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Title: How the South Skews America
Source:
politico
URL Source: http://www.politico.com/magazine/st ... erica-119725.html#.VZyklflkk-8
Published: Jul 3, 2015
Author: MICHAEL LIND
Post Date: 2015-07-08 00:26:19 by Dakmar
Keywords: None
Views: 528
Comments: 42
Every year the Fourth of July is marked by ringing affirmations of American exceptionalism. We are a special nation, uniquely founded on high ideals like freedom and equality. In practice, however, much of what sets the United States apart from other countries today is actually Southern exceptionalism. The United States would be much less exceptional in general, and in particular more like other English-speaking democracies such as Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were it not for the effects on U.S. politics and culture of the American South. I don’t mean this in a good way. A lot of the traits that make the United States exceptional these days are undesirable, like higher violence and less social mobility. Many of these differences can be attributed largely to the South. All English-speaking democracies share certain characteristics in common. Compared to continental European and East Asian democracies, the Anglophone nations tend to be more market-oriented and less statist, with somewhat lower levels of social spending and weaker bureaucracies. We might even speak of “Anglosphere exceptionalism.” But even by the standards of the English-speaking world, the U.S. appears as an extreme outlier, in areas ranging from religiosity to violence to anti-government attitudes. As we learned after the slaughter last month in Charleston, S.C., some deluded Southerners still pine for secession from the Union. Yet no doubt there are also more than a few liberal Northerners who would be happy to see them go. Minus the South, the rest of the U.S. probably would be more like Canada or Australia or Britain or New Zealand—more secular, more socially liberal, more moderate in the tone of its politics and somewhat more generous in social policy. And it would not be as centralized as France or as social democratic as Sweden. As a fifth-generation Texan, and a descendant of Southerners back to the 1600s, I don’t want to encourage lurid stereotypes of a monolithic South. The states of the former Confederacy include ethnic minorities like Louisiana Cajuns and Texas Germans, along with African Americans. And the dominant conservatives in the South have always been challenged from within the ranks of the white community by populists, liberals and radicals. But the South really is different from the rest of the country. Here are some examples of how the South skews American statistics. Today there is more inter-generational social mobility in Europe than in the United States, contrary to the American myth that the United States is still the world’s No. 1 land of opportunity. The Economic Mobility Project of Pew Charitable Trusts has shown that children are far less likely to rise above the socio-economic levels of their parents in the U.S. than are those in Britain, Canada and Australia, as well as Germany, France and the Nordic nations. The American South, with the lowest rates of intergenerational social mobility in the U.S., clearly skews the national statistics, creating an embarrassing and depressing version of American exceptionalism. Economic inequality? Apart from California and New York, where statistics reflect the wealth of Wall Street, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the South is the region with the greatest income inequality. Southern exceptionalism has helped to ensure that the American Dream is more likely to be realized in the Old World than in the New. The mythology of American exceptionalism holds that ever since 1776 the United States has led the rest of the world in expanding individual liberty and the growth of the middle class. This makes for inspiring Fourth of July rhetoric, but it has never been true. In reality, the United States has frequently lagged behind Britain and her other offspring in these areas. Britain peacefully abolished slavery within its empire in the 1830s; thanks to Southern opposition, the U.S. did so only as the result of the catastrophic Civil War. And thanks to mid-century Southern members of Congress, welfare-state policies from home ownership to Social Security were designed to reinforce segregation or exclude the disproportionately-Southern black and white poor. Not until the 1960s, with the help of federal military intervention in Southern states, was the right of African-Americans to vote secured. And today white Southern Republicans are at the forefront of efforts to roll back the voting rights revolution by making voter registration more difficult. Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-the-south-skews-america-119725.html#ixzz3fGpG6n9B Poster Comment: Get the sandbags, somebody's head is about to 'splode. Apart from California and New York, where statistics reflect the wealth of Wall Street, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the South is the region with the greatest income inequality.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 36.
#3. To: Dakmar (#0)
Liberalism often works by smashing something and then declaring it hopelessly discombobulated. Who was it that killed off 1/4 of all Southern males old enough to shoulder a gun in the 1860s? Income equality? Before the above genocide, something like 4 of the richest states in the country were in Dixie -- including Mississippi as I recall.
So you are both going on record in favor of rolling back (whatever that means) voting rights of african americans?
Americans probably should contemplate a repeal of the 14th Amendment altogether, since even a majority of the supposed "Supreme Court" is recently on record as not understanding it correctly.
Couldn't do that and be askeered of snakes and wolves too, so I deported 'em all from this Prairie O' Mine:
Sing Flower Duet with me, GLMist, no one has ever done that before. Here's the words: Thick dome of jasmine Under the dense canopy where the white jasmine, Blends with the rose, That blends with the rose, Bank in bloom, fresh morning, On the flowering bank, laughing in the morning, alright, who else loves big block V-8?s
Lettuce ... huh? ... What kind of puzzling salad bar tyranny is that about picking only blue lotus flowers from bank property! ... Sounds like a secret squirrel code of some sort. If this duet is at the Fed Res, they don't even rate a musical Christmas card from me.
You got me there, I wrote a song about lotus bank flowers too but no one listened.
I'll listen. Would like to see if it could possibly help to bring about a positive paradigm shift for America. Exquisite 'Flower Duet' from Lakmé (piano solo)
Glad to see somebody appreciates music that is, in a sense, central to western civilization. Anybody heard of this guy named Wagner? Bad news -- the SC House has just sold us out. After 3 attempts in 13 hrs' debate, the communists got the votes to bring the flag down in Columbia. Our ancestors were the lucky ones -- they only had to fight this war for 18 years. I've been in it for 27!
Our ancestors were the lucky ones -- they only had to fight this war for 18 years. I've been in it for 27! It's only about 10:30 in the morning. Did they just vote without debating the matter at all?
No idea. The only details I'll check are who voted commie, and we're going to target them for de-election when the time comes. They'll learn nothing from it, the GOP and Dummacrats will learn nothing from it and will go on with the Soviet Socialist agenda -- but it's an open door for us to exploit and stoke voter dissatisfaction.
They'll learn nothing from it, the GOP and Dummacrats will learn nothing from it and will go on with the Soviet Socialist agenda -- but it's an open door for us to exploit and stoke voter dissatisfaction. Do you know yet which 3 Senators voted to not remove the flag?
Harvey Peeler, Lee Bright, and Danny Verdin. Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is scheduled to sign the bill at 4:00 pm today, and they're planning to yank the Flag down tomorrow at 10:00 am. House vote roll call is given in this article: http://www.wltx.com/story/news/2015/07/07/confederate-flag-south-carolina-house- of-representatives/29842863/
#39. To: StraitGate (#36)
(Edited)
Harvey Peeler, Lee Bright, and Danny Verdin. Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is scheduled to sign the bill at 4:00 pm today, and they're planning to yank the Flag down tomorrow at 10:00 am. House vote roll call is given in this article: http://www.wltx.com/story/news/2015/07/07/ Thank you for the reports of those who stood heroically to guard the flag from the hatred of its totalitarian enemies. Link for the wltx.com article July 9, 2015: Confederate Flag to Come Down Friday Morning Excerpts: Each of those was overwhelmingly rejected [by] fellow lawmakers. ... other proposals ... One called for the U.S. flag to fly upside down on the dome of the capitol; another would have put a white flag of defeat on the pole at the State House, to represent what the sponsor defined as the "flag of the South Carolina Republican Party." Suggested boycotts: Charleston tourism
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#5. To: NeoconsNailed, titorite (#3)
#12. To: Dakmar (#5)
So you are both going on record in favor of rolling back (whatever that means) voting rights of african americans?
#14. To: GreyLmist (#12)
Lighten up Francis!
#15. To: Dakmar (#14)
(Edited)
Lighten up Francis!
#16. To: GreyLmist (#15)
(Edited)
Couldn't do that and be askeered of snakes and wolves too, so I deported 'em all from this Prairie O' Mine:
#20. To: Dakmar (#16)
#21. To: GreyLmist (#20)
(Edited)
Lettuce ... huh? ... What kind of puzzling salad bar tyranny is that about picking only blue lotus flowers from bank property!
#23. To: Dakmar (#21)
(Edited)
I wrote a song about lotus bank flowers too but no one listened.
#24. To: GreyLmist (#23)
#25. To: NeoconsNailed (#24)
Bad news -- the SC House has just sold us out. After 3 attempts in 13 hrs' debate, the communists got the votes to bring the flag down in Columbia.
#26. To: GreyLmist (#25)
(Edited)
#28. To: NeoconsNailed (#26)
No idea. The only details I'll check are who voted commie, and we're going to target them for de-election when the time comes.
#36. To: GreyLmist (#28)
Do you know yet which 3 Senators voted to not remove the flag?
Replies to Comment # 36. Do you know yet which 3 Senators voted to not remove the flag?
confederate-flag-south-carolina-house-of-representatives/29842863/ [Some] proposed amendments would have created a display case for the Confederate flag that would have been in front of the monument at the capitol, one to remove all monuments, and even one that would have required ... flowers to be planted near the monument.
National Parks
Walmart
NASCAR
more ...
End Trace Mode for Comment # 36.