Aspen Times Weekly
(more Jug Political articles)
Opinion Articles
February 9, 2008
In election 2008, don’t forget the Angry White Man!
There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as
everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than
George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates —
a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a
quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.
Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest
groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal
immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.
There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide
the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic
backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas
in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain
West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the
promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases,
he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than
his share of taxes and works hard.
The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and
“voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word
to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas
party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.
He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living
document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never
worked an honest day in their lives.
The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend
his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the
freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs
killing really doesn’t bother him.
The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like
him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell
out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help
themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer
firefighter.
His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian,
English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee,
Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.
He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt
white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club
once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball,
soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who
can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well,
weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill
a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that
you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.
Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If
they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He
stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”
He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian
or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he
guides the family in a rational manner.
He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain
backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race.
He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the
rules and learn English.
Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes
flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a
stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has
to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers.
When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or
some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets
charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to
school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law
enforcement.
He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice
reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on
television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would
want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she
is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that
she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question,
his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for
themselves.
There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are
members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against
Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.
He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he
will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.
Larry L. Jones
USAF/USCG
(retired and loving life)