This Man Deserves to Be Read

This posting by Joe Bageant to The Smirking Chimp is right on. Please take the time to read it and let him know what you think. Here's an excerpt:

One of the problems we working class Southerners have is that educated progressive Americans see us as a bunch of obese, heavily-armed nose pickers. This problem is compounded by the fact that so many of us are pretty much that. Call it the "Dumb-crackers-lordee-I-reckon" syndrome. But liberals err in thinking this armed and drunken laboring species is an exclusively Southern breed. No matter where you live in this nation you will find us. We are the folks in front of you at the Wal-Mart checkout lugging a case of motor oil while having a nicotine fit. But even in such democratic venues as shopping, our encounters are limited because we do not buy designer beer and you do not buy ammo or motor oil by the case.

These folks are not the enemy--they are us.