A Look Into The Mind Of White Working-Class Voters (VIDEO)

Much has been said about white working-class voters. But those who've been doing all the talking are pollsters and political operatives. As part of the Long View series, ANP traveled to rural Virginia to talk to someone who's lived the life and knows from personal experience what those voters are thinking -- author Joe Bageant. His highly-acclaimed recent book, Deer Hunting With Jesus, was lauded by one reviewer as a "raging, hilarious, and profane love song to the great American redneck." In addition to being that, it's also one of the most prescient pieces of analysis about American politics and culture in this election year.

Comments

[honestpolitician]

"In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo. In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history. That's what's at stake. That's what we're fighting for." - Quote from Barack Obama in his closing argument speech.

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[scandinavian]

very well defined!

[Carolab]

A bit enigmatic and a bit too simplistic for my liking. Engaging man. But a visit to his blog will tell you he does not plumb the depths as he should. Just read his piece on Palin, to see what I mean.

[SOLERSO68]

I dont know, for a blog post it wasnt too bad. How deep can one "plumb the depths" in 5 paragraphs.Hed recommended a very good book on a subject very imporatant to "building a lasting coalition for change"

[DMcD]

Contrary to the stuff we hear all the time on the MSM, I (a middle-class middle-aged white guy), have no problem in voting for Obama. I'm damn sick and tired of the culture of corruption, fear and division that has gripped this country for the last 8 years and I don't care if the next Prez. is purple with orange stripes, as long as justice prevails and we can all "get our lives back".

[Pennsanic]

That's encouraging.

[ohiomark]

If Sen. Govt wins and Reid and Pelosi get their super majority, there will be no stopping the Democrat "culture of corruption". Who will investigate them, Barney Frank?

[postman606]

Perhaps we will be lucky enough to get a DOJ not as partisan as the out going.

[roald]

There are still a few Republicans to do this. That is the reason for a balanced, two-party system with control shifting back and forth over time.

[chgoblue]

LOL..after 8 years of the most incompetant and corrupt administration in history....

[BBackSoon]

What are your thoughts about Bush enjoying majority rule for 6 of his 8 years?

[Topsailsman]

I think that Obama should appoint Alberto Gonzales or Mukasey since neither of them did anything to stop violations of the law and the constitution when they were Attorney General. Republicans have set a wonderful example of how not to enforce the laws of the country.

[SOLERSO68]

Im a poor white guy, and contrary to poular belief, i would bet more of us are voting for Barrak than in the middle class. Mcain Is done. washed up, he should resign from the senate. This capaign has been WORSE than wallace. and wallace ran 40 years ago. nothing but shame for mcain and he will go down in history "forever linked to race baiting".

[OldKnute]

He is right,,, but everything he said, is why I support Obama.

Evil is seen best by its EXCESS.

We cannot crush the Corporations, we need them to, but how many Wal-Marts do you need in one town. Home Depot made it easy for me to find what I needed for my business, but I could go in the early morning and shop to miss the crowds. I didn’t need a Home Depot on every corner.

My family had lived on the same land for nearly 100 years.

Deliberately tore down the old house and rebuilt it with indoor plumbing, a second story, electricity and a wonderful 1940s kitchen.

That is my America, and like Obama says,,, it is being stolen.

WE are the ones that need to petition Congress. WE will need to make our wishes known. Obama, like any president will need the help of Congress. Just like BUSH needed Congress to pass his Civil Liberties violating Patriots act.

FACT

The executive branch makes NO LAWS. They just enforce and execute them. Hence the name. Obama will need every last one of us to MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN.

Where I would disagree Joe Bageant, would be his assessment that the Liberals have forgotten about their Democratic roots.

Obama is a Center Left Candidate.

Want to get ANYTHING DONE?

Everyone knows, you hitch your horses,,, at the center of a plow.

All the best

Knute

[OldKnute]

Oh! One more thing.

McCain walks into a Barn. He slowly heads over near a stall and sits down on a bail of straw, his head in his hands. The horse tips his head right, then left and says to McCain; “What’s with the long face?”

All the best

Knute

[BBackSoon]

"Everyone knows, you hitch your horses,,, at the center of a plow."

Nice!!!

[betabeta]

thought provoking for sure

[lovethesinner]

This is what Jim Webb was talking about, and it's why I picked him for VP. But, the more I think about it, I think he's right where he'd do the most good, in the senate. Obama's going to need him down there in the pit to get anything that can help the working man (and woman) passed through congress and sold to the nation.

P.S. nice guitar.

[danielsadicario]

This should have been the conversation for the last month or two. Like Obama's speech on race, we need a mature speech about the current state of class perceptions in America.

[zanzig]

It's a conversation I have been trying to encourage Americans to have since I read Joe Bageant's book in April this year and started posting comments to this site. I am so pleased that people are getting to read his book, or hear about him now.

[Liberalisnotacurse]

This is a fabulous post. Great job done here by ANP. This sums up our major ideological struggle in America. This is why Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity are so important in the current model of goverment. It's a battle for Middle Class discontent, For years poor whites have been given false targets for their anger. Liberals, Blacks, The poor, Affirmative action, Gays and any other thing. But the tide is shifting People are seeing that these coporations, that they are taught to worship, are raping and our economy and leaving our childrens future in limbo. We need progressive polocies and healthcare and education if we are gonna go anywhere.

[Carolab]

But the point Joe is making about the corporations is that these working class people can't see the corporations or Wall Street are working against them. His argument is that is so because they "can't feel or touch them". I can't "feel or touch them" either, but I know D**M well that they are not working in MY best interests. So, isn't it more to the point that a difference between (typically) educated (typically) urban liberals and (typically) rural working class whites is different awareness of what is really going on in this country? That the message isn't somehow breaking through to them because they aren't really being told what's going on, nor do they know where to go to find out or even that they need to? Isn't it that their culture, their circle of friends, is different, more isolated, less well-informed? Do these folks spend time on the Internet? Reading The Nation or watching Democracy Now? No. Yet, their interests, as Joe points out, are our interests--we are the same. And, how is it that they take it as a matter of pride not to rely on government for certain services that their tax dollars are supposed to provide? Didn't the depression and FDR's New Deal teach their parents too about the value of a responsible Federal government? So how to mend the divide? Isn't that the question?

[WillT]

You make a very valid point. I don't even know how to articulate what I would want to add lol, but I do agree with you, we have to find a way to meet in the middle as a nation, not black, white, east or west coast, rural, suburban, repub or dem. We believe in the same Constitution and will sign up to fight and die fighting the same enemy. We are Americans. I believe the parties are here to balance themselves and that should be where it stops, we as the constituency need to find a way to co-exist without division..

[BryantG]

A fantastic trailer. We need to see the full program.

[planetjeffy]

Dems, please hire this guy to help reframe the discourse and make it OK for the gov't to work for middle America (fairness, justice) - much like the Pubs changed inheritance tax to death tax. It always boggles my mind when I run into Republicans who are just scraping by - while mouthing the Fox talking points. Again, Dems, this guy has got it figured out.

[AZBunny]

"It always boggles my mind when I run into Republicans who are just scraping by - while mouthing the Fox talking points. "

I always shake my head when I run across the ones who work a part time retail job with no benefits and drive to their jobs in a car with peeling paint, tattered upholstery, and the bumper wired on plastered with McCain and W stickers.