Disturbing Quotes of Our Time

Obama speaking to a group in San Francisco

“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

I know this is an oldie, but I think it's pertinent right now. Not just because it was the President's sentiments, but because it seems to represent the elitist attitude of the inner circle of politicians, lobbyists, and journalists that are shaping the "remake" of America.

Hello out there. Just because folks work with their hands, doesn't mean that they don't have brains. This has been a factor for years that continues to worsen to the point of nausea. Middle America, the Heartland, the place where every politician (except the Kennedys) swear their ancestors came from, is the core of this country, and probably every other country.

Scratch a politician, (at least during an election year), and you will find a father or a grandfather, or uncle that was a factory worker, a coal miner, a farmer. Why is it that they are so proud of this during an election, and the rest of the term, the working men and women are suddenly "hicks". Yes, we have guns, to hunt with. Unlike "city folk", they are mostly used for recreation, or to hunt animals, which people eat.
Yes, a whole lot of middle America is religious. When did this become a bad thing? Our reps should carry more of that into Washington.
No, we are not freaked out by people of different races and nationalities. What era are these people channeling. In every small town in the Heartland, we have a pretty mixed bag of cultures.

Anti-immigration and Anti-trade. If they mean that we don't like the idea of illegal immigrants, who sneak into the country, are funded by our tax dollars, and pose a potential securtity risk, then, yes, we have an issue with that.
If they mean that we are opposed to importing oil and other trade goods from countries who hate our guts, when we could be putting American workers to work drilling oil and mining coal and producing goods in this country, then yes, we have an issue with that.

I cannot count the number of times that political analysts and reporters have mentioned the fact that middle America somehow doesn't count, doesn't understand, needs to be lead by the hand.
Hey folks- this country started here, with people who knew how to take care of themselves, help their neighbors, and survive with common sense and hard work. Folks in the Heartland were the ones who grew their own food, and survived the Depression, when people in the cities were standing in bread lines.

If we get frustrated and angry it's because we know what's causing our problems and the nation's problems, but no one listens. We are not "explaining" our frustrations through some imaginary "witch hunt". We are not mob rule reactionaries, taking it out on whoever and whatever.
If we get frustrated and angry it's because of the mismanagement that has caused our factories to leave, the taxes that put small businesses out of business, and the rising costs that are crippling the small farmer.