"Small Town" Values?

[Akno21]

Candidates seem to like to parade around, in real-life, and in Fantasy Politics, that they are from a small town, have small town or "main street" values, and represent the heartland. This does not make any sense to me.

Can somone please explain why you should parade around the fact that you come from a small, rural town in Iowa, but it's shameful to work for a stock broker in New York City? Since when are people who don't come from the small towns lacking values, and how the hell is a value you learn in the "heartland" any better than a "value" you learn in a city?

People from more populous, coastal areas aren't raised to be dishonest cheats, we are just as good as everyone else. People in New Jersey are just as hard-working as people in Kansas, but successful political figures all seem to say they are from the heartland of the country. Why can't they be from the coasts, they aren't inferior to the heartland.

The whole perception that the best is in the small town values, from the heartland, is complete BS, just as it would be to say another part of the country is better than everywhere else.

Is anyone else sick of the notion that white collar workers in the Northeast, Pacific Coast or anywhere else aren't as good as blue collar ones from the small towns in the heartland?

[Nation]

Apparentely everyone in small towns have values, and people in big towns SUCK.





SUCK SUCK SUCK



I agree with you Akno, it is a foolish thing to parade around.

It works, though. Would a candidate win if they paraded their "big city" values?

[Adam Griffin]

I think it's all a load of crap. Politicians from small towns don't share their community's values, or they wouldn't be in politics in the first place.

[Storebought]

It works, though. Would a candidate win if they paraded their "big city" values?

It sure didn't for Al Smith in '28.

But most East Coast cities market themselves as being "tough" and "hard", so it stands to reason that running on urban East Coast values puts voters off.

For ex., New York City, from the 1850s onwards, has presented itself as mean and gritty: "If you make it here, you can make it anywhere" - - implying that if you fail in NY, then you're a hayseed loser who should have never left the vegetable patch.

Not to mention the typical Northeastern urban attitude: "If you don't like it, then go suck it (or "f* off", or "eat sh*", etc.)"

I can't think of a faster way for a politician to lose an election than to treat his electorate in the way a New Yorker (or Philadelphian, or Newark-ian) treats non-natives, and themselves.

[Cashcow]

Not to mention the typical Northeastern urban attitude: "If you don't like it, then go suck it (or "f* off", or "eat sh*", etc.)"

I believe this is coming from someone who said he would never leave the country.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

"Small Town Values" is your common GOP bullsh**t to try to play to the hearts of rural America.  There's long been a rural/urban war of words in this country. 

Rural people think that the "city folk" are immoral, materialistic rich people.   

Urban people think the rural people are just simpletons. 

Honestly though, the party of the cities (Democrats) try to bring rural voters in on vital and true economic issues.  But, the GOP really has no problem with classic lines such as "They think the heart of America is in Hollywood!" from Dubya in a campaign speech in Missouri. 

Which really pisses me off because who the hell is Bush to say who is and who is not the heart and backbone of this country?  I say we all are.  Unfortunately, the GOP has no problem trying to degrade the people of Massachusetts and California. 

[Storebought]

Not to mention the typical Northeastern urban attitude: "If you don't like it, then go suck it (or "f* off", or "eat sh*", etc.)"

I believe this is coming from someone who said he would never leave the country.

I wasn't aware I had to leave the country to visit New York.

Anyhow: The Populist movement of the 1880s, for ex., was based nearly entirely on the perception that New Yorkers and Bostonians were cold moneychanging elitists who took advantage of the sturdy Midwestern farmer.

And even then, those Populists merely rehashed a stereotype that Jackson used to huge effect when dismantling the second Bank of the US.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that dislike of the Northeast is nearly as old as the US is itself, the only respite coming during the 1940s through the 70s, when the South was the vilified alienated 'Other' of the US.

[Joe Republic]

Appealing to small-town values doesn't always work too well in NYC mayoral races.  That's one thing I've noticed so far.

[Cubby]

Not to mention the typical Northeastern urban attitude: "If you don't like it, then go suck it (or "f* off", or "eat sh*", etc.)"

I believe this is coming from someone who said he would never leave the country.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that dislike of the Northeast is nearly as old as the US is itself, the only respite coming during the 1940s through the 70s, when the South was the vilified alienated 'Other' of the US.

Ah, the good ole days.......

[Alcon]

It's another one of those populist movement things that just riles up the crowd, even if it really has nothing to do wiith anything.

Obviously, higher population densities breed hedonism.

[dazzleman]

There has always been a strong anti-urban undertone to US politics, and this is a reflection of it.

Our country was partially founded on a dread of crowded European cities, and we were thought to offer something different and better.  The implication is that the person who is closer to nature, closer to the land, is more in touch with reality than the one who is separated from it.

Is this opinion accurate?  In some ways yes, in some ways no.  I can't say the invocation of small town value really bothers me.  I favor what are called "small town values" over "urban" values.  The only problem is that what really goes on in small towns does not always reflect the values attributed to them, and the same thing goes for the city.

[Everett]

Is anyone else sick of the notion that white collar workers in the Northeast, Pacific Coast or anywhere else aren't as good as blue collar ones from the small towns in the heartland?

Well, a lot of people around here (California) would consider someone like PBrunsel a hick, so the feeling is mutual.

[Akno21]

Is anyone else sick of the notion that white collar workers in the Northeast, Pacific Coast or anywhere else aren't as good as blue collar ones from the small towns in the heartland?

Well, a lot of people around here (California) would consider someone like PBrunsel a hick, so the feeling is mutual.

But people in national campaigns subetly trash you guys while making PBrunsel types out as Mr. American.