What is the Middle Anyway?
by Pat Darnell | July 2, 2011 | Bryan TX
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IMAGE: File:1960prescountymap2.PNG] 1960 Election Results by County
EXCERPT | " ...In recent years, the South has operated both as a blessing and a burden for the GOP. The region, defined as the 11 states of the Old Confederacy plus Oklahoma and Kentucky, has become the cornerstone of the Republican electoral coalition. Yet as the GOP has become dominant across Dixie, and more closely identified with its uncompromising brand of social and economic conservatism, it has struggled in other regions, especially during the Bush era. (Brownstein, Ronald. June 29, 2011. LINK )... "
" ... After all, Perry, who visited Southern California this week as he explores the race, is a big-state executive with a strong economic record and hard-edged fiscal and social views attractive to the party’s most energetic grassroots conservatives. “He checks so many boxes,” says Mark McKinnon, an Austin-based Republican consultant. ... "
Unfortunately, at this time Governor Rick Perry, Republican from Texas, somehow represents the Middle that MooPig so loves to tout. Today we try to define that Middle; but not favorably to Perry type hype.
The Middle wasn't always so conservative. Texas was totally Democratic in the elections of Kennedy and LBJ. Of course, and that was a "liberal" Democratic group. Somehow the Middle still meanders about like it has jet lag from those events of election of JFK and eventual murder of JFK. The Middle resonates with lawlessness, bigotry, and seldom has time to resolve national issues.
Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite opposition from many liberal delegates and Kennedy's own staff, including brother Robert. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win [LINK] ... "
In the Middle, it is two ideologies colliding: how to train a large big dumb animal, like a horse. Two extreme ideals take front stage. 1) You whip the beast into submission, and therefore train him for riding; 2) or, you horse-whisper the beast using its various quirks to train it into a riding horse, without beatings.
Texas has a unique position as anchor to the Middle. That is because Illinois is the buoy of the Middle. Midwesterner ideals came from Big Shoulders of liberal Democrats, and conservation of methodology of those values beloved to Illinois. Remember "His Honor the Mare" Richard J. Daley -- 1902 - 1976? Democrat mayor of Chicago for two decades. He was an only child, was born in 1902 into an Irish catholic neighborhood of south Chicago. He went to Catholic elementary school.
One wonders what school of hard knocks old mayor Daley came from. I am sure he was whipped into shape like many of his era. Spare the whip, spoil the child? You tell me which is the best meaning of those words. Some may not know but his son and namesake was mayor for decades after his father moved on, "His Honor the Mare" Richard M. Daley.
Switching now to the other lush, unwieldy, state -- California. What a mess. California is full of Texans. Born in Texas, young people migrated to the west coast for decades, especially in the 60's. It is similar to Illinois born people who migrate to Texas and Florida. But is California part of the Middle?
California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech, and nominated him for Governor of California in 1966. [LINK] In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley."[LINK] He was elected, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and was sworn in on January 2, 1967. In his first term, he froze government hiring and approved tax hikes to balance the budget.
Reagan defines the Middle. By now Reagan was a Republican, "Reagan began his political career as a liberal Democrat, admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and active supporter of New Deal policies, but in the early 1950s, ... he shifted to the right and, while remaining a Democrat, endorsed the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 as well as Richard Nixon in 1960 ... " in 1962.[
LINK] That year Reagan formally switched to the Republican Party, stating, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me." ... "
Reagan opposed certain civil rights legislation, saying "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so". (Kyle Longley Deconstructing Reagan: conservative mythology and America's fortieth president, M.E. Sharpe, 2007 ISBN 0-7656-1590-8 p. 76. [
LINK]) He later reversed his opposition to voting rights and fair housing laws. He strongly denied having racist motives. [
LINK]
June 7, 2004 – Roger Wilkins commented on Reagan's Jefferson Davis remark. Wilkins also said the following: "I had one extraordinary conversation with him in which he called me to tell me he wasn't a racist because I had attacked his South Africa policy in a newspaper column and he was very disturbed by the implication that this had any... he spent 30 minutes on the telephone trying to convince me about it, and talked about how he had played football with black guys in high school and college in order to try to make that point."
Conclusion
So to summarize this, the Middle today is neither all Republican or all Democrat. The Middle includes California, after JFK\LBJ elections -- and Illinois, Midwesterner ideals, along with the "Confederacy."
The Middle is two-faced, and uses either of two arguments, depending on who they are talking to. Rick Perry unfortunately has gone bi-coastal now, and will suffer immensely if he chooses to spew the whipped horse speeches. By the way, he is a surrogate Governor, acting in place of "W" when "W" left office of governor open. Most Texans say "Rick Who?"
Ronald Reagan set in motion his whipping post model for the Middle, and has been the "impossible" act-to-follow for other want-to-be political leaders, for a generation and a half.
Some may say, the Middle is not worthy. That is understatement. The Middle includes all those who believe in the "common good," as long as that does not interrupt nor interfere in their lives. Therefore it boils down to the "Middle" and then the "Others." The Middle resonates with lawlessness, bigotry, and seldom has time to resolve national issues.
In 1960 the Middle mostly was won by JFK with LBJ, Democrats 303 electoral votes to 219 for Nixon.
That's MooPig Report from the Middle, where it would be nice if we had some rain -- the men all have good hair, the women are exceedingly strong, and the children have hats that don't blow off in the wind.
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IMAGE: Colors are reversed in images to confuse the innocent]
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