Quite a few years ago I was known, I believe, as a loudmouth New Yorker. True, I had grown up in the suburbs of New York City. However I had lived for six years in upstate New York followed by three or four years in Idaho and Africa. One would’ve thought that my loudmouth New Yorkness would have worn off. But one has to consider where I was living at the time. It was in the state of Georgia. So by Georgia standards I was loudmouth Yankee of the worst possible sort – a New York Yankee. A Yankee is always a Yankee I guess.
Now some of that reputation may have been deserved as I was probably somewhat more vocal about my opinions than quite a few of my colleagues. Not that they didn’t have opinions. They just tended to share their opinions a bit less. But that’s not really my point here, and that was many years ago. Since then I’ve lived all over the world and, now, more or less retired back in upstate New York, I am probably not even considered a real New Yorker of any sort.
What really puzzles me, is that when I look at the electoral map for the upcoming election in November 2016 I see that the southern states are still rather red , apparently they’re going to vote for Donald Trump, the self-promoting loudmouth New Yorker! This fact really puzzles me. These polite, thoughtful, Yankee-allergic Southerners are going to vote for one of the most crass, opinionated, loudmouth, con artists ever to come out of the Rotten Apple. I just don’t get it. Has Georgia changed that much?
I know some will just claim that the racist, misogynist, anti-immigrant nonsense coming out of Trump’s mouth appeals to the “southern mentality”. I just don’t believe that, on a broad scale, people of Georgia, or the other southern states for that matter, believe such things. At least I hope not. But even so, when they listen to his vague generalities about how everything is “going to be great” I can’t believe they don’t see the ultimate con man saying, essentially, nothing at all.
Now it is true, that Hillary Clinton claims to be a Yankee as well! It’s a sad day for the South I guess. But, really, Clinton is no Yankee. She just pretends to live in New York. In fact in some ways that is an indication that she’s the ideal politician. Although “ideal politician” sounds pretty bad , it really means someone who knows how to use (manipulate) the system to get things done. If being a Yankee helps you to move up in the world that’s what you become! And someone who really knows how to use the system might be just what we need. That southern president, Lyndon Johnson, was a master at working the system to get things done in Washington, and the quasi-Southerner, William Jefferson Clinton, was pretty good at it as well. Hillary knows the ropes, and she knows the, rather depressing, international scene as well. Unlike Trump who pretends to know how to “work the system” and “make deals” Hillary actually does know.
So for Southerners, my former colleagues in Georgia included, it’s a choice between someone who knows the system, how it works, and how to get things done, and a New York Yankee con artist. The choice seems obvious.