The Real Political Problem

Last Sunday, a young couple, who were new to our Ward, spoke in Church. As part of that tradition, they were asked to tell the Ward members a little about themselves. The wife explained that she was a city girl...her husband was from a cattle ranch in Montana. She said that when he took her home to the ranch, she was absolutely stunned...she had no idea that people still lived like that...his family were cowboys...ranchers. There lies the problem; it is just a shadow of the larger problem which plagues politics in the USA today.

I was once part of the problem myself. When I arrived in Utah, from Australia in 1965, I must admit that I was surprised to see real indians...and cowboys...men and boys in cowboy boots and big cowboy hats. From my perspective it was as if they were "dressing up" or "playing a part"...it was hard to take them seriously..."you mean you dress like that every day?". Well, yes they do, as I discovered. Out in Wyoming there is only one significant difference between a cowboy from the 19th century and a cowboy from the 21st century...one rode a horse and carried a rifle in a scabbard...the other drives a pick-up truck, with a rifle hung in the back window. Other than that, nothing much has changed...they think pretty much alike. Freedom and values like fierce independence and self-reliance still rule.

When our son Nate served an LDS mission in New Your City...speaking Spanish...he actually found New Yorkers who had never heard of Utah. Some even asked what country Utah was in. Some had such limited education and sense of place, that they actually thought New York City WAS the United States...that New York City was the beginning and end of it. There's obviously a serious problem there. But for many eastern Americans the United States still ends at the Misssissippi. And it is still a fact, in every day language, that Chicago is located in the "mid-west"...the West is everything beyond the Mississippi...and it is still largely unknown to the liberal elite who refer to the Great Plains states as "fly-over" states.

Even more difficult to believe, there are people in the big cities who have no idea where meat comes from...or where milk comes from. Many have no idea that there are millions of good people in the "fly-over" states producing the food that ends up in the stores which they frequent in the big cities. Here in Logan, we have had foriegn students from Utah State University stop by, to ask if they could pick apples in our orchard. They had never seen an apple on a tree. That is surprising to anyone who lives at the supply end of society... closer to nature. In a previous blog I noted that I grow a vegetable garden. Many do in small towns. I was once told "you can trust a man who grows a vegetable garden." That must be because being close to the dirt produces a certain primal appreciation of nature; a connection with the natural cycles of life...which is reality.

But it's not the less educated who pose the greater problem. In my previous blog about Presidential Politics, I said that Barack Obama lives in different USA than I. I believe it. THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

Obama is an educated man, an attorney even. However, I would bet that even he grew up with a limited view of the USA. He has lived and worked most of his life in Chicago. I would bet that until his recent exposure to national politics, if he could tell you where Montana was located, or Utah, or Idaho...he would have had absolutely no idea what made a small town westerner tick. He would not be able to relate to the experience of growing up in a small town where everyone knew everyone, where generations farmed the same plot of ground, where one friend's dad was the mayor, another's was the preacher...where people trusted each other and helped each other...where no-one depended on government for anything... where no-one locked a door to anything...where patriotism was the unquestioned norm...where people celebrated the 4th of July together...and proudly pledged allegiance to the flag ...even died for it...and families prayed together. Barack Obama would not be able relate to their life-style and values, just as we cannot relate to the values of a man who can sit in a church for twenty years, while his minister preaches hatred and vitriole like "God Damn America!"

So when John McCain announced Governor Sarah Palin, of Alaska, as his running mate...one segment of the country said "YES! YES! YES!" because they could immediately relate to her...she was part of their USA...another segment said "WHAT?...Where in the hell is Alaska?" and "What does she know about anything? She's from a small town...she was educated at the University of Idaho for Pete' sake? Where is Idaho anyway? How could Idaho or Alaska produce a person of substance who knows anything about anything?"

And that is just from the left-wing US media elite. Some, so-called news people, claimed that they even laughed in their newsrooms, at the announcement of Sarah Palin. Eastern liberal sophisticates, are annoyed that McCain would select anyone whom they had not approved...someone other than their social equals...Palin didn't go to the right schools, she shoots guns for heavens sake, she knows how to gut and dress an elk...worst of all...she has five children...one born with special needs...and she did not have an abortion. To them, the selection of Palin is an affront to their view of the USA...and their values.

I think they are all about to get an education about what really makes America great. Some of us can hardly wait to hear Sarah Palin tonight...and to hear her debate Joe Biden in the future. As a Mormon I find it interesting that I still don't know what religion Sarah Palin is, or if she has any religion at all. It does not matter to me. What matters is that she and her husband have their heads screwed on. They are our kind of people. They live in our USA. What was really impressive, was Sarah Palin's response to media questions about her daughter. "How did you and your husband deal with the discovery that your 17 year old daughter was pregnant." "We handled it as any other American family would...with love."