nothing about.
Corn in iowa as of yesterday was $3.16/bushel statewide average.
Data for this Date Range
Aug. 31, 2018 3.36
July 31, 2018 3.47
June 30, 2018 3.58
May 31, 2018 3.68
April 30, 2018 3.58
March 31, 2018 3.51
Feb. 28, 2018 3.38
Jan. 31, 2018 3.29
Dec. 31, 2017 3.23
Nov. 30, 2017 3.15
Oct. 31, 2017 3.26
Sept. 30, 2017 3.27
Aug. 31, 2017 3.27
July 31, 2017 3.49
June 30, 2017 3.43
May 31, 2017 3.45
April 30, 2017 3.43
March 31, 2017 3.49
Feb. 28, 2017 3.44
Jan. 31, 2017 3.40
Dec. 31, 2016 3.32
Nov. 30, 2016 3.24
Oct. 31, 2016 3.29
Sept. 30, 2016 3.22
Aug. 31, 2016 3.21
July 31, 2016 3.60
June 30, 2016 3.82
May 31, 2016 3.68
April 30, 2016 3.56
March 31, 2016 3.56
Feb. 29, 2016 3.58
Jan. 31, 2016 3.66
Dec. 31, 2015 3.65
Nov. 30, 2015 3.59
Oct. 31, 2015 3.67
Sept. 30, 2015 3.68
Aug. 31, 2015 3.68
July 31, 2015 3.80
June 30, 2015 3.59
May 31, 2015 3.64
April 30, 2015 3.75
March 31, 2015 3.81
Feb. 28, 2015 3.79
Jan. 31, 2015 3.82
Dec. 31, 2014 3.79
Nov. 30, 2014 3.60
Oct. 31, 2014 3.57
Sept. 30, 2014 3.49
Aug. 31, 2014 3.63
July 31, 2014 4.06
OldSuperconstipated, a case and a half of Ex-Lax would sure work wonders on yer hangdog attitude. No wonder yer so damn growly and argumentaive all the time, while being wrong most of the time.
OldSarge, why would you say that none of us are farmers on here? What a clueless statement to add to your treasure trove of ignorance.
Why are you focusing on our corn prices with regard to our trade war with China? If you knew a darn thing about our trade with China, you would know that China imports very little, if any, of our corn, but they import a large percentage of our soybean exports. Why didn’t you talk about soybean prices and how they have been impacted by Trump’s trade war?
Yes, some of us are farmers. But those who are here didn’t vote for Trump last time and aren’t going to next time. Yes, I will vote, I will vote early and I will vote BLUE. Double minority: Farmer and Democrat.
Judge Kavanaugh NEVER tried a case, I understand. He is not even a real lawyer. Just a political shill. Sarge you lecture against UNTRUTHS. You bend over backwards trying to prove your bona fides as a basket weaver, a ND small town spokesperson, a Montana red neck, ensonced happily by the assault rifle range drinking, eating the good educated life, drawing lines at Colorado, Iowa, Minn against former residents, deeply insult Native elders and proven combat veterans, and you are in blind love for the greed of terrorist hostage taking Donald Trump and the GOP liars and billionaire cheats, and insist we become more like your “values” to succeed politically. We are NOT rolling stones. We will not bend over for you and your ilk.
Dang Darin, then use Soybean prices they are even higher. Farmers haven’t lost anything, yet. When and if they do them let them say something.
Robin, I do understand many farmers not voting for Trump. One of the largest farmers I know didn’t voted for Trump and he is very open about telling me the “Democrats are better for his farming because they give him more”. For you I understand why you vote democrat. It better lines your pockets because, in the end, you made it clear that it’s about what “you” get and not America. Screw manufacturing, patents, intellectual property and jobs other than farming. It’s about you. If I were you though you may want to tread a bit lighter as Americans are starting to put together that most of the illegals that are in the country is because you folks in the Ag business would rather pay slave labor wages to illegals than pay a livable wage to an American.
“Judge Kavanaugh NEVER tried a case” that was a very stupid statement. He has been a trial judge in the federal courts for over ten years. . .
leslie, I don’t know you but and you can be the little harpy voice all you want but you don’t live in South Dakota because you are not smart enough to live in South Dakota. South Dakota is a nicer state than where you live. We have better schools and better teachers here. Every place a person walks into local folks will talk nice to them. Very welcoming. Almost all South Dakotans are really nice folks until someone stupid like yourself, comes along and tries to tell us how to live our lives. Then we stand up for ourselves. Sorry, you can’t bully us. You should butt out of our state business,. It is none of your concern.
Lessee, Apple manufactures it products in China using slave labor and you wanna protect Apples “intellectual property” from China?
Leslie,
Foxconn is building a manufacturing factory in Wisconsin because of Trump.
Do you even know what Foxconn is?
Again the Democrats call rural people dumb because they still like Trump and Republicans.
Grain prices are just one part of the equation. The economy is roaring right now except for soybeans and farmers know the price will go up even if the tariffs are still on.
Trump is winning on deregulation, foreign policy, taxes, trade deals, and pretty much everything else.
Business owners and farmers are going to love their 20% tax deduction next spring.
Trump also cares about the innocent until proven guilty clause in our Constitution.
I could go on and on…..
leslie, did I mention Apple? You were just harping about the new judge and now you are onto apple? How do you make such transitions all in the same conversation? Maybe you should go plant apples.
Kavanaugh never tried a case as a lawyer, either prosecutor or defense counsel. He went straight from law clerk under the Bush White House to judge. How’s that for a promotion? He’s groomed by the Republicans and ultra-conservatives since his Young Republican days at Yale. Worked for Justice Kennedy, the Clinton impeachment and Dubya.
Robin,
Let’s discuss his role on the Ken Starr team?
OS, are you for real? Do you know a thing about farming?
You wrote: “Dang Darin, then use Soybean prices they are even higher.”
Soybean prices haven’t been this low since 2007. Where are you getting your information?
Darin,
My advice is to only sell your contracted soybeans and store the rest. The soybean prices will rise in the future.
Let’s discuss how many human babies will be killed in the womb from now until the soybeans prices rise.
Jason, “Trump also cares about the innocent until proven guilty clause in our Constitution.”
1) Of course he loves it, he has invoked it more than any other president!
2) That is not a clause in the Constitution.
I must of missed it. Is Judge Kavanaugh a criminal defendant entitled to a presumption of innocence in a trial that will determine whether he will be incarcerated or is he a man seeking a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land that has the responsibility to prove his good character, judicial temperament and fitness for the job?
The next time a prospective employee goes in for a job interview and insists that they be presumed innocent of any alleged past misconduct will be the first time. Let’s get real. If there were substantial questions about an employee’s fitness for a job, including credible allegations of multiple sexual assaults, a private employer would want overwhelming evidence that the allegations were false, not just that the charges could not be conclusively proven. Why should our standards be any less for a justice of the Supreme Court?
You’re right. It’s not a clause. It is embodied in the right to remain silent and the right to a jury.
Darin, there hasn’t been any credible evidence in the Ford case yet.
Jason,
Trump said Ford’s testimony was “very compelling.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-calls-christine-blasey-fords-testimony-very-compelling/
That was before he had a chance to go over the testimony, the Mitchell report, and the sworn statements contradicting her testimony.
Btw Darin, do you want to discuss the door discrepancy?
That’s hilarious, Jason!
Actually it was not recognized until Coffin v. United States in 1895 – by the Supreme Court.
Just a reminder of how important this seat is. These judges make Constitutional law – law that is not changeable by public vote, legislative action, or Presidential/executive decree.
Foxconn was bribed 4 Billion bucks to come to Wisconsin. winning.
“Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn breaks ground on a new plant in Wisconsin Thursday after receiving a controversial $4 billion package of tax breaks and other incentives to build there.
President Donald Trump will attend the ceremony, as will Governor Scott Walker, who helped arrange local, state and federal incentives to woo the company.
The package is one of the richest ever offered to a business to locate a plant.
Foxconn is promising to hire 13,000 workers, and to place its North American corporate headquarters in nearby Milwaukee. Foxconn says it will spend up to $10 billion on the plant.
They may have trouble finding staff.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is at a record low 2.8%, and there are fewer than 90,000 unemployed in the state.
The state has started an ad campaign to try to entice workers in other states to move to Wisconsin.” https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/28/technology/foxconn-wisconsin-plant/index.html
Smells like Mike Rounds and Joop with the EB5, like flatulence in the wind.
So the State spent 4B to get 10B just on the building. The payroll, State taxes, Property taxes, Sales taxes will just be icing on the cake.
https://qz.com/1316846/donald-trumps-supreme-court-pick-brett-kavanaugh-was-downgraded-by-his-legal-peers-at-the-aba/
Kavanaugh was the same slimeball early as he is now. Unqualified by temperament and unacquainted with the truth.
This is Jason’s Foxcon with the emphasis on cons,BS- https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-foxconns-broken-pledges-in-pennsylvania-cast-doubt-on-trumps-jobs-plan/2017/03/03/0189f3de-ee3a-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html?utm_term=.7c2b8b7da65d
Read what the people of Wisconsin have to say about this cluster. https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-scott-walker-got-conned-by-foxconn-and-now/article_35601cd6-2f31-55a9-bbb8-878ce295dec5.html
Wisconsin lege basically suspended all environmental rules for Foxcon. The plans keep getting downsized while the cost to taxpayers keeps going up and up. Of course Jason would be happy with this arrangement.
mfi, the republicons have found more ways to fleece taxpayers so they can fleece us all out of social security and healthcare. Not to hard to see. Ask a farmer, they already are pretty clear that NOem and trump are their proctologists and are pretty far up there.
Darin, there hasn’t been any credible evidence in the Ford case yet.
Just because Jason says there isn’t any credible evidence, doesn’t make it so. Why didn’t the FBI investigate the perjury from kavanaugh? Because they would have found incontrovertible evidence he lied his ass off.
To hear Sen Collins say it appears to have been a thorough investigation is baloney. Now we gotta listen to the Russian puppet in the Kremlin Annex bray about there was no collusion between him, Russia and Kavanaugh.
I am a retired farmer, Jerry. I think GMO crops have rotted farmer’s ability to think for themselves. And I think Jason and the other trolls get paid handsomely to keep arguing and repeating bullshot every damn day here.
Jason wrote: “So the State spent 4B to get 10B just on the building. The payroll, State taxes, Property taxes, Sales taxes will just be icing on the cake.”
The state didn’t spend $4 billion to get a $10 billion building. The state doesn’t get the building.
The state, feds, and locals spent $4 billion so that Foxcconn would build a building and buy equipment and hire people. The taxes that Foxconn and its workers pay is not icing on the cake–It is the cake. It’s the whole enchilada actually. The state has to try to get its $4 billion back through taxes. The state, feds, and locals start with a $4 billion hole and hope it gets filled by the promises of a foreign corporation that could go broke at any time.
I love it when government spends a bunch of our money to bribe foreign corporations to spend money here. Wisconsin has to do something to try to kick-start its economy as Minnesota keeps kicking its butt.
I didn’t say they get the building. They get the taxes from the construction of the building.
And in the future that building will be taxed.
Why do Democrats hate it when manufacturing plants are built in the US giving jobs to US Citizens?
Why is it trolls constantly misrepresent any and everything someone says when they have no intelligent responses?
You, Jason are one of the worst.
Robin,
Let’s discuss his role on the Ken Starr team?
Dems are still waiting for the other million pages wingnuts don’t want them to have.
Jason wrote: “So the State spent 4B to get 10B just on the building. The payroll, State taxes, Property taxes, Sales taxes will just be icing on the cake.”
How did the state get $10 billion just on the building?
Why does Jason make up facts about people’s views that are patently false?
Why does the Trump administration and wingnut politicians want to give money to foreign corporations when they could be favoring American corporations instead?
Jason, just where the hell are all these sworn statements against Dr Ford. Wingnuts keep talking about them as if they actually exist and I have found one letter from her ex and there is not a thing on it to make me believe he wrote it under penalty of perjury. Why is that?
And in the future that building will be taxed.
If it isn’t abandoned before then. Foxcon has a really bad track record keeping promises, but that just puts them on equal footing with wingnut pols.
Darin,
Do you really think you own your home?
Stop paying taxes on it and see what happens.
Jason,
“The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution includes a provision known as the Takings Clause, which states that ‘private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.’ While the Fifth Amendment by itself only applies to actions by the federal government, the Fourteenth Amendment extends the Takings Clause to actions by state and local government as well.”
http://www.progressivereform.org/perspTakings.cfm
No charge for your education tonight, Jason.
Jason (widdle Russian) and the Russian, both get their paytroll checks tomorrow. Once they are converted from rubles into greenbacks, they will both imbibe and compare notes on how silly they are. We may get some respite while they are in the bag.
Something that T and mfi both alluded to, is most rural folk are retired and are old. That means they probably have their places leased, like I do, and are drawing their Social Security checks. Hard to bitch about that. Most would be happy with a pile of crap as the president..oh, we have that..point proven.
The Roman Empire fell to her knees and on her sword because of outsourcing. All empires that have failed have done so because of that. History has shown us that and has shown us that as recent as 1956 when the British Empire collapsed and had to be bailed out by Eisenhower.
trump is about to outsource Afghanistan to the highest bidder. The same Afghanistan that we have poured blood and treasure into for 18 years is about to be privatized. How about that rural voters. How long do you think it will be before the next coordinated attack comes from the same hombres? Keep drinking the kool-aid. Gonna need more money to do this, what part of that Social Security check do you think will be hit…hint…all of it.
“More than a year after his plan to privatize the Afghan war was first shot down by the Trump administration, Erik Prince returned late last month to Kabul to push the proposal on the beleaguered government in Afghanistan, where many believe he has the ear — and the potential backing — of the U.S. president.
Prince swept through the capital, meeting with influential political figures within and outside the administration of President Ashraf Ghani.
“He’s winning Afghans over with the assumption that he’s close to Trump,” said one well-informed Afghan, adding that many of Prince’s ideas feed into frustration with and within the Afghan military, particularly given its high casualty rate.
But Prince also sparked what Ghani, in a statement Thursday, condemned as “a debate” within the country over “adding new foreign and unaccountable elements to our fight.”” Washington Post 10/04/2018
Darin,
Seriously, stop paying your property taxes and see what happens.
John, Mike, and Darin offer solid evidence of harm to farm country. OS and Jason represent the rural electorate’s disconnect from that reality and willingness to listen to and chant the irrelevant duckspeak they get from their Fox News telescreens.
Cory,
How many farmers do you talk to in person everyday?
All of them widdle Russian, they all read DFP and love it!
I had a very nice talks with Mike McHugh, Paul Dennert, Jenae Hansen, and Drew Dennert Tuesday night.
So you talked to 4 farmers on one night.
Were they at a Democrat event?
Do you drive out of aberdeen and visit farmers?
“OldSuperconstipated”
Mike, stop! You’re killing me! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Good summation Cory. This post is about the troubling sight of rural people eagerly participating in their own demise. It really is heartbreaking and I have relatives whom I love who are participating negatively in this. Later I’ll read the link Dr. Newquist provided to try to gain more insight on this troubling phenomena.
It’s sad to me to see otherwise intelligent people behaving in ways that run counter to that and their moral code. At this time I believe years of endless propaganda via AM talk radio, Faux Noise and similar dishonest sources plus being ignored or trivialized by mass media have taken a toll. In my 50+ years of farm and rural life, I NEVER saw a television show purporting to depict rural America that looked like anything I’d ever experienced or seen.
I did see on accurate depiction one time on the big screen. It was the movie “Country,” starring and produced by Jessica Lang and set in Iowa in the 1980s. It’s also the only time I ever went to a movie where the crowd in the seats was dominated by seed corn cap wearers.
I always felt that “city people” knew nothing at all about me or my life, nor did they care. After living in Minneapolis or St. Paul for 10 years I’ve discovered I was right that they don’t know, but wrong that they don’t care. Folks were eager listeners and learners.
By the way, after 4 years of graduate school, then returning to rural SD, I was disappointed to find out that rural people are equally clueless about cities, have picked up loads of untrue stereotypes from movies and tv, and are not as eager to learn as their urban counterparts. In fact, many rural people seem to feel that there is something inherently better about them. Not at all so, and a very uncharitable and arrogant and unChristian attitude.
Fascinating, Debbo, and a well-composed response. As I read, your words got me wondering, “Has Debbo seen any similar blind spot among rural people toward urban people?” and before I could ask, your essay led right to that question, your observations, and a remarkable contrast between rural and urban folks.
I’m of the impression that the media are controlled by urban people. Farmers and ranchers and small-town folks don’t crank out the movies, TV shows, and other texts that create and broadcast the stereotypes of rural and urban people. Those urban producers appear to get both groups wrong, the provincials and themselves. Is that just the nature of any movie, TV show, or other modern text, that the writer will always simplify and portray only certain facets of her characters/subjects and produce inevitably incomplete portraits? No text will say everything about anyone. Shoddy text will always outnumber great text. The crap that more people leave on in the background will always be more widely seen and heard than the great works (like Country?) that tell the richest stories but require the deepest attention and provoke the strongest sentiments because the majority of listeners don’t have time for deep study, passion, or the conflict that may arise therefrom. (See also, elevator music.)
But don’t let me run down the media criticism hole too far. The main and remarkable point you seem to be making is that many rural folks, far from the templates of virtuous living and wisdom that pop up in some stereotypical portrayals, are at least as arrogant as they perceive urban folk to be and are less open to the folks on the other side of rural/urban divide. Out in the country, it’s easier to isolate oneself, physically and empathetically, from different people, because different people don’t come and visit and stay all that often. In the city, you bump into, work with, and live near newcomers far more frequently. It’s easier to stay tribal when you live in a place where the tribe doesn’t change that much and can more strongly impose its ways in the smaller proportion of newcomers who move in.
Doh, Homer, @9:39 yesterday you were bragging Trump standing up to CHINA stealing intellectual prop rts. APPLE built its IPHONE using CHINESE SLAVE LABOR. I was buying breakfast burritos in West Rapid @9:39 with my high school friend then because I LIVE HERE. We sat next to a MAGA hatted fat pig, distracted by his table’s drivel.
Genius Jason I’ve known of Foxcon since years ago NPR did afternoon programs about APPLE slave labor cubicles housing dozens of Chinese slave laborers in inhumane conditions. Anything else?
Thx Robin. McConnell just demeaned Dems leading up to 51/49 cloture vote (wow murkowski voted no and manchin voted yes! We just might save the world from McConnell’s shill Bart O’Kavanaugh) and “fairness” excluding the Bush/Starr papers from advice/consent (not to mention denying Merrik Garland’s nomination). Rich.
…and the youth vote if they come out, unobstructed, could save us in November.
“It’s easier to stay tribal when you live in a place where the tribe doesn’t change that much.”
That’s right Cory, though I want to be clear that my experiences included exceptions.
Once I realized the extent of the mutual ignorance I had a dream to create an intra-US exchange program. For a 30-60 day period trade rural middle or high schoolers for urban. It would be such an eye opener for both groups and so good for this country. Minnesota is quite concerned about the “Rural/Urban Divide”, as the nation should be. No better way to diminish it than letting each group experience the life of the other.
Machine votes no saturday. 50/50. Murkowski votes no saturday. 50/51 and Dems keeps swing vote out of GOP control. FOR NOW. Trump’s election is likely illegitimate so Gorsuch is too. Thomas will start talking if he thinks Kavanaugh is a fellow predator. Any Bush nominee appointed after 2000 is illegitimate. The indomitable RBG spoke truth to power so naturally GOP wants her head like other conservative justices who ruled liberally. Bork didn’t get Borked in ’91, he buried himself.
BTW Rounds cried about how many WRITTEN questions Kavanaugh answered. Ironic given his ducking EB5 testimony his lawyers answered in writing to avoid cross examination.
Sen Manchin, D WVa
Debbo, I appreciate your willingness to engage in sincere conversation. Instead of using words to silence and destroy others, you speak to encourage others to think, speak, and build understanding.
An intra-US exchange program: excellent idea! And the proposal gets to the nub of cultural difference and cross-cultural understanding. We don’t break down ignorance and arrogance until we expose ourselves to difference, until we see difference people and live in different places, until we go someplace where we are not surrounded by the people and things that define us.
The racists and bigots here in Aberdeen and elsewhere voting for Donald Trump don’t want to see different people.
They didn’t like seeing a black man as their boss in the White House (even though city people have had that experience much more often and have gotten more used to it).
They don’t like seeing Muslims bowing in broad daylight at the gas station saying prayers that look very different from the local Christian rituals.
They don’t like hearing strangers speaking languages they don’t understand.
They don’t like seeing men holding hands and raising children.
All this difference breaks the parameters they grew up in, the settings of society that defined them, that gave them the sense of who they are, of where they live, of what they need to do and say to please God and their neighbors or at least keep them off their back.
The Ag Economy Barometer and soybean prices and the finer points of NAFTA don’t define rural people the way these other cultural touchpoints do.
Donald Trump represents the incorrigible oaf. He changes for no one. He wears his insensitivity like a badge of honor. He affirms the impulse of every rural voter who feels pressured to change by cultural trends embodied by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the liberals, and the big cities that keep luring their kids to move away for the sake of better bands and living wages.
The rural voters are so mad at the big cities for changing and challenging their small-town lives that they can vote for a Manhattan billionaire who knows nothing of small-town life simply because he drowns out his actual narrative with his adopted narrative: “F— you! You’ll never change me! I’ll do what I want, say what I want, be who I am forever, even if I have to ignore facts to do it, and I’ll never apologize!”
Donald Trump affirms the last psychic refuge of rural folks who can’t adapt to inevitable change: stubborn denialism.
Rural folks who are willing to recognize and adapt to change will help sustain healthy communities.
Rural folks who think is still 1959 have already been wrong for most of their lives. Their choice to respond to change with Trumpist anger and denialism will hamper their communities’ ability to survive in the 21st century.
Let them have the government they vote for. No more paved rural roads. No more social security. No more medicare. No more aid to rural schools. These are the Idiocracy folks who either dropped out or barely punched their way through high school. They and rural Amerika have no future so they create a myth of one.
The real travesty is that urban folks, using modern algorithms, haven’t figured out how to have millions of otherwise urban folks, to vote in swing states to mitigate the constitutional flaw of the electoral college. Or to stop the wealth transfer from urban to rural states.
This nation is not, has never been a democracy or democratic. We have the senate representing 40% of the country, about to approve the nomination of a justice supported by fewer than 40% of the country, nominated by a man who lost the popular vote by 3+million.
I feel like we’re mischaracterizing or overgeneralizing rural people. It’s not that there aren’t many smart folks and it’s not that there aren’t liberal folks curious about newer immigrants. It’s that’s the fearful and/or resentful and/or mean ones outnumber them.
I wish there was a way to help the latter group understand that welcoming immigrants and change does not diminish them. It actually helps them be more, well, just about everything.
I guess I have a soft spot for the folks of the High Plains, and probably always will. There have been a few residents I’d like to slap in the face because they deserve it, but most, not.
Their isolation, as Cory mentioned, is really their undoing. The best thing they could do for their peace of mind, farm or ranch and local economy is break out of that isolation. The web is a great tool for that.
They’re not viewed with the condescension they think they are.
West River Ranch families. Flat out racists whose gggf/gggm shot Indians for sport wind up w gay hippie druggie children, or spoiled alcoholic heirs of the homeplace, maybe with a college degree. Or environmentally conscious and kind ranchers who care. On the rez, bright sober holy elders with Masters degrees, teachers, real cultural artists, therapists, combat decorated world travelers, christian/traditional spiritualists in touch with the Pope. All kinds of PTSD. They are all out there. Life long democrats or red neck conservative apples. Few with time to sort out other than with a broad brush the political confusion spun by GOP/Fox everyday on the news and repeated here ad nauseum by Grdz Jason & OS. Democrats stand for democracy. That is better.
They are all out there, as Leslie said, and usually right next door to one another.
Funny, though, Debbo, that even in our isolation, we have lots of visitors. Tourism is a big industry. We flood West River with bikers and hikers. We flood East River with shooters. Somehow that exposure to and profit from lots of outsiders doesn’t shake up all of the isolated attitudes that we’re talking about here.
Deficit soars to $782 billion in 2018: The overall federal deficit soared 17 percent in fiscal 2018, hitting $782 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
That figure amounts to 3.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from 2.4 percent the year before.
The federal deficit likely would have ticked higher were it not for the timing of certain payments based on when weekends fell. Without the shifted payments, CBO said, the deficit would have reached $826 billion, a 24 percent rise equivalent to 4.1 percent of GDP.
Moar winning?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/05/the-us-trade-deficit-keeps-going-up-despite-tariffs.html?recirc=taboolainternal
Deficit grew to 53 billion bucks with Drumpf firmly in control of the iceberg headed for Titanic.
Here is what happened to the average worker’s 4-9k raise Lyin’ Drumpf and Lyin’ Ryan promised with taxcuts for the koch bros.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/republicans-claimed-tax-cuts-boost-wage-growth-heres-really-happened/
Tariffs cost the citizens 1.4 billion a month. Rural voters wake the hell up. Remember, this is gonna come back on us more so than any other place or race. Then what? Will you still think that it is worth it because you feel underprivileged?
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A coalition of U.S. business groups fighting President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs has launched an advertisement aimed at telling voters ahead of the midterm elections that the measures are costing American businesses and consumers $1.4 billion a month.”https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-business/u-s-business-group-says-trump-china-tariffs-cost-1-4-billion-month-idUSKCN1ML29L
If you all think that the soybean market was tough, wait until the repercussions of the stupid come sooner than later.
“John, Mike, and Darin offer solid evidence of harm to farm country. OS and Jason represent the rural electorate’s disconnect from that reality and willingness to listen to and chant the irrelevant duckspeak they get from their Fox News telescreens.” Exactly, Cory.
Somebody said something to the effect of selling contracted beans, store the rest. Well, we haven’t been able to get into the field to finish harvesting beans, so we’re probably just going to lose what’s left. But storage isn’t the answer, unless you have several tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands lying around to build storage in this tariff-depressed farm economy.
NOem and Dirty Johnson’s Medicare plans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGnE83A1Z4U
We simply cannot afford to have either one. Vote Democratic. Vote to save Social Security and Medicare.
Rural folks respect our women, trump will leave his out in the rain. What an arse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo-JD6IDN9M
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/10/08/wealth-america-household-income-richest-poorest-states/38051359/
The poorest of the poor are pretty much all run by bright commie red wingnuts, while the richest states are patriotic blue, Democratic run success stories.
Mike,
You failed again. That article is useless because it doesn’t take into account cost of living.
Yo, Jason Troll, still feel like winning?
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/us-dairy-farmers-get-little-help-canada-trade-deal/
US is still drowning in over production of milk and I’llbet rural voters won’t be near as high on Drumpf and wingnuts from here on out. All Drumpf does is make things worse then lies about it. All you Russian bots do is savor every lie as the gospel truth while you help destroy America.