Middle America as the "real America"

John Rogers (Kung Fu Monkey) puts into words something that has bothered me for a while now, especially after watching the Republican National Convention: the inanity in thinking of rural ("small town") America as the "real America". Quoting him:

[Rural] life is not holy, it does not bless one with special insight into the intent of the Framers of the goddam Consitution or what America "should" be like. Have I lost some sort of sacred connection with the land? Maybe. But the last time I checked, the land was dirt, same dirt as the rest of the world, and several generations of my family went broke farming other people's dirt, interrupted only when easily annoyed Englishmenwould occassionally show up and burn all their shit down. Pardon me for enjoying my goddam latte.

Hell, I grew up in Massachusetts, and we didn't go around nodding and saying "This is the very birthplace of America both geographically and ideologically, those idiots in Kansas have no idea what being a real American is, like we Commonwealth bastards." One would be considered insane. Whatever connection people in rural America have to the "idea" of America is the exact same as mine -- the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They are public documents, accessible by all (well, for now), and last time I checked the versions printed in textbooks in Kansas didn't have special magical ink and secret clauses not included in the versions handed out in the Northeast urban great city of Philadelphia where, if we remember, the damn things were actually written.

Damn straight. Yes, there are good people living in small towns, but this concept of "small town values" is, at best, a vacuous, ill-defined concept (as evidenced by this Daily Show clip) and at its worst, represents the ill-informed, fear driven, reactionary politics that so-called "liberal elites" have been battling for who knows how long. "Small town values" may a favorite social meme, but it's nothing more than a Leave It To Beaver idealization of a history that never existed.

And "small town values" aren't even all that democratic, as the latest census figures show that nearly four times as many Americans live in urban areas than the vaunted rural areas of the country.

So, for those wanting to know what "real Americans" actually belive and want, head down to the local Starbucks. You're more likely to see a "representative citizen" there than in your favorite farm in Kansas.