What it means to be a "middle American."

In the past dozen or two years, certain Republican strategists--we can call them the predecessors of Karl Rove--have convinced America that a certain gross generalization is a true and actual fact. They have contrived a peculiar image of liberalism that “belongs” in exactly two places: San Fransisco and Boston. The idea is that these two cities are far out of touch with “mainstream” American values. My point is not to disparage these places, because stereotyping the entire population of even a small town is wrong and inevitably factually incorrect. My point is rather that the generalization of roughly a third of Americans is absurd.

The image that the Republican party invented for the liberal is twofold. First, there is the western version: the unwashed hippie who wears Birkenstocks, is homosexual and wants to teach your children to be homosexual as well, and hates Christianity. Second, there is the northeastern version: the elitist Ivy League-educated metro-sexual city dweller, who is an atheist and who also hates Christianity, and who wants to indoctrinate your children into the same beliefs.

Firstly, this stereotyping of entire regions of people--the Pacific Northwest, and the Northeast--is offensive and silly. People have created stereotypes of Southerners, too: that we are racist and bigoted; that we don’t wear shoes or have air conditioning or paved roads; that we have less than the requisite number of teeth; that we all have children by the time we are old enough to receive our driver’s licenses. I’m sure there are also stereotypes of Midwesterners, ones that include some of those same characteristics. Does it offend those of us in the South? Hell, yes, it does. And it is patently untrue, as anyone who lives here or has visited here knows.

Secondly, this caricature of liberals is as ludicrous as a similar one for conservatives would be. There are liberals in every part of this country and from all types of backgrounds; many attend church and PTA meetings. There are conservatives in every part of this country and from all types of backgrounds as well; many are atheists and single with no kids.

Thirdly, the “values of middle America” are not more or less significant than the “values of coastal America,” even if we could generalize all those values into one singular definition of a region (which we can’t). Why would they be? What right do any of us have to say that our regions are more important than others? Who gets to be “mainstream” and who doesn’t? And why would "mainstream values" be more important than "fringe values" anyway? Why shouldn't people with "fringe values" have the same freedom to practice those values as anyone else, provided that they don't harm others? Isn't that what our great nation is all about? Did abolitionists and advocates of women's suffrage not hold values that were "outside the mainstream" at one point? Should we have dismissed them for this reason?

Fourthly, the values that Americans share are far more numerous than the values that distinguish us from one another. These include values like accountability, the drive for success, and the love of freedom. These values inform our identities much more than how we personally feel about abortion.

Lastly, the reason for my blog in the first place. I live in Mississippi, and don‘t plan on living anywhere else. I am no transplant; my great-great-great-great-great grandfather also lived in Mississippi. I’m married, an Ole Miss graduate, a dog-lover, and a cook. I live in a town of about 25,000 people. I know all the words to “Dixie.” My personal goal is to have my own successful small business one day, either a furniture boutique or a small firm for providing services to other small businesses, such as tax advice and marketing. My family consists of cops, nurses, engineers, farmers, teachers, high school principals, football coaches, and accountants. I think I’m about as middle-American as they come.

And I’m casting my ballot for Barack Obama in November.