The Yankee Problem in America

LewRockwell.com ^ | April 24, 2003 | Clyde Wilson

[dark_lord]

I think that the "Yankee == Evil" view is about as accurate as the "RedNeck == Stupid Racist" view.

[proxy_user]

It all comes from 17th-century radical Protestantism. If you believe in justification by faith alone, it's not a very big step to antinomianism. The socialist vegetarian radical of today is only an updated version of a Fifth Monarchy Man.

[Mister Baredog]

I loved watching the ANGELS kick the CRAP out of the YANKEES last baseball season.

[poet]

The American league has a Yankee problem also.

[Formermasslurker]

Thank you. I think this author needs to get into this century. I got about halfway down the page before I couldn't read this rant anymore.

[Gefreiter]

This person does not know what a Yankee is.

My stepfather is a Yankee: He lives in MA. He is a craftsman, a cabinet maker who works alone from his own shop. He can count on one hand his trips to Boston. He minds his business, does his work, and has no pretense of being a member of an elite Yankee class.

I think "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, an author suspiciously absent form this essay, expresses the true Yankee mentality.

[Gefreiter]

"form" = "from"

Damned Yankee keyboard

[headsonpikes]

"It all comes from 17th-century radical Protestantism."

Yes, the American Totalitarian strain has its origins in the militant perfectionism of certain elements of Cromwell's Army.

OTOH, the relentless disestablishmentarianism of these same Protestants led to the 1689 Bill of Right(which includes the right to bear arms), a contractual monarchy, and eventually, the political principles of the American Revolution. That seems to me to be a good thing.

An interesting read, even if tainted by ax-grinding 'sectionalism'. ;^)

[taxed2death]

....a voice of reason. Call me a Yankee, It's a compliment.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Down with the Confederates! Preserve the Union!

/HEAVY SARCASM (from a longtime Illinois Yankee)

[warchild9]

Hearing a Northeastern accent roils up a deep hostility within the breast of any Southern man. Southern women, too, but they're often too nice to let them know it. Midwesterners, Yankees as well, don't rouse that same sort of irrational hatred. I haven't figured that one out, yet.

[Monitor]

Listening to neo-confederates bitch about a war confederates started and lost is just like listening to Democrats bitch about the recounts in the 2000 election they initiated and lost - a whole lot of whine, cheese, and sour grapes with a heavy dose of revisionism.

[tophat9000]

I've been called "Yankee" by better

Commies, Nazi, Imperial Japan, the French, etc. What this guy never saw an old war movie?

"You die(running/imperialist)Yankee dog" is a classic cliché....

I'm a proud unrepentant Yankee

[Chancellor Palpatine]

More heartwarming love and joy from the pages of Lew Rockwell.

[mabelkitty]

Talk about optimistic.

Apparently this writer isn't aware of the poor history knowledge Americans possess.

[dighton]

More heartwarming love and joy from the pages of Lew Rockwell.

Clyde Wilson gets around, from LewRockwell to Pravda.

[Poohbah]

It's a good thing for Lew Rockwell that stupidity and foolishness aren't physically painful.

[VRW Conspirator]

An interesting read. Mr. Rockwell seems to forget the latter part of the 20th century. While Kennedy was a "Yankee", President Johnson was a southerner...So is Jimmy Carter, (gag) Bill Clinton and Dick Gephardt.

When I think of Yankee, I think largely of New England snobs. The folks from the Southern region of our country often blur the Yankee label by indicating anyone born above their respective northern state boundry (or the Yellow river if your in Texas).

In summary, I think Rockwell is nailing the Yankee mindset and its cultural influence on these great States. Yet, arrogance and greater-than-thou-ism is a human trait that can be easily acquired by any culture.

[Sam's Army]

Rockwell is such a loser