Dead Aim

West Virginia

Over the past three months, I have repeatedly drawn attention to the growing cultural divide between “Red America” and “Blue America,” and the central role of implicit whiteness in shaping this emerging division. I’ve stressed that I am not referring to “Red States” and “Blue States” or Republicans and Democrats.

The “Reds” are Angelo Codevilla’s “Country Class.” They are sturdy White folk who are concentrated in Middle America. Most of them live in the suburbs or rural areas. Some live in the major cities. This category includes almost all White Americans with the notable exceptions of homosexuals and SWPLs who are militant progressives.

The “Blues” are the “political class.” They are the business, political, and cultural elites of America. They are concentrated in the major cities and live near the coast. This category includes virtually all Jews and SWPLs along with the “racial vassals” like blacks, Hispanics, and Asians.

Traditionally, “Reds” and “Blues” have been split between the Republican and Democratic parties. It was the “Reds” within the Democratic Party who put Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama in office. The “Blue” elite, or
“the political class,” controls both parties and manipulates the political process to “transform” America in their chosen direction.

Lately, this has begun to change: polarization is driving all the “Reds” into the Republican Party and all the “Blues” into the Democratic Party. This national trend has created enormous political problems for Democrats who depend on the “Red” vote to win statewide office.

Manchin vs. Raese

Nowhere else in America is the conflict between “Red America” and “Blue America” on better display than in the West Virginia Senate race between Joe Manchin and John Raese. A Rust Belt, Jacksonian Democrat, White working class state that Bill Clinton carried twice, West Virginia is ground zero of these political tectonic plates crashing against each other, remaking the two major parties.

The NRSC recently released a political ad in West Virginia that plays directly to implicit whiteness and Red America’s dislike of the resident alien in the White House:

The Pennsylvania actors who were casted to appear in this ad were instructed to appear in “hicky” White working class attire for their message would resonate with West Virginians. Although the ad backfired and Manchin scored political points off it, the important lesson is that the NRSC is rolling up its sleeves and getting into the business of making not even subtle coded appeals to White racial anxiety in the Midwest.

After seeing his poll numbers crash and Raese take the lead, Joe Manchin has responded with an even more hilarious, over the top, defensive appeal to implicit whiteness. He wants everyone in West Virginia to know that he is a “Red” like them who won’t march to the drumbeat of the Democratic Party in Washington.

This is pure White identity politics:

Joe Manchin traipses through the woods in full blown Anglo-Saxon, White working man costume, armed with a gun which he loads and uses to shoot a bullet through a target of the Cap and Trade bill. He promises to “defend” West Virginia against Washington and cut federal spending while touting his endorsement by the NRA and his lawsuit against the EPA.

This dog whistle is all but screaming: I am a White man like you and won’t be a tool of the negro alien in the White House and the batshit crazy Daily Kos SWPL progressives who want to “transform” America. The only reason Manchin even had to pull such a stunt in the first place is because the national Democratic Party has suffered such a total collapse with White working class voters in the Rust Belt.

We’ve seen this Blue Dog line of bullshit before. Jon Tester and James Webb also promised to be a new kind of conservative Democrat who would stand up for Montana and Virginia against their party leadership. Just a few weeks ago, Tester and Webb voted for the DREAM Act and have voted with their party on any number of other issues harmful to our interests.

Sending Joe Manchin to the Senate in such a tight election could determine whether Harry Reid (if he survives Angle in Nevada) returns to his post as Senate majority leader. Manchin’s promises of fidelity to West Virginians is just an election year ploy that will be forgotten after he confronts party discipline in Washington.

Final Thoughts

West Virginia is one of the whitest states in America. It is interesting that White identity politics would be resonating so much here and so soon. It is equally telling that the NRSC would be willing to make a direct appeal to White racial consciousness, not only with the “hicky” ad, but by planting a 1,000 yard signs in West Virginia trying to link Obama to Manchin.

A strategy is emerging here: the Bush-Rove-Steele plan of appealing to blacks and Hispanics has flopped spectacularly, but in spite of its own efforts to deliberately repulse and alienate White voters, the GOP is on the cusp of a historic victory which is due entirely to capturing an even larger percentage of the White vote.

It must have occurred to someone in the GOP and conservative leadership by now that the road to victory for Republicans lies in the Alabamaization of the Midwest. Demographically, Alabama and Mississippi should be competitive states for Democratic presidential candidates, but Whites in the Deep South vote like blacks and crush the minority vote.

As we move further into the twenty-first century, the Democrats will only grow more indebted to the non-White vote. They will be forced to pander even harder to non-White racial identity groups. If this is already causing an image problem for them with White voters in the Rust Belt now, I can only imagine what it will be like ten to twenty years down the road.

“Red America” and “Blue America” are ripping apart at the seams. It will be fun to watch.