Liberal redneck: Is there such a thing?

[supernova]

Is there such a person as a liberal redneck?

Redneck = a white person who makes a living farming or otherwise being in the sun, getting a red neck.

Should the Democratic Party bother with these people if they exist at all?

Lastly, If you think this should be worded differently feel free to contribute.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Yes, the democratic party SHOULD bother with them.

If they are energized to vote, they vote with us. It is in their interest to vote with us. Sadly, very little of late has energized them to vote.

I am a lifelong Northerner and I hate that term.

[supernova]

2. Thank you Greataunt

that means a lot.

I really don't want to wander in the political wilderness. :cry:

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. You are welcome, supernova.

We are wandering in the wilderness, period, I think. And it will be a long time before we are out of it. The dying and killing have to stop. And I mean WE have to stop the killing. The anger, the vengeance, the bloodlust have to stop.

And it is "that word" who are the ones sacrificing a lot of our children. If the party comes across as elitist, they won't vote again. It ain't the Yalies getting their asses shot at.

[supernova]

5. Ain't that the truth?

It ain't the Yalies getting their asses shot at.

That is so true. It is always the poor and the dispossessed that pay for the wet war dreams of the privileged.

[Sandpiper]

76. Many rural southerners

wear the label of "redneck" with pride and satisfaction. It's a whole subculture down there.

Lived in the south for 11 years.

[absyntheNsugar]

4. Well since the rural poor are the ones who suffer most

under Dubya's policies..


They're the ones dying in Iraq by and large
They're the ones getting laid off in manufacturing
They're the ones who have to pay higher gas prices for their trucks
They're the ones who get the shaft when it comes to education

sounds to me like the question should be why SHOULDN'T we bother?

[DaveSZ]

6. Of course we should bother

If that means nominating more moderate to conservative Dems in those regions, then so be it.

[absyntheNsugar]

11. Without going into too much detail

The history of the Democratic party in the South should be taken into account.

For years the Dems had a stranglehold on the south. They could get away with murder (literally) down there as they were the single party. Ever since the Civil War, Sons of the South swore they WOULD NEVER vote Republican. So the Dems became lazy, crooked and complacent.

Then Nixon turned up his 'Southern Strategy', using race bait to woo Southerners to the Republican party. Within 20 years or so, the Dems lost the South and are considered untrustworthy, even tho the Republican party is screwing them worse than the Dems ever did.

If the Dems want to win the SOuth back, they have to give them a GOOD reason to vote for them. Not promises, but real reasons.

[sic semper tyrannis]

35. Southern Republican

During the 1890s My Great Great Grandfather was brought before a reconstruction Judge, thats one appointed during the reconstruction by a Republican Carpet Bagger, in Pittsylvania Co. Virginia. He had been arrested for not paying his liquor taxes. My family was big into making liquor in those days. Liquor, lumber, and flour.

The Judge agreed to let my Great Great Grandfather off with a warning if he promised to vote Republican the rest of his life.

He did, and we still do today.

Strange how stuff like that works.

[supernova]

38. So what do you make

of today's GOP?

I personally don't think Lincoln would recognize it.

[sic semper tyrannis]

42. Good Question

I mean about Lincoln. Lincoln faced a large degree of criticism as President. Members of his own party tried to un-seat him as President.

I am just not sure what he would think. I also do not feel that JFK would recognize the Democratic Party of today. Both parties have evolved leaving a huge split in the electorate.

I vote Republican because I want a strong national defense, and I am pro life.

However, I do NOT agree with everything the Republican party represents or puts forward.

The war on drugs is a failure. Marijuana should be legalized. The Death Penalty should be abolished.

[supernova]

56. Interesting....

I think the parties have flipped positions on a number of positions during the years.

The Dems now do better than the GOP with budget issues, even though the GOP still trades on the "fiscal responsibility" canard.

The Dems are now the party of individual rights, rather than the GOP. The GOP seems determined to uphold institutions at the expense of individuals.... The Patriot Act.

IOW, in earlier times, I might have been an abolistionist and thus connected to the Republicans. But now, because the Dems are better at individual rights, I'm dem. Interestng thought.

[mot78]

75. Interesting and scary

Unfortunately when the ancestors of the Southern Freeps were Dems, they would threaten black AND white people to vote Democrat or risk death.

[supernova]

7. Indeed

"Why SHOUDN'T we bother?"

I'd like to know the answer to that myself. With that question you go to the heart of why people like myself who may be liberal, but who are not active enough to actually go out and vote liberal.

We in the GOP states need your SUPPORT DU!! We need to get out the vote in our states that could vote liberal but don't because they think it's pointless. We have to convince them otherwise.

[hyphenate]

8. A lot of people

With small farms are getting royally pissed off at the government subsidies and other "corporate welfare" the large corporation farms are getting. They are allowing more and more small farms to close down for business.

The heartland is filled with dissatisfied people whose livelihood is threatened more and more. I not only think we need to court them and woo them, but I think we need to show them that it's the left, not the right, that has their general best interests at heart.

[DaveSZ]

12. I'll give you a good example of a good rural Dem:

http://www.house.gov/stenholm/

We need more people like him, and we need to reach out to these people to win back the House.

[sic semper tyrannis]

22. Why the left is not going to woo them

in a word, environmentalist.

More farmers have closed their doors because of EPA regulations than almost any other govt. encroachment.

[alarimer]

37. nonsense

Most family farms have gone under due to large corporate farms with whom they cannot compete.

[sic semper tyrannis]

47. I can only speak for my part of the world

We do not have many large corporate farms in this area. Most farmers are part time with a few acres of tobacco or a hundred head of cattle.

What did happen during the early 90s was the closing of almost every dairy farm in a three county area. The EPA regulation on run off and collection of run off was too expensive for most of these farms to comply. The same happened with pig farming.

The other liberal specter that you ignore is PETA. PETA is active and aggressive in trying to put live stock farming out of business. Farmers hate PETA with a passion and would never join or support a political party that appears to support their, PETAs, agenda.

[alarimer]

64. well

personally after having read about the USDA's pathetic record of inspections at meat plants (aside from the fact that there aren't enough inspectors in the first place), I have serious doubts about eating meat. So you would prefer dirty lakes, rivers and streams? Water for drinking often comes from those sources. Not to mention the ecological harm. PETA is actually right sometimes, though I disagree with them more often than not.

[absyntheNsugar]

73. Sic, try and find a PETA supporter here

They're afraid of us almost as much as they are afraid of the Republicans.

Most of us agree PETA is nothing more than a bunch of extremists scaring children. Especially the vegetarians here!

[slinkerwink]

9. however, Jefferson defended slavery which contradicted his own

signing the Declaration of Independence.

[supernova]

13. Acutally they coexist

in a strange way. I'm not saying it's right, just that it is. The faults that run through the U.S. today are the faults that run through Jefferson.

Still, would you rather he not have tried at all?

[slinkerwink]

16. I think that he's a very interesting contradiction

he was held back by the prejudices of his time, and tried to make slavery into a necessary evil, so that the middle class in the north could "flourish."

[supernova]

23. Exactly

Which is why it is UP TO US, here and now, to finish his work. Not berate him for what he was. The past is passed. He's not going to change.

But we can. We can do that by taking everybody on their own terms about how they talk about themselves. Even us rednecks. ;-)

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. I think I might qualify as a "liberal redneck".....

I grew up running around in the woods and hollers of rural WV, and I work outside for a living (archaeology). Liberal Rednecks are thick as thieves around my parts.

[Redneck Socialist]

14. I don't fit your definitions of redneck

but there are plenty of rural people who are either liberal or Democratic. There are plenty more who would vote Democratic if the party were more responsive to them and their issues.

[supernova]

15. What do you bring

to the definition of "redneck?"

I'm curious.

[Redneck Socialist]

24. It's not a complementary term

and I use it as a handle mostly facetiously.

My definition: Largely living in rural areas, often working in resource extraction or in other jobs traditionally considered labor. Generally not college educated.

The Democratic Party, correctly or not, is often perceived as more concerned with urban issues. This perception hurts us and gives the republicans the ability to claim this demographic for their own.

[supernova]

36. Yep and a two-fold mission

I agree that This perception hurts us and gives the republicans the ability to claim this demographic for their own.

And I reserve the right to reclaim the word "redneck." My Dad was a hard working, bone-honest person. He was racist, but he certainly didn't advocate violence of any sort. He worked in a laboratory all year but he loved his garden every summer: corn, squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, snap beans, strawberries. Enough to feed us through the summer and into the winter. He worked hard for us all his 75 years.

More importantly, he encoraged me to think differently and supported me when I did. "You make up your own mind." he said. And I did.

[Triple H]

17. I've never heard the term "redneck"

applied to a farmer or a person who grows crops. This is all new to me.

To me, the term "redneck" is applied to those who live in the country and are racist and biggoted.

[supernova]

39. Erhm.. what do you think a majority of country people

did for a living all this time?

[Triple H]

40. Um...they're farmers....

not rednecks. well, at least where I'm from.

[supernova]

57. Ah c'mon, embrace your inner redneck,

Triple H. Come on in... the water's fine! :hi:

[BeFree]

18. Why it's so nice of ya'll to think about us Liberal Rednecks

Do we exist? Sho 'nuff. Even tho we are relegated to the bottom wrung of the high fallutin' high society ya'll educated Liberals have designed for us po' folk, we sure do appreciate all yer fine wines, intellectual writings, and corporatism that enables us to enjoy one or two of the fine material things ya'll have designed fer us.

What's odd is... we can live without ya'll, but ya'll could hardly get to work in the morning if'n we didn't build yer house, grow yer foods, truck yer oil, and do all them other outdoor get yer hands dirty kinda things that keep people alive.

Thanks fer thinking of us!!

[greatauntoftriplets]

19. Great post!!!

:toast:

[supernova]

27. LOL! Thanks, BeFree

That was funny! :D

[bearfartinthewoods]

80. speaking of working outdoors, there is your origin of the word

people who worked outdoors in pre-sunscreen times, and their necks got burned red by the sun.

[camero]

91. Great post and so true

The economy would stop on a dime if all of us rednecks went on strike.
I have to include myself in that because I've spent nearly all of my working life in blue collar jobs. Even though I'm originally a Northerner.

[supernova]

93. I knew there was something

I liked about you camero. :thumbsup: B-)

[camero]

97. It's always good to go with your hunch

:) Thanks for the kind words.

[BeFree]

94. I used to think

Rednecks were isolated to the southern states. I have been educated otherwise, mainly through internet information harvested from individuals like yourself, camero.

I proudly wear the Redneck Tie, as it were, and doubly so, the Liberal hat. What amazes me is how looked down upon we rednecks are by the uppity clean-hands people. It's almost as if they consider us mere slaves. Well, if we rednecks ever get organized, the future will be far better than the one staring down on us now.

[camero]

96. Most definitely

I always considered myself more liberal than redneck mostly because of the social pressure to get a clean hands job but it wasn't in my nature. The pressure to get a college education can be unbelieveable and most of my classmates in HS thought I was smart enough to be in college. Most of my education has been what I searched for when the economy headed south.

That said, I'm quite proud of the fact that my hands were and still are part of the vast sets of hands that built and maintain this country. I've been an electrician, truck driver, worked on a horse farm, had my hands covered in oil and dirt most of my life.

I was told once that the way to tell a blue collar from a white collar person was when they take their showers. The white collar person takes their shower at the beginning of the day to look good for their job and the blue collar person takes it at the end of the day to clean off the dirt and grime of their job. I never noticed how true that was until I noticed my own habits.

If we finally wise up to what is happening and stop feeding the troll for lack of a better way of putting it, it won't be very long before we get what we want because the uppity people do not have these skills. Which is probably why they treat us the way they do. They want the gravy train to keep coming and know they will be on their own if we stop.

[blondeatlast]

20. I suspect Redneck Socialist has an opinion on that matter.

[Redneck Socialist]

33. At the risk of fulfilling a stereotype here, but

I've been paying more attention to the Red Sox/Orioles game than this debate.

In short my opinion is that as a party it does us no good at all to stereotype rural voters. It does us even less good to ignore or dismiss their concerns.

[greatauntoftriplets]

21. Another thought that demonstrates the importance of everyone.

Great book called "The Redneck Manifesto".

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684838648/qid=1081479075/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6980545-1775212?v=glance&s=books

[VelmaD]

25. Anyone who says no...

obviously hasn't heard the new Dixie Chicks song "I'm a redneck woman". :-) Apparently they're quite capable of being liberal icons and rednecks.

[IronLionZion]

26. there are different definitions of redneck

some definitions include conservativism, racism, bigotry, and ignorance.

by your definition, of course there are liberal rednecks. There are some right here posting on DU!

[supernova]

29. By Golly, you're right!

And here I didn't think I existed.

There are some right here posting on DU!

[IronLionZion]

52. yup yup, me too I guess

I'm not white or a farmer and my neck is not red. But I grew up in the country so sure, I'm a liberal redneck too.

:toast: :bounce:

[put out]

58. Here, in spirit.

I wish the term was not used as a pejorative. I don't get a red neck because I have long hair and I wear a hat.

I am two generations, maybe three in some cases, from people who scrambled to live off the land. I take my hat off to them. Then I will be a redneck, because of the hatless condition. And a liberal voter, as all of them are. Except the dead ones. Turns out, they all voted for Democratic Party, straight ticket.

My edit: I hope this makes some kind of sense to us liberal rednecks.
You are not at all alone.

[Triple H]

30. This is where I got confused by another thread...

I have always known the term "redneck" applied to racist, biggoted, conservative, and ignorant group of people.

I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.

[xultar]

28. Some of the BUBBAS down here in GA are beginning to Marru Black Women

Hell yeah we need to bother with them. They will be our greatest allies.

There are liberal rednecks. God Love'm.

[Ksec]

31. Youre lookin at one.

Well readin one, yep some would say Im a redneck since I do get tanned while I work.

[DemoTex]

32. Absolutely! One of my brothers being the prime example.

I have two brothers. One is a liberal, wealthy, gay radiologist in Atlanta (remember the recent Druid Hills Country Club brouhaha?). The other is a dirt-poor contractor (with an economics degree) who moved in with our elderly parents a year ago after he had a brush with the law. The latter hangs with rednecks and bikers. Many of his friends, while not meeting our definitions of liberal, do hate Bu$h and the GOP.

BTW: My redneck brother's legal problems came to a resolution today. Two weeks ago, the DA dropped the drug charges from the 12 marijuana plants found on his farm. Illegal search, the DA agreed. Also, my brother sold the farm (shortly after his arrest a year ago) and within several weeks the sheriff found more pot plants in the same place. My brother was avoiding the county at all costs. The other problem was that they found a shotgun in his farm house. He claims it was not his (he ran a home for wayward drunks, rednecks, and bikers ... I would not even go down there fearing just this sort of thing). Ends up he had a "prior" from 30 years ago (none of us knew about it) for growing pot in a National Forrest. That conviction (with suspended sentence) forbade him from owning or keeping firearms. For that transgression, today, he was given the choice of a trial or three years on probation. He copped a plea for the latter. My 83-year old dad, a distinguished PhD college professor, sat through the day-long proceedings in Lamar County, Georgia. But he did get his $33,000 bail money back. Dad was too exhausted to talk to me tonight when I called (as I do every night).

Like the cover of Granta proclaimed, a few years back: The Family: They Fuck You Up.

[supernova]

41. OMG!! Can I be a fly on the wall

at your family reunion sometime? Please? I promise you won't know I'm there. :D

Hope your dad is OK. :hug: That must have been exhausting for him.

[sic semper tyrannis]

54. Your brother is NOT a red neck. He is a hippie.

Many hippies and red necks hang out together. However, your brother sounds more like a hippie than a red neck. Growing pot, communal living, middle age.

Well, its just my opinion. Get offended if you like.

[Sandpiper]

79. It's strange how hippies and rednecks have a lot

Of similar tastes. Both enjoy the outdoors, have similar tastes in music, and both tend to like long hair and beards, and both enjoy toking up from time to time.

Had I not lived in the south, I never would have believed it.

And redneck skunk weed is some of the best pot there is.

[JanMichael]

34. Jim Hightower

Bill Clinton, James Carville, Lyndon B. Johnson, Molly Ivans, Sam Ervin,
Billy Bob Thornton, Jimmy Carter and ALL of his relatives, Willie Nelson....

Are those enough rednecks for you?

[supernova]

43. What an admirable

and adorable list!

Thank you JanMichael. :D

[DemoTex]

48. For the first time I disagree with JanMichael!

Bill Clinton, James Carville, Lyndon B. Johnson, Molly Ivins, Jimmy Carter, and Sam Ervin, are not rednecks! Not one of them! They are distinguished Southerners and you should know the difference! Now, Billy Bob Thornton and Willie Nelson might be on the fringe.

I am probably much more of a redneck than anyone on your list. After all, I went to a closing on our new Greenville, SC, condo last week in bib overalls ("hogwashers").

[JanMichael]

53. Sorry, DemoTex....but, you were disagreeing with me

Steph here, posting under Michael's name.

7th generation North Carolinian.

It's entirely possible to be Southern, Distinguished, and Redneck all at the same time! :)

Stephanie

Michael...in his defense...hasn't been here long enough to even recognize that the Waffle House does have remarkable food...he cannot be held responsible for that post-

[DemoTex]

60. Love you both, dear. But not that list.

At least exclude Bill Clinton, James Carville, Lyndon B. Johnson, Molly Ivins, and Jimmy Carter. Especially Molly Ivins.

[bearfartinthewoods]

81. go ask molly...dollars to doughnuts she claims the tag!

[hexola]

44. Y'uns ask some funny questions...

Your definition of Redneck is wrong.

Why on earth do you question their existience?

The answer is - yes there are liberal rednecks...

[FDRrocks]

45. Of course...

[bicentennial_baby]

46. Hell yes!

Proud farmer descendant and soon to be farmer-spouse! Both of our families are quite liberal and always vote straight Dem (except me, who sometimes votes green)

[Individualist]

49. There's also such a thing as

a liberal hillbilly. :hi:

[are_we_united_yet]

50. Well

I'd imagine there are a number of fine people who love the rural lifestyle and are pretty decent people.

Some are jerks but what "category" of people are exempt from that?

:shrug:

[Jacobin]

51. I know several

Oh yes, Virginia, there really are liberal "rednecks"

[Catherine Vincent]

55. Bill Clinton referred to himself as a redneck.

So, yes, the Democratic party needs rednecked people.:)

[JI7]

72. yes, i remember that, and i LOVE Bill Clinton

so there is nothing wrong with rednecked people and many are part of our team and we should reach out to those who aren't yet.

[guitar man]

59. Dyed in the wool liberal redneck here

Hell yes,we exist! I grew up on a farm in rural Oklahoma.Although I am working a "white collar" job now,I worked blue collar,hot,greasy,dirty jobs for a living for a long time.

I am a newbie to the Democratic party(11-03)but have always held mostly liberal viewpoints.I was registered as an independent for 21 years before and NEVER as a Repuke.

Being a redneck does not necessarily mean one is racist or bigoted.
The term simply implies a "glorious lack of sophistication",as Jeff Foxworthy likes to put it. For example: "If your house has ever been in a traffic accident,you might be a redneck" Or "if your mother has ever been in a cuss fight with the principle"(I love that stuff)

I actually have an old pickup truck up on blocks in the yard. I really don't like it there,but we have a homeowners association out here in the county,so I had to put one in. B-)


I am a Patriot first,Liberal second and Democrat third. Now I think I am going down to the corner bar and see if I can find some freepers to start some shit with,maybe hand a couple of 'em an ass whoopin'

[BiggJawn]

61. Hey! I'm Rural! Doesn't mean I'm a Dildo-head.

Uh, that's "Ditto-head", but some days I can't tell the difference.

[RoyGBiv]

71. To Echo the Comments of Others

Yes, there are liberal rednecks. Here I am, in all my glory, got a dead car in my driveway and a computer in my living room. I speak Okie and understand all the varied meanings of "y'all." (And, I know how to punctuate it correctly.) I have permanent lines on my hands from hauling hay, know what the back-roads are really used for, and have been up to my elbows in a cow more times than I care to count. I would never buy my horse a beer because I can't hire personal assistants to clean up the mess that would result. And I think the Dixie Chicks are pretty cool, even though I really don't like country music.

And guess what else. I went to college. Gots me a ejeekashun. I know more about Southern history than many people would want to know. I figured out early in life that the modern incarnation of repukes care nothing for my interests, and I embraced my liberalism. It made me enemies within my family and my (former) circle of friends, but I hold to my principles, not to be a contrarian, but because those principles are right.


end rant

[SarahB]

62. My grandparents on my dad's side were

Southern, blue-collar, even racist rednecks, but stayed loyal Democrats (albeit Dixiecrats) when the rest of the South went Republican. Not that I'm proud of some of the stuff the believed, but glad they remained Democrats and in their final years actually became a bit more tolerant and grew somewhat.

[Kazak]

63. Don't be silly...ever hear of Willie Nelson?

:shrug:

Fact is, you'd probably characterize the whole lot of shoutherners as "rednecks", by your definition, yet a significant percentage of those folks are in fact liberals.

[supernova]

66. Good point, pengpong

Willie Nelson is a fine example. :thumbsup:

Also Waylon Jennings
Johnny Cash
Merle Haggard (?)

Basically, the whole "Outlaws" group.

[skooooo]

65. Union Coal Miners, for example n/t

[supernova]

68. Now there's a thought

When was the last time anybody heard from the coal miners on the national stage about labor issues?

The only thing I remember lately about coal miners is they got rescued a couple of years ago.

[bearfartinthewoods]

83. that's because there aren't many of them anymore

...mechainization and black lung...

[Dr Fate]

67. Wille Nelson supported Kusinich.

What more proof do ya want?

[mike1963]

69. How to politely say this is a waste of bandwidth?

I don't know...

[supernova]

70. How to politely say

this is a problem which as been begging to be aired out for quite a while.

Nahh.. I'll just let this thread speak for itself.

[Oddman]

74. Hmmm . . .

Whas wuz dat queshtin agin?

[Paragon]

77. Carville

I'm pretty sure Louisiana has produced its fair share of rednecks.

[David Zephyr]

78. Redneck is A Working Class Label.

Rednecks are working class whites.

Rednecks should all be liberal.

The neck isn't red from being a fundamentalist Christian.

The neck isn't red from being a xenophobe.

The neck isn't red from being a racist.

The neck is red from working in the sun outside to make a living.

Rednecks should all be liberal. At one time, a great many were.

[kaitykaity]

82. Yeah, I was one once. A redneck, I mean.

Grew up in a small town in Oklahoma. We had old cars and old washers and six cats. The only thing we didn't have was junk in the front yard and really tall weeds.

Live in Oregon now, though. I like the dreadlocks and the musicians and the middle-age couples and the gay guys across the street and the bag ladies who walk by and the 100+year old walnut trees and the days and days of rain.

[OKNancy]

84. Hey, Okie.....know where McAlester is?

When I was getting my facts together for Campaign Underground, one of the newspapers I put on the list was the McAlester News. I looked at their front page. There is a poll there between Kerry and Bush......62% for Kerry!

People who think there are not redneck liberals are provincial and narrow-minded.

[RoyGBiv]

85. I do! I do!

My mother lived in McAlester until recently.

That county (I forget the name) is one of the few in OK that consistently votes Democratic in national elections. Lots of Union people there with the Boeing plant nearby....which I heard on the news last night Boeing is trying to sell, btw...

Good to see some other Okies around here. :)

[kaitykaity]

86. Yup. Had a favorite great and uncle we visited there.

We'd wave to the guards as we drove by the factory.

My brother actually lives in ardmore, but he wasn't real happy when the family showed up unanncounced. He's friends with the sheriff in the town, now, and goes to the country club. Doesn't like his 'trailer' roots.

Oklahoma went for Clark--it might go Blue if Kerry picks the general. Hmmm.

:hi:

[Bridget Burke]

87. Interesting alternative etymology for "redneck".....

"The origins of this term are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant, or 'Covenanters', largely Lowland Presbyterians, many of whom would flee Scotland for Ulster (Northern Ireland) during persecutions by the British Crown. The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents that stated that Scotland desired the Presbyterian form of church government and would not accept the Church of England as its official state church.

"Many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia; hence the term 'Red neck', which became slang for a Scottish dissenter. One Scottish immigrant, interviewed by the author, remembered a Presbyterian minister, one Dr. Coulter, in Glasgow in the 1940's wearing a red clerical collar -- is this symbolic of the 'rednecks'?

'Since many Ulster-Scottish settlers in America (especially the South) were Presbyterian, the term was applied to them, and then, later, their Southern descendants. One of the earliest examples of its use comes from 1830, when an author noted that 'red-neck' was a 'name bestowed upon the Presbyterians.' It makes you wonder if the originators of the ever-present 'redneck' joke are aware of the term’s origins?"

http://www.geocities.com/celticchief/hillbilly.html

Do take this with a grain of salt. The site also gives a spurious derivation of "Gringo". That word probably comes from "Griego"--meaning "Greek"--& is applied differently throughout Latin America. In Argentina, they call Italians "Gringos".

[supernova]

88. Thanks Bridget!

I had never known that. Today that group is known in the US as the "Scots-Irish". My dad's family is probably Scots-Irish, for example, though we don't know much about what they were doing before they showed up here a little after the Civil War. And Yes, I'm Presbyterian! :D

I had known that there were a group of Scots who emigrated to Ireland, for reasons of "persecution" but never knew the reason why. Arguments with the crown would be a good reason.

Heh. Supernova<--keeping the family tradition of revolt alive and well. :hippie:

[supernova]

89. Kick

for the daytime crowd. :kick:

I wanna see how many more rednecks we got at DU. B-)

[javadu]

90. I voted "yes" and this is why.

Although I don't make my living in the sun getting a red neck, I spend a lot of time in the sun and I am as "redneck" as can be (whatever it means), I fish for catfish using a jon boat, go on float trips, pull inner tubes with my jon boat, etc. I also stay up until midnight sitting by the riverbank drinking beer and fishing for catfish. I am also very, very liberal and proud to be a liberal.

I am distressed about the fact that some think that the Democratic people should not "bother with these people if the exist at all." Although I am bothered that there are some in the democratic party who think that we don't matter, I think that it comes down to doing the stats and making strategic choices about how to spend campaign advertising money.

[supernova]

92. Agreed

Although I am bothered that there are some in the democratic party who think that we don't matter, I think that it comes down to doing the stats and making strategic choices about how to spend campaign advertising money.

Which why I started this thread. Dems in the larger urban areas seem to have a hard time believing we exist and therefore deserve party support and attention. We need to be more visible and more of a presence within the party.

[Nikia]

95. Yes, rural white liberals but I consider the term derogatory

I have lived in "rural" areas all my life, Ohio and then Wisconsin. The Democratic party is alive and well in rural Ohio. I don't know about Wisconsin. They seem less political and I don't really see the party. My grandfather's family was from rural SE Ohio which is more of what one would think of by "redneck" and Democrats too.
Yes, I don't think that you should use the word redneck. I don't know if I have used it on DU because I consider it an offensive word. I have never been called a "redneck", which I am glad about. I have referred to people as "rednecks" amongst people who are not "rednecks" as a sort of an insult, which is actually pretty awful. Every example that I've been trying to write in this post sounds awful.
Let's put it this way, not everyone in rural areas, even farmers or laborors, are "rednecks". "Redneck" is a mindset, an attitude, a lifestyle, a bad stereotype which some people fullfill. It is sort of like the black urban "gansta" stereotype. It is not good to think of all people in a group as a negative, ignorant sterotype.