A look at anti-southern sentiment and its effects on Southern liberal activism.
If you read Daily Kos regularly, whether its on the front page, in the diaries, or in comments, you can't help but notice a pattern. In addition to cheering Democratic gains and deriding Republican idiocy, of which there is no shortage, another theme comes through: anti-southern sentiment. It can be seen even in pieces by such imminent bloggers as Bill in Portland Maine, who wants to "put on my polka-dot dress and fake mustache, fill my picnic basket with Pabst Blue Ribbon and pork rinds, and skip across the daisy pasture to cavort with the villagers in Rightwingistan." Note to Bill: not all residents of "Rightwingistan" appreciate the caricature that you are furthering.
Yes, the Republican Party is now regionalized, and yes its only real power base is now the South. That does not mean that all Southerners are right-wing, religious conservative zealots. It does not mean that all Southerners fit your grotesque caricatures either. Two things I am deeply proud of are my liberal activism and my Southern roots.
Some of us worked very hard to elect Barack Obama, and are damn proud of that fact. Some of us work to try to counter the overwhelming conservative politics in our region, by working to elect Democratic candidates in overwhelmingly Republican districts. We are in the front lines now, and characterizations of Southerners such as I've seen here on DKos in the last few months are not helpful, even if you do find them to have comedic value.
Instead of belittling and mocking Southerners, how about we work to end the Republican domination of the South? How about we work together, as Americans, to transform the political landscape of the south as we have transformed the political landscape of the nation?