Middle Americans Are Not Just White, Christian, Working Class Folk

I've been struggling for awhile to put this into words, but there's definitely an odd demographic vision among US pundits in which white voters -- and particularly older white working-class voters who live in between California and New York and in sparsely populated cities -- are somehow the most authentic foundation on which to build an electoral majority. And this is true among liberals as well as conservatives.

Like Ezra Klein at American Prospect I've been struggling to make sense of this unquestioned fawning over Middle Americans -- not all Middle Americans, just those who fit neatly into a mythical picture of Americanness: white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, small town, and working class. Just last week, at a fund raiser in North Carolina, Sarah Palin offered: "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and fighting our wars for us."

There is nothing wrong with being Joe the Plumber. I just disagree that Joe is a symbol of the authentic American. And I say this as a Middle American.

Sarah Palin's view of Middle America, and that of the political media, is overly simplistic. Who are Middle Americans really? Are they the folks in tiny Tripoli, Iowa (pop: 1,310) or the citizens in the predominantly black, Rust Belt city of Gary, Indiana? Are they the farmers in Missouri or the factory workers on the Southside of Chicago? Are they the culturati in the college town of Madison, Wisconsin, or the tourist-shop owners in Nashville, Indiana? Are they the tony denizens of the Windy City's Magnificent Mile or poor folks in the Appalachian southeastern corner of Ohio? Are they the people who frequent Chicago's gay-friendly northside "boy's town" or families in the heavily Hispanic neighborhoods of eastern Chicago? I submit that Middle America includes all of these areas and all of the people who live there, but the pundits and many Americans insist on seeing everyone in "the flyover states" as some version of the figures in Iowan Grant Wood's famous American Gothic painting. The idea is as much an affront to the diversity of Middle America as it is to the good people of either coast. What makes the farmer in Kansas better than the farmer in rural New Jersey, the machinist in Illinois better than the machinist in Queens, the professor in Wisconsin better than the professor in Washington State?

The myth of the Midwest is so foolish that I shouldn't be jealous of being left out of it. But I am, a little. Or maybe jealous isn't the right word. The obvious, yet ignored, racial bias inherent in identifying who is "authentically American" pisses me right off. I resent that when pundits speak reverentially of Middle America, they exclude me. I -- who was born and raised in The Hoosier State, educated in Iowa, and have spent every day of my working life in the Midwest. I -- the granddaughter of a steelworker and family farmer. I -- whose ancestors came to this country long before those of many media-anointed "authentic Americans." I don't count. I don't count for a variety of reasons, education, and time spent living in urban areas among them, but mostly it is my blackness that is the problem.

Why is it so easy for the Right to paint Barack Obama as both a foreigner and anti-American, despite the fact that he has served the country on a community, state, and national level and is currently running to become president of the United States? It is easy because in the American psyche, whiteness = American, and colored = something else. Back when I was in college, a diverse dining-hall table evoked an interesting comment from a white friend -- one of the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, midwestern, small-town sort. She looked around at the group gathered for lunch, which included several white students, a Hispanic student, a student of Asian ancestry, and myself. "Wow! We've got a Mexican, a Chinese person, a black, and three Americans sitting here!" Of course, I pointed out that the people of color at the table were Americans too. All of us were born and raised in the United States. "Well, you know what I mean," she countered offhandedly. I do know what she meant. She meant that, even in the minds of some good people who mean well, America is synonymous with baseball, apple pie, Chevrolets, and whiteness.

Middle America won't vote for a black man. Middle Americans identify with Sarah Palin. Middle Americans don't understand complicated issues. No doubt you've heard all of these things before from some talking head on a cable news channel. These statements reflect a narrow and inaccurate view of the majority of our country. And they highlight the immaturity of our political discourse. We'd do well without the unquestioned and exclusionary myth of the Midwest, which erases whole groups of people and keeps us from examining important issues in a real way.

Comments

[bobbysgurl]

Very, well-written post. Keep it up Tami. We midwesterners need to speak out often

[NEOmusings]

Brava, Tami! Yes, I am white and a native-born American (first-generation on Mom's side), but I do *not* fit into that neat little "Middle America" box. I am pro-life, but I am progressive in most of my other politics. I work in a "pink-collar" job (administrative assistant/freelance writer/occasional retail employee) but have friends and family who are white-collar, blue-collar, pink-collar, and no collar, and some who do not work at all due to disabilities or family issues.

Oh yes, and I'm a Buddhist.

Excellent post -- keep them coming!

[JeffCoryell]

Love it. This should be required reading for pundits and politicians. Here we are in the Information Age where commentary gets distributed at lightning speed, and yet underlying bedrock assumptions like the composition and voting tendencies of Middle America are still just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Faster, but just as flawed.

Congratulations to you for laying it out in such a clear and compelling fashion.

[Jillmz]

Tami - you tell it like it is. I wrote about this kind of idea as well, a few days ago - that the America that Palin and McCain WISH they only had to deal with and want to separate out from the "other" America - which includes me too since I'm Jewish and near a city like Cleveland (definitely not the small towns they like) - is way smaller than they realize and has a lot fewer electoral votes, as those maps keep showing. Also - have you seen the awesome interactive newspaper endorsement map? Also fascinating re: rural/city etc.

Anyway - their language indicates a desire to seek out and find support only from those like them, whereas Obama is a come as you are kind of leader, looking to serve/lead whomever will let him. You may remember (or not!) I was not an Obama supporter in the primary and I wasn't a Hillary one either but in the Ohio primary I had to choose and I did choose Clinton. However, I do see the positives that are in Obama and policy-wise, there is just no appeal to me from the right.

But largely? It's because of what you've described here. Their concentric circles of who they want to microtarget also shows us how limited a range they have, and are interested in. It is their downfall but with some luck and a lot of votes, it does not have to be ours.

Thanks for putting this into

[AAPPundit]

Your post is on point!

How Palin views the world is one of the many reasons why It's not looking good for the Republican Party. Wait until Republican's learn more about "hockey mom" Sarah Palin's $150,000 campaign wardrobe. Maybe Sarah Palin should have spent more time reading the U.S. constitution, and understanding the American people, rather than spending time getting a new wardrobe.

Great post!

[blackgirlonmars]

Thanks for this! What a refreshingly honest and on-point voice of how many of us feel.
Thanks for articulating the situation so eloquently.

[R.W. Sanders - Huffpost Blogger]

Your post hit one of my nerves. I traveled pretty extensively while playing music throughout flyover country. I found a huge diversity in the people I encountered, and some of the most interesting folks I ever met. When the pundits speak, their ignorance shows immediately. As a rule, most have not spent enough time to even have a real conversation with one of these working class people. Yet they speak as if they have intimate knowledge. No one likes to be classified, generalized and discarded.

[Lonestarmom]

Well written article...I am a white Middle American but I too am supporting Senator Obama...I have been supporting him since he appeared at a Democratic rally here in Dallas just after he was elected a Senator...he inspired me then with his call for us to recognize the we are all Americans regardless of where we were born, where we live, what color we are, how old we are, etc...his message is one of unity and I hope we will progress to the point that the divisive politics of the past remain forever burried in our past! Thank you for being part of Middle America!

[Satyra]

Governor Palin's simplistic view of Middle American is one of many problems with her placement on the Republican ticket. Here lies the Truth about Sarah Palin. Go to
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Troopergate_Palin_lies_and_videotape

[BJD44]

Well-written article, but I take offense to the fact that I, as a single, full-time, Caucasian working Mom of a 17-year-old son with Down syndrome -- that I would go with Sarah Palin.....that I would not vote for an African-American President. I do not myself understand why people even LOOK at skin color.....it has never made any sense to me at all. Good grief.....it's just a body organ! Get over it, people!

As an American, I myself embrace our similarities as well as our diversities. Now granted....some folks shout them at you, while others calmly whisper in your ears.

This is absolutely WHY I am voting for Barack Obama.