it is not about north versus south

[leftofthedial]

city versus rural

evangelical christian versus not evangelical christian

anti-choice versus pro-choice

pro-gay marriage versus anti-gay marriage

gun lovers versus gun controllers

or even left versus right.

It is about a very small group of neo-aristocrats using wedge issues to divide the proletariat so they can exert control and preserve their own power.

We are ALL being manipulated by the corporatist oligarchy.

[cally]

1. Yep and it's working all too well

They are using wedge issues, language, to divide us. It's working.

[AP]

2. EXACTLY! And, incidentally, the importance of the south to Democrats is

that it serves as a very powerful symbol of class. Being from the south isn't so much about regional indentity these days as it is about class identity.

Dukakis and Kerry could have both been the children of automechanic immigrants who gradutated from Suffolk Law School's night program while they worked as cops in Revere, but being from Massachussets makes working class people think they're upper class.

Bush, Hart, Carter could all be the children of millionaire oil men, peanut farmers or whatever, with degrees from the finest colleges north of the mason-dixon line, and people will see them as being in touch with the concerns of the working class BECAUSE OF WHERE THEY'RE FROM.

I know a lot of people say, fuck perception. But there is only so much time and money when you're campaigning, and it's smart to build on some of the perceptions people have, and not try to fight the ones that are the most expensive and time consuming to reverse.

I think the connection between the perception of class identity and the fact of regional origin is so ingrained that maybe if you have some other battles you're trying to fight as a party, that's one you might decide is worth taking advanatage of.

[Mr_Spock]

6. I wonder if a Southerner as you describe DIDN'T have an accent, would

they be as popular? I don't know the answer. Do you?

[AP]

8. I don't know. I attach a lot of meaning to where people grow up within

the NE and NoCal vs SoCal, regardless of (or even without perceiving an) accent.

So, I do think just knowing someone is from, for example, Florida, even if they don't have an accent, will carry weight.

But I also think (as I've said many times before) that if you're an automechanic in Boston, a butcher in Chicago, or a Maine lobsterman with a working class regional accent, when you hear Bill Cliton's accent, you think "there's a guy who knows where I'm coming from."

And if the Democrats are now worried about communicating complicate ideas as simply as possible, they shouldn't ignore a signifier as powerful as regional origins and accents.

[SemperEadem]

3. it's about creating the illusion that

those have-nots in the GOP are really included at the big party with the haves, when in truth, they are not.. in fact, they're the ones who will be sacrificed first to the god of wealth and priviledge... and when they wake up and see the how wrongly they've been used, the haves are going to turn on them in the most vicious way--and then is when they will understand that they never were included in the group---they were just the oarsmen and women who got the boat across the sea... they don't get to disembark and join those they rowed across--they get to stay in the hot, stinking, sweaty belly of the boat and keep getting beaten just for shits and grins and the amusement of the wealthy.

[Perky]

4. I remember you......you are from the sixties.!!!

Ot is is not North South....its Urban/agrarian

[CatholicEdHead]

5. Also on international level

Since take a look at the international stage, money revolves around all actions.

Crooked economics is why our eyes are off the ball and we are fighting over relivley nothing.

How can we change it? Reach out, really reach out with others of different viewpoints. You will find much more similarities than differences.

[Lex]

7. Here's a nice little site, with a book online to read for free.

Retro vs. Metro:

http://www.retrovsmetro.org/retrovsmetro/