“they portray themselves as one step removed from coal miners, they THINK of themselves as one step removed from God.”
Exactly. They have those stupid bumper stickers, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” Actually, I can thank my sister who taught me. The teachers were terrible at it.
One of my neighbors in soviet Red Hampshire has that bumper sticker; makes me want to puke...my mother taught me how to read; she would buy me lots of books.