Backwater Ireland

Backwater America gets a bad rap. It’s a popular pastime here to point to the Deep South and marvel at how stupid, uncouth and backward they all appear to be. But are they really any more backward than their equivalent over here? It is down solely to the fact that the inhabitants of these few states appear to hold the balance of power every four years that their inhabitants come into such sharp focus. The American Presidency has a huge impact on all of our lives and we resent the idea that sometimes the casting vote can lie in the hands of people who have never heard of Snow Patrol. In 2000 it was possible for all of us to hone in our anger and frustration on a few hundred Floridians. That anger required that we characterize these people as obese, in bred and very stupid.

There are probably people who are just as backward thinking on social issues, on religion, on the Middle East living in North Yorkshire or Donegal but we never have any occasion to give them a second thought. God only knows what’s lurking in the valleys of Wales and Scotland. The biggest issue these people get to vote on is who in the village grows the most impressive marrows or what potholes to fill in this year. If subjected to the same scrutiny as their equivalents in places like West Virginia or Georgia are every four years, I’m sure we would find their credentials just as suspect when it comes to voting in the “right on” fashion that we think is appropriate. It’s so easy for us to whittle these people down to a trigger happy bible bashing characterization and ignore the other elements that inform their conservatism. They might be pro military because the local navy base is the biggest employer in the county, they are pro life because they are religious. This is a religious country. Everyone in this country over the age of I would suggest fifty (and at least half of those under fifty) are also pro life yet we never hear people of this ilk described as ignorant rednecks.

The worst possible thing to happen to the global profile of American Christian conservatives was George Bush. With such a repugnant figurehead it is easy to stockpile revulsion for the grassroots, for those who put him there. If the exact same things had taken place in America over the past eight years under the stewardship of someone like John McCain (though with anyone but Palin as vice), the conservative base would not be half as much of a lightning rod for global hatred and anger as they are. We generally view McCain in a more positive light and I think under his leadership decisions such as the one to invade Iraq would not have been viewed as one more leg in the compilation of a new, evil right wing world order. It would have been viewed as wrong absolutely and condemned but not as part of a sinister and premeditated plan to subvert world power structures.

Bush was responsible for ensuring that every move the White House made attracted a disproportionate amount of scorn from every quarter and was viewed through the prism of suspicion and hostility. The revulsion we felt for the man himself clouded everything. It is still only very grudgingly that any credit is given to Bush for being the only US president in two generations to increase aid to sub Saharan Africa. The profile we have devised suggested that Bush was incapable of pointing out Africa on an atlas so the suggestion that he would be capable of increasing aid to that continent does not compute.

They make easy targets and provide good comedic entertainment those rednecks. We chortle at their names like Cleetus, Billy Bob. We dismiss their outlook on life, their social conservatism and bible thumping sensationalism. We resent that in a November every so often our destiny becomes entwined with theirs. It’s an uncomfortable reminder that they exist, that we share the planet with such specimens with their pickup trucks, their guns, their home made liquor. We don’t like it one bit but make no real attempt to understand them. So we respond with put downs, ruthless dismissals of their motivation, their backgrounds, their way of life. A playground moment “You’re a stupid head, well you’re a bigger stupid head”

Cleetus believes in being left alone, that some government is necessary to keep the show on the road but for the most part he doesn’t want too much interference in his day to day life. Cleetus wants less governance and believes that this will logically lead to him having to pay less taxes. He’s a patriot, he believes in God and isn’t sure about children being brought up by two mommies or two daddies. If Cleetus lived here he would probably have joined the queue to ring Joe on Liveline in the aftermath of the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone call furore. He can’t afford college for his kids as things stand and believes that an obvious upshot of all the tax he has paid throughout his life is subsidised or free university education. He will pay a modest health insurance premium for effective and efficient health care. He sounds like he’s from another planet doesn’t he? The conventional wisdom here suggests that we could not trust such a specimen to put one foot in front of the other never mind play a pivotal role in deciding the direction of his country and our world.

The political right in America, that in our infinite wisdom and moral superiority we so denounce, have devised a system whereby they claim Cleetus as a loyal subject by virtue of a smattering of patronizing pronouncements on what they call social issues. But their real passions lie elsewhere. They believe that all the power and wealth should be concentrated within a small, select grouping. They believe that this group should collaborate, co operate, take care of each other’s interests and act to prevent the ascent of anyone from outside their sect to any position of power or influence. It believes that any manner of deception, dishonesty, criminality or manipulation is justified in achieving this end. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Yanks, eh? What a shower of fecking eejits. It seems Cleetus is not the only one being taken for a ride.