So you heard it from me first. We're seeing the return of the Dixiecrat, but this time with a twist. This Dixiecrat sees class distinction where he saw racial distinction before.
Whether they knew it or not, the people who voted in Chattanooga's mayoral election just a week ago brought together labor groups and evangelical churches, joining hands across boundaries that often separate Red and Blue states. These people, who voted for Ron Littlefield for mayor, turned their backs on the wealthiest and focused their eyes on each other. It was a strange phenomenon to see in BUSH COUNTRY.
I kept thinking of William Jennings Bryan 100 years ago fighting for economic fairness for all workers and at the same time fighting the Devil of Evolution, or standing up to American imperialists (imagine what he'd say to Bush if he stood up to Wilson?) yet kneeling to pray to the "one true God" of Christianity.
Uncanny as it might sound, the two words sacred to almost all Americans kept popping up in the Littlefield headquarters the night of his victory: Namely "God" and "Jobs." What we're talking about here is a real shift in political support, with evangelicals getting behind the stronger Democrat because of economic conditions.
But don't worry, people of faith. Littlefield asked his minister to finish the day in a prayer of thanks for victory, then Littlefield followed that with a one-word response to the media's big question: What's your top priority? JOBS.
In this sense, perhaps it is uncanny to accept the fact that the Littlefield supporters defied the Mason-Dixon poll, which had granted their man a meager 42% of the vote. But the stronger Dem won with 54% of the vote. His supporters defied being outspent by the "power structure" 3 to 1. And the man for the "little guy," Littlefield, won by 9 points. They defied, in a word, the establishment. Now Littlefield is mayor.
I hope you don't mind the Latin. I just couldn't find a better way to put it than this. Vox populi vox dei:
"The voice of the people is the voice of God."
If you believe that, you're pretty much a hardcore democrat. But even if you're have republican leanings, and your usual Latin motto is revelare pecunia ("Show me the money!"), you know that money sometimes means getting behind the populist. And as we look at the stats from the race, many of the supporters were middle-class Republicans.
It is worth mentioning that it was a 12th-century church monk who said that "the voice of the people is the voice of God." The author is William of Malmesbury in England. Also known as William Somerset, he wrote medieval history (indeed some of the best, right up there with Bede). Perhaps it was the voice of the Normans to which William of Malmesbury was referring--as he recorded how the more common yet dutiful religious Normans won the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The less refined but hardworking and warrior class, Normans, fought to victory.
It is not surprising that those who have money or power will sometimes lose battles, whether military or political (just look at the flaws and failures in Iraq or the inanities with congressional intervention in the Schiavo case). But what is surprising is that those with money or power often forget that they don't always win. For some of Chattanooga's insulated or wealthiest citizens, it was easy to forget that some people actually struggle for a bag of groceries, while many others struggle for decent jobs that pay living wages--wages that lead to the salvation of their families, not destruction.
Many in the Littlefield camp have been dutiful and hardworking but have felt exploited by the establishment. This election was divisive, but the faultline was there long before the election, with millions spent on wonderful buildings and parks downtown, but without the compensatory rise in employment or increase in wages.
Before developing another piece of property, those with money and power might stop and consider how to avoid another political earthquake. Advice: Before bulldozing another hillside or attempting to move to a new city, try listening and learning from the people.