Posted on 06/26/2007 5:17:28 PM PDT by Mamzelle
Over the past months of this nightmare of immigration scofflawry, listening to the rhetoric from the aristocratic Republican elites--I’ve been carried back to the Magnolia Melodramas I enjoyed reading as a teenager. Gwen Bristow’s “Plantation Trilogy”; Frank Yerby’s “The Foxes of Harrow” and the magnificent mother of them all--Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With The Wind.”
George Bush once said, “I’m not a southerner, I’m a southwesterner.” He was trying to distance himself from the south and the taint of racism, a “compassionate” insult to every southerner who voted for him. But he has every resemblence to the linen-suited julep-drinking Massa of the Old South.
And the dynamic of the Elites verses Middle-class Conservatives is exactly like the plantation owner and his nearest inelegant neighbors...White Trash. Scots-Irish subsistence farmers couldn’t afford to the leisured fineries of the Planter Class because they were trying to eke out an existence in competition with the institution of slavery.
Remember the characters of the Slatterys and the Macintoshes, Gerald and Scarlett O’Hara’s WT neighbors? Not only did the O’Haras hold them in contempt for being so hardscrabble, tacky and rough-textured, but the slaves themselves of the plantations held themselves in higher esteem than “po’ whites.”
And the Massa with the Big Heart dearly loved his servants, loved condescending to them--What treasures! Just like members of the family! Not that he set them free, or ate at the same table. There are limits to paternalism and noblesse oblige. But Massa and Missus were unfailingly thankful that Mammy and Pork picked up Scotty’s poop off the Big House lawn.
The irony--it’s the Southern middle class that makes up a lot of the soldiers who trusted him enough to serve in Iraq.
George Bush thinks he can afford to openly display the contempt he has always felt for Joe Redneck...er...Sixpack. His chief overseer, Tony Snow, let us in on the secret in the wee hours after election day. He can now concentrate on indulging his oozing childhood sentimentality by handing his house servants a deed to America.
I’m reminded of another scene from Gone With The Wind--Scarlett was being lectured by an elderly matriarch about Trash. “And when you’re done with them--kick them away and do it thoroughly, because Trash clinging to your coattails can ruin you.”
I have entered into many discussions about illegal immigration with a comment--housework and yardwork are political. This is a class issue between overlord elites who can’t conceive of a life spent actually cleaning up after themselves. They break the laws, then have to justify the transgression by accusing the law of being bad. That’s why they become insulting and defensive when requested to obey the law.
I’m done with Bush. I don’t trust him--or any member of his Indolent family.
Intersting insight.
President George W. Bush also called the bill "amnesty." After the outcry, Tony Snow babbles that he "misspoke." Snow has truly gone over to the dark side. For money? Or does he secretly share President Bush's fetish for illegal aliens?
This bill and the support it gets from our government truly shocked me. Some have asked: What does one do when the enemy is in the White House and Congress?
Do you know many Texans from the Hill Country of farther west? No doubt Texans are Southern in the fact they fought for the South, but I never felt a close relation culturally to the South. Texas has its own distinct culture, even down to its accent (even our barbecue is different).
Yes, that’s true.
What is interesting to note is that the cultures are distinct because of history, economic base and even the geographic features of the landscape itself.
This is true for most of the U.S. and not just Texas.
My family grew cotton in the Austin area back before the Civil War. I was born in Corpus.
I agree with you. It depends where you were from in Texas and your family history. I have lived in California, Washington, and now Montana most of my adult life, so my outlook is probably more Western than anything, but my sympathies are with the South.
Twice I lived for awhile in Massachusetts. I’m definitely no Yankee!
The South has its own unique culture, foods, music, and so on separate from Texas. If I go to South Carolina or Mississippi I want to see grand plantation style homes, drink a mint julep, visit Civil War monuments and battlefields.
If I were a tourist to Texas I would want to eat some barbecue and fajitas, check out the King ranch and visit the Alamo and the battlefield at San Jacinto.
My idea (probably unique, though not absolutely) is that in the cities, the people have shaped the landscape. In rural areas, the landscape has shaped the people.
Hence, part of the reason for the current divisions in this country.
I will say in elementary when my friends found out I was born in Washington I was called a Yankee quite a bit. When my friends now want to irritate me they tell me I am not a true Texan. I tell them, "naw, I'm more like Davy Crockett or Sam Houston, I just came here to give you slackers a hand."
good rant, though......lots of assumptions
Glad you can’t find the writers early reading has effected their writing and, thinking!! LOL
This is a bit off subject, but last night I went to my t-ball teams end of the year party. I live in Plano and I was surprised and pleased to see the size of the families that attended. Many of my players had 2 or 3 brothers or sisters. We hear how Americans aren't having kids but out of 12 players only 1 was an only child. Its good to maintain the culture.
Tell the truth, shout it to the skies, and tell it like it T-I-S bump!
Thats is 7 of the 10 spent outside of Texas. Its still early here.
American culture isn’t “maintained.” It’s always shifting.
As I’ve said many times before — you don’t get to grow old in the same country you were born in. This can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on your point of view.
I live in Central New Hampshire, but I grew up in the tri-state area (NY-NJ-CT). We were pretty well-off, but two ranks below Connecticut Yankee. Occasionally during my earlier life, I had the valuable educational opportunity of being stepped on by a Connecticut Yankee on his way up or down the ladder. They are a very distinctive people. A lot of them have two middle names.
Anyway, I always take my kids to see all of the Presidential candidates as they cruise through town. It's one of the great features of small town NH life.
In July, 1999, W came in to great fanfare. Most of them come in a bus,or a car. W came by water, in a fleet of antique wooden motorboats. He'd had lunch on one of the islands with his people, and they accompanied him to shore with horns blazing. All blue blazers and straw boaters, no cowboy hats (actually, in our town, there are lots of cows and lots of farmers, but the wooden boat crowd doesn't take much notice of them).
Anyway, W gave what would become his stump speech, "compassionate conservatism, military is the tip of the spear, take care of single moms, blah, blah, blah."
I posted a review on FR that night, which contained these words: "He (W) is our Clinton".
I can't retrieve my posts from before 2001, or I would post a link .
Anyway, he's done a few good things, but overall has been a bad President, and I'll be glad to see him gone (after January 2009). But your observations about massa in the big house are right on point, except he's not really a rancher with a hacienda OR massa in a big house - he's a blue-blazer, topsider, wooden boat cruising, country club phony who has run a big con on his patriotic, America loving supporters all over this land.
DO NOT BAD MOUTH TOPSIDERS!
OK Skip.
Say hi to Muffy for me.
From what I’ve observed, in my opinion, the Bush concept of loyalty goes one way. Everyone should give their loyalty to Bush but I haven’t seen him giving the same loyalty to his people.
Want to explain this? How the heck do you know what my "strong suits"--or any of my suits--are?
Oh, I just read your post. That’s all.
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