An interesting article about a very real problem that seems to have no solution: the disenfranchisement of much of rural America.
The author seems much stronger on political theory than on the details of California politics or even California geography. His description of Shasta County politics harking back to “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” is interesting, although I suspect his description of the Shasta residents as having “barricaded the salon” was meant to be “barricaded the saloon” (unless the author is unintentionally revealing his urban roots).
The author might also consider doing his research more thoroughly if he hopes to be taken seriously. For example, the article opens with this assertion:
“Shasta County has always attracted American outliers, a laboratory for both success and failure. These are the valleys and mountains where John Steinbeck sent his characters in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, …”
Steinbeck’s stories, and certainly Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, were almost all set in the Salinas Valley which is about 250 miles south of Shasta County.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting article about how disenfranchised Americans try to reassert political power in a nation dominated by postmodern elites. It’s easy to ridicule such Americans but, short of rebellion and secession, how are they to once again find a political voice and assert their desire to live in communities that reflect their values?
I really stumbled on the Steinbeck part thinking this person has no idea where he is or anything about the difference between the Salinas Valley where a lot of US produce is grown and the more mountainous area of Shasta. I felt like the author saw the trunk of the proverbial elephant and failed to realize that there was a lot more to it.
I’m 45-year California resident, and yes to your comment and J Bryant’s above. Even so, I thought it was an interesting portrait of one part of a large, very populous state that people some people don’t associate with anything beyond Hollywood, Silicon Valley, or San Francisco.
Yes, I stumbled over Steinbeck as well. Even as a British national who has only visited California as a ‘legal alien’, it seemed a very strange thought.
But at least it has motivated me to go back and re-read some of his books to see if I can find even a trace of Jefferson in there.
I’m 45-year California resident, and yes to your comment and J Bryant’s above. Even so, I thought it was an interesting portrait of one part of a large, very populous state that people some people don’t associate with anything beyond Hollywood, Silicon Valley, or San Francisco.
Yes, I stumbled over Steinbeck as well. Even as a British national who has only visited California as a ‘legal alien’, it seemed a very strange thought.
But at least it has motivated me to go back and re-read some of his books to see if I can find even a trace of Jefferson in there.
Right. I respect a community’s right to take their politics in any voter-supported direction they choose, as long as the basic personal, lawful liberties of residents with divergent views are protected, and (I hope) respected in principle and practice. Compared to some factions, libertarians should have no problem doing a decent job of that. Just hold back from firing the first shots from your stockpiled bunkers, and please don’t try to secede.
Salon! Quite silly, intentional or not.
I grew up in California. Wasn’t the 1941 barricading by Shasta County separatists an attempt to keep out the detested “Okies” or migrants from the poorest parts of the Dust Bowl Midwest? It took Steinbeck’s sympathetic novels set in the San Joaquin Valley to change the general public’s mind about those migrants.
Thanks for that historical context. I was unaware of the Shasta Co. part. While there may be an exception or two in Steinbeck’s large body of work, most of his fiction is set in the Salinas (not San Joaquin) Valley, and on the Pacific Coast in or near Monterey.
Your comment also points to a time when “white-on-white” ethnic or class-based bigotry was more common–or at least more open in these yoo-nited states. Many well-heeled or heavily-schooled Americans of today view rural folk, especially if they have Southern accents, with contempt or disgust, brandishing the same kind of prejudicial broad brush they attribute to those of a “rural mindset”.
Thanks for that historical context. I was unaware of the Shasta Co. part. While there may be an exception or two in Steinbeck’s large body of work, most of his fiction is set in the Salinas (not San Joaquin) Valley, and on the Pacific Coast in or near Monterey.
Your comment also points to a time when “white-on-white” ethnic or class-based bigotry was more common–or at least more open in these yoo-nited states. Many well-heeled or heavily-schooled Americans of today view rural folk, especially if they have Southern accents, with contempt or disgust, brandishing the same kind of prejudicial broad brush they attribute to those of a “rural mindset”.
The Redcoats are coming the Redcoats are coming !!
Kill an overpaid cop — Join the Tea Party.
They dont call them PIGS for nothing;
first to the trough.
After the Revolution read your Whiskey Rebellion history,
where GW & Alexander(central bank)Hamilton
slammed a federal excise tax on the poor corn farmers
& backed it up personally with the military force !They are not patriots they are revolutionaries.
As was the case the first time , this time also the Tea Party will lead to the destruction of the nation.
Though both the latter & the present were not against their mother country they naively thought
that they could have a revolution without separation, killing bloodshed, violence, war.
If you do not know history it will repeat itself.
NO THE TEA PARTY DOES NOT LIKE AMERIKA It is a sick bird; AN ILL EAGLE !!!
I really stumbled on the Steinbeck part thinking this person has no idea where he is or anything about the difference between the Salinas Valley where a lot of US produce is grown and the more mountainous area of Shasta. I felt like the author saw the trunk of the proverbial elephant and failed to realize that there was a lot more to it.
Right. I respect a community’s right to take their politics in any voter-supported direction they choose, as long as the basic personal, lawful liberties of residents with divergent views are protected, and (I hope) respected in principle and practice. Compared to some factions, libertarians should have no problem doing a decent job of that. Just hold back from firing the first shots from your stockpiled bunkers, and please don’t try to secede.
Salon! Quite silly, intentional or not.
I grew up in California. Wasn’t the 1941 barricading by Shasta County separatists an attempt to keep out the detested “Okies” or migrants from the poorest parts of the Dust Bowl Midwest? It took Steinbeck’s sympathetic novels set in the San Joaquin Valley to change the general public’s mind about those migrants.
The Redcoats are coming the Redcoats are coming !!
Kill an overpaid cop — Join the Tea Party.
They dont call them PIGS for nothing;
first to the trough.
After the Revolution read your Whiskey Rebellion history,
where GW & Alexander(central bank)Hamilton
slammed a federal excise tax on the poor corn farmers
& backed it up personally with the military force !They are not patriots they are revolutionaries.
As was the case the first time , this time also the Tea Party will lead to the destruction of the nation.
Though both the latter & the present were not against their mother country they naively thought
that they could have a revolution without separation, killing bloodshed, violence, war.
If you do not know history it will repeat itself.
NO THE TEA PARTY DOES NOT LIKE AMERIKA It is a sick bird; AN ILL EAGLE !!!
J Bryant
10 months ago
An interesting article about a very real problem that seems to have no solution: the disenfranchisement of much of rural America.
The author seems much stronger on political theory than on the details of California politics or even California geography. His description of Shasta County politics harking back to “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” is interesting, although I suspect his description of the Shasta residents as having “barricaded the salon” was meant to be “barricaded the saloon” (unless the author is unintentionally revealing his urban roots).
The author might also consider doing his research more thoroughly if he hopes to be taken seriously. For example, the article opens with this assertion:
“Shasta County has always attracted American outliers, a laboratory for both success and failure. These are the valleys and mountains where John Steinbeck sent his characters in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, …”
Steinbeck’s stories, and certainly Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, were almost all set in the Salinas Valley which is about 250 miles south of Shasta County.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting article about how disenfranchised Americans try to reassert political power in a nation dominated by postmodern elites. It’s easy to ridicule such Americans but, short of rebellion and secession, how are they to once again find a political voice and assert their desire to live in communities that reflect their values?
Mark Goodhand
10 months ago
“Speakers from the floor discuss the pros and cons of Dominion voting machines”
Anyone who thinks there are pros to voting machines needs to come to the UK. Old fashioned paper & pencil with results available within hours of polls closing, despite manual counts.
This is true. I was visiting Wales during an election and went with my Brit friend to vote. Paper ballots in a neighbor’s barn. She served us tea too and yes, results were available the same day.
Perhaps because our levels and state and county autonomy allow for a thousand different standards or election rigor, fairness, and poll-worker competence, some of which seem to make things take way too long in our instant-click, microwave world. Also, remember the “hanging chads”?
(*Has anyone else found that sometimes their comment(s) can’t be edited?)
The machines only tabulate the marks on a paper ballot. While that seems simple enough, mis-calibration or reading errors can happen. The tabulated counts then go into a database that can be manipulated. In principle, machines can be more accurate than humans except they also can be misused.
Perhaps because our levels and state and county autonomy allow for a thousand different standards or election rigor, fairness, and poll-worker competence, some of which seem to make things take way too long in our instant-click, microwave world. Also, remember the “hanging chads”?
(*Has anyone else found that sometimes their comment(s) can’t be edited?)
The machines only tabulate the marks on a paper ballot. While that seems simple enough, mis-calibration or reading errors can happen. The tabulated counts then go into a database that can be manipulated. In principle, machines can be more accurate than humans except they also can be misused.
This is true. I was visiting Wales during an election and went with my Brit friend to vote. Paper ballots in a neighbor’s barn. She served us tea too and yes, results were available the same day.
Canada as well – all paper. I don’t understand why anyone would use voting machines.
Mark Goodhand
10 months ago
“Speakers from the floor discuss the pros and cons of Dominion voting machines”
Anyone who thinks there are pros to voting machines needs to come to the UK. Old fashioned paper & pencil with results available within hours of polls closing, despite manual counts.
Mark Goodhand
10 months ago
“vaccine mandates were viewed as a further infringement on their personal liberties” viewed as ?!
Mark Goodhand
10 months ago
“vaccine mandates were viewed as a further infringement on their personal liberties” viewed as ?!
Ralph Wade
10 months ago
The rural folks in California have legitimate gripes but the solution is not so easy. I live in Northern California and a few times a year drive up into Shasta and Trinity Counties. I’ve read local accounts that correspond with what the author reports here. But Shasta county accounts for less that one half of one percent of the entire population of California. The five counties discussed here might be around two percent of the State’s population. How much should they drive the State’s priorities? They could break away and form their “State of Jefferson”, but as the author states, 85% of their funding comes from State and Federal funds. They are takers not givers. Shasta County’s population density is 10 people per square mile. If those 10 people (which includes non wage earners) had to pay the entire bill for their roads, schools, and other services, they would scream even louder than now. Also, the problem would just be transferred. In the new State, the rural folks would be wailing that Redding, or what ever other capital gets designated, are not prioritizing their concerns. This is not to say that they don’t have real issues that need to be addressed by Sacramento. I just don’t think these militias and separatist movements are solutions.
Your comment made me curious and sent me looking. I found the County of Shasta Budget document for FY 2022/2023. It was 650 pages of details on the expenditures. I didn’t read it but did scan it. The funding goes for government services such as public safety (police, sheriffs, jails, courts judges, juvenile services, etc.), public works (roads infrastructure, water, etc), health services, general government administration, and on and on. When I looked over the document it appeared to cover the services that a reasonably advanced democratic government would supply to its members. Can you find programs that certain segments don’t value? Of course, but they are not a major driver for the budget.
You left out schools. Generally, conservatives are fine with small town public schools. Some of them move there for that very reason. But the Libertarians will find a problem with the taxes and the more religious they are the more they’ll have a problem with the cultural stuff and more likely choose to home school, which makes them even madder about the taxes.
Property taxes tend to be the thing that pays for schools. Those taxes are calculated by the county based on the value of houses and property. The county assesses that value. Those values keep going up. Housing prices inflate. People become cynical and resentful about the whole system because of this.
You left out schools. Generally, conservatives are fine with small town public schools. Some of them move there for that very reason. But the Libertarians will find a problem with the taxes and the more religious they are the more they’ll have a problem with the cultural stuff and more likely choose to home school, which makes them even madder about the taxes.
Property taxes tend to be the thing that pays for schools. Those taxes are calculated by the county based on the value of houses and property. The county assesses that value. Those values keep going up. Housing prices inflate. People become cynical and resentful about the whole system because of this.
Your comment made me curious and sent me looking. I found the County of Shasta Budget document for FY 2022/2023. It was 650 pages of details on the expenditures. I didn’t read it but did scan it. The funding goes for government services such as public safety (police, sheriffs, jails, courts judges, juvenile services, etc.), public works (roads infrastructure, water, etc), health services, general government administration, and on and on. When I looked over the document it appeared to cover the services that a reasonably advanced democratic government would supply to its members. Can you find programs that certain segments don’t value? Of course, but they are not a major driver for the budget.
The 85% is funding for what exactly? I suspect a whole lot of compulsory government programmes the SoJ don’t want.
Ralph Wade
10 months ago
The rural folks in California have legitimate gripes but the solution is not so easy. I live in Northern California and a few times a year drive up into Shasta and Trinity Counties. I’ve read local accounts that correspond with what the author reports here. But Shasta county accounts for less that one half of one percent of the entire population of California. The five counties discussed here might be around two percent of the State’s population. How much should they drive the State’s priorities? They could break away and form their “State of Jefferson”, but as the author states, 85% of their funding comes from State and Federal funds. They are takers not givers. Shasta County’s population density is 10 people per square mile. If those 10 people (which includes non wage earners) had to pay the entire bill for their roads, schools, and other services, they would scream even louder than now. Also, the problem would just be transferred. In the new State, the rural folks would be wailing that Redding, or what ever other capital gets designated, are not prioritizing their concerns. This is not to say that they don’t have real issues that need to be addressed by Sacramento. I just don’t think these militias and separatist movements are solutions.
mike otter
10 months ago
Poor old militias – they never learn NOT to talk to journalists like the creep that wrote this article. As for journos and others trying to stir up civil war in USA: remember its only in your gated rainbow flagged communities that true segregation survives. Poverty, homelessness and addiction are great levelllers. Big corps and even much of the third sector have realised hiring on merit NOT ethnicity raises performance. When we celebrate our annual 4th July shindig (on the 3rd this year) you will see a wide range of class, colour and age worshipping various gods or none at all. What you will not see are hacks from “left foot forward” or any other outfit dedicated to a closed society drowning in its own hate.
mike otter
10 months ago
Poor old militias – they never learn NOT to talk to journalists like the creep that wrote this article. As for journos and others trying to stir up civil war in USA: remember its only in your gated rainbow flagged communities that true segregation survives. Poverty, homelessness and addiction are great levelllers. Big corps and even much of the third sector have realised hiring on merit NOT ethnicity raises performance. When we celebrate our annual 4th July shindig (on the 3rd this year) you will see a wide range of class, colour and age worshipping various gods or none at all. What you will not see are hacks from “left foot forward” or any other outfit dedicated to a closed society drowning in its own hate.
N T
10 months ago
As long as we’re complaining about the spelling issues, “secession”, not “succession”, and “RINO”, not “rhino”. Both are unnecessary distractions from this interesting piece.
N T
10 months ago
As long as we’re complaining about the spelling issues, “secession”, not “succession”, and “RINO”, not “rhino”. Both are unnecessary distractions from this interesting piece.
laurence scaduto
10 months ago
Ingenious essay. “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” hits the nail squarely on the head. Most of the media here in the States can’t bring themselves to treat these people seriously. But they actually have a valid perspective on the most fundamental question: What is the United States?
It’s undeniable that our form of self government has changed radically since the Founding. Thankfully, the form we put up with now (captured by the two party/uni-party system) is not necessarily the last word on the matter. We should all want to understand what other citizens are thinking. Somewhere in all of that is our likely future.
So my thanks to Mr. Mcilhagga. He should shop this one around for the sake of a wider circulation. This is real journalism; when I got to the end I knew something about the people of Shasta County and almost nothing about Mr. McIlhagga’s opinions. Let’s hear more from him.
But UnHerd really needs to do something about copy editing! A live, fresh, human would be best, but a robot would be better than nothing.
Last edited 10 months ago by laurence scaduto
laurence scaduto
10 months ago
Ingenious essay. “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” hits the nail squarely on the head. Most of the media here in the States can’t bring themselves to treat these people seriously. But they actually have a valid perspective on the most fundamental question: What is the United States?
It’s undeniable that our form of self government has changed radically since the Founding. Thankfully, the form we put up with now (captured by the two party/uni-party system) is not necessarily the last word on the matter. We should all want to understand what other citizens are thinking. Somewhere in all of that is our likely future.
So my thanks to Mr. Mcilhagga. He should shop this one around for the sake of a wider circulation. This is real journalism; when I got to the end I knew something about the people of Shasta County and almost nothing about Mr. McIlhagga’s opinions. Let’s hear more from him.
But UnHerd really needs to do something about copy editing! A live, fresh, human would be best, but a robot would be better than nothing.
Last edited 10 months ago by laurence scaduto
Samuel McIlhagga
10 months ago
Of Mice and Men — a large section is set in the town of Weed, where the main characters are chased out after a misunderstanding.
Weed, albeit in Siskiyou County — is still very much part of the Jefferson project’s larger zone that finds its current political heart in Shasta and Redding.
Yes, Grapes of Wrath is mostly set in Salinas — I was referring here to the broader rural primary extractive resource areas in contrast to urban California — and the difference these material priorities provoke. That Steinbeck sends his characters to flawed but promising ‘Edenic’ areas ‘like’ Shasta.
But, yes. This distinction could have been a bit clearer!
Since you’re here, Republicans In Name Only are RINOs, not “rhinos”.
Samuel McIlhagga
10 months ago
Of Mice and Men — a large section is set in the town of Weed, where the main characters are chased out after a misunderstanding.
Weed, albeit in Siskiyou County — is still very much part of the Jefferson project’s larger zone that finds its current political heart in Shasta and Redding.
Yes, Grapes of Wrath is mostly set in Salinas — I was referring here to the broader rural primary extractive resource areas in contrast to urban California — and the difference these material priorities provoke. That Steinbeck sends his characters to flawed but promising ‘Edenic’ areas ‘like’ Shasta.
But, yes. This distinction could have been a bit clearer!
Last edited 10 months ago by Samuel McIlhagga
Marissa M
10 months ago
Of course there is a massive and influential Pentecoastal Church in the area.
Of course there is.
It is now widely reported that Shasta County is inundated with illegal marijuana grow facilities. If reports are to be believed (there are pictures, mind you), they number quite literally in the thousands, all in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Three groups are responsible for them, the Mungs, the Russians, and the Mexican cartels. They use slave labor, steal water, dispose of chemicals in open pits, hire their own private armies, register thousands of non-existing persons to vote, vastly out gun local law enforcement, and murder at will.
None of this would be possible were there not a vacuum of political authority. Sacramento appears not to care. And as they look north, they may very well see their own future.
It is now widely reported that Shasta County is inundated with illegal marijuana grow facilities. If reports are to be believed (there are pictures, mind you), they number quite literally in the thousands, all in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Three groups are responsible for them, the Mungs, the Russians, and the Mexican cartels. They use slave labor, steal water, dispose of chemicals in open pits, hire their own private armies, register thousands of non-existing persons to vote, vastly out gun local law enforcement, and murder at will.
None of this would be possible were there not a vacuum of political authority. Sacramento appears not to care. And as they look north, they may very well see their own future.
Marissa M
10 months ago
Of course there is a massive and influential Pentecoastal Church in the area.
Of course there is.
Perry de Havilland
10 months ago
“As Thomas Paine said in his funny little pamphlet, oddly enough called Common Sense,”
Why ‘oddly enough’?
Perry de Havilland
10 months ago
“As Thomas Paine said in his funny little pamphlet, oddly enough called Common Sense,”
Why ‘oddly enough’?
Steve Jolly
10 months ago
What little hope there is for peaceful populist reform relies on states and localities simply ignoring and opposing the federal government, which has no enforcement mechanism with enough manpower to do the actual work of enforcing the laws. If a state wants to ignore federal immigration or marijuana laws, there’s very little the government can do in the short term other than send in the military, which no sane leader would do because that would be tantamount to declaring civil war, and I have serious doubts whether the military itself would carry out such orders. Such an order might well divide the military itself, as it did during the first civil war. The biggest stick they have is to withhold federal dollars, which may or may not work depending on the location. It matters, for example, what the dollars are being spent on. Some places would love to see the EPA, for example, pull up stakes and leave, so they could handle problems, or not handle them, in their own probably cheaper and less corrupt way. And cancelling all federal spending in an area is a bluff. Again, no sane president is going to cancel social security benefits or medicare or anything of the sort to any place. They’ll simply cancel grants for construction or development and all the other things that matter to local liberals and technocrats that want ‘economic development’, but the local residents may or may not in fact give a shit. A county declining in population doesn’t really need ‘new jobs’. They probably want fewer jobs because they like living in a rural area and don’t want or need an influx of people who are probably immigrants. Who does want new jobs, the very wealthy who profit off the pork barrel construction and development projects most likely to be cancelled, such as the cattle rancher accused of being a RINO (not a rhino) in the article. This is the only future the globalists and technocrats of the world have to look forward to, one in which they have to spend increasing amounts of money and energy to drag everyone along into their deluded vision of the future based on a flawed understanding of human nature. If they ever truly do set off a local uprising somewhere, they’ll find out pretty much nobody is going to side with Washington over their neighbors. They’ll be occupiers just like they were in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ultimately suffer the same fate. One hopes they’ll realize this is a worst case scenario for all concerned and make whatever changes and compromises are necessary to avoid it. One hopes for many things.
Steve Jolly
10 months ago
What little hope there is for peaceful populist reform relies on states and localities simply ignoring and opposing the federal government, which has no enforcement mechanism with enough manpower to do the actual work of enforcing the laws. If a state wants to ignore federal immigration or marijuana laws, there’s very little the government can do in the short term other than send in the military, which no sane leader would do because that would be tantamount to declaring civil war, and I have serious doubts whether the military itself would carry out such orders. Such an order might well divide the military itself, as it did during the first civil war. The biggest stick they have is to withhold federal dollars, which may or may not work depending on the location. It matters, for example, what the dollars are being spent on. Some places would love to see the EPA, for example, pull up stakes and leave, so they could handle problems, or not handle them, in their own probably cheaper and less corrupt way. And cancelling all federal spending in an area is a bluff. Again, no sane president is going to cancel social security benefits or medicare or anything of the sort to any place. They’ll simply cancel grants for construction or development and all the other things that matter to local liberals and technocrats that want ‘economic development’, but the local residents may or may not in fact give a shit. A county declining in population doesn’t really need ‘new jobs’. They probably want fewer jobs because they like living in a rural area and don’t want or need an influx of people who are probably immigrants. Who does want new jobs, the very wealthy who profit off the pork barrel construction and development projects most likely to be cancelled, such as the cattle rancher accused of being a RINO (not a rhino) in the article. This is the only future the globalists and technocrats of the world have to look forward to, one in which they have to spend increasing amounts of money and energy to drag everyone along into their deluded vision of the future based on a flawed understanding of human nature. If they ever truly do set off a local uprising somewhere, they’ll find out pretty much nobody is going to side with Washington over their neighbors. They’ll be occupiers just like they were in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ultimately suffer the same fate. One hopes they’ll realize this is a worst case scenario for all concerned and make whatever changes and compromises are necessary to avoid it. One hopes for many things.
rick stubbs
10 months ago
Not a bad take. British status may actually have helped. The NYT would have been shut out. Author Seems to have found the fault lines among the various factions in this arena. I totally agree that these movements are much more like the Jeffersonian yeoman in historical terms than the KKK. The white supremacy label is the favorite characterization of the urban press and, having attached that label, they no longer need to describe the adherents. Except perhaps as low IQ vaccine deniers who enjoy pillaging the environment when not shooting or beating each other with agriculture implements.
The conflict has shifted from tight money, market monopolies and rail transport fees in 19th cent to the enormous regulatory powers of federal and state central governments which impose burdens on small businesses, agricultural production and local schools. Worth noting that Hispanics Americans are over represented in small family businesses particularly in California. Populism happens when the projects of the political elite fail too many people for too long.
rick stubbs
10 months ago
Not a bad take. British status may actually have helped. The NYT would have been shut out. Author Seems to have found the fault lines among the various factions in this arena. I totally agree that these movements are much more like the Jeffersonian yeoman in historical terms than the KKK. The white supremacy label is the favorite characterization of the urban press and, having attached that label, they no longer need to describe the adherents. Except perhaps as low IQ vaccine deniers who enjoy pillaging the environment when not shooting or beating each other with agriculture implements.
The conflict has shifted from tight money, market monopolies and rail transport fees in 19th cent to the enormous regulatory powers of federal and state central governments which impose burdens on small businesses, agricultural production and local schools. Worth noting that Hispanics Americans are over represented in small family businesses particularly in California. Populism happens when the projects of the political elite fail too many people for too long.
Darwin K Godwin
10 months ago
When we see the American spirit up close and personal, it can be a bit intimidating. Don’t believe it is confined.
Darwin K Godwin
10 months ago
When we see the American spirit up close and personal, it can be a bit intimidating. Don’t believe it is confined.
‘“Some 85% of our funding comes from state and federal dollars,” Rickert says. “We’re a taker, not a giver. We couldn’t survive.”’
It’s hard to believe that if people make democratic decisions about how they want to be governed, the state would punish them by withdrawing funding.
Are you suggesting that, should they manage to secede, then the State of California would have a moral responsibility to fund the SoJ?
If not that, then I’m not sure what your point is.
I’m sure he isn’t suggesting that. I think what he’s actually suggesting is that if there is a point of contention between the local, state, and federal government, that the higher authorities would actually sit down and talk to these people and come to some sort of compromise to heal political divisions that allows everyone to move forward with greater trust in each other and a sense of ownership of the situation rather than simply use the stick of cancelling funding to beat people into abject submission. Treating people in this fashion has consequences that aren’t immediately apparent. Rightly or wrongly, the people of northern California believe that the state government has consistently ignored their economic needs and values for the sake of the people of southern California. It should not have surprised anybody that they would ignore the state government to the greatest extent possible during a crisis like COVID. The simple logic is you ignore us, we ignore you. It’s not an easy problem to fix. More bullying tactics are not going to fix it.
I’m sure he isn’t suggesting that. I think what he’s actually suggesting is that if there is a point of contention between the local, state, and federal government, that the higher authorities would actually sit down and talk to these people and come to some sort of compromise to heal political divisions that allows everyone to move forward with greater trust in each other and a sense of ownership of the situation rather than simply use the stick of cancelling funding to beat people into abject submission. Treating people in this fashion has consequences that aren’t immediately apparent. Rightly or wrongly, the people of northern California believe that the state government has consistently ignored their economic needs and values for the sake of the people of southern California. It should not have surprised anybody that they would ignore the state government to the greatest extent possible during a crisis like COVID. The simple logic is you ignore us, we ignore you. It’s not an easy problem to fix. More bullying tactics are not going to fix it.
Are you suggesting that, should they manage to secede, then the State of California would have a moral responsibility to fund the SoJ?
If not that, then I’m not sure what your point is.
Steven Carr
10 months ago
‘“Some 85% of our funding comes from state and federal dollars,” Rickert says. “We’re a taker, not a giver. We couldn’t survive.”’
It’s hard to believe that if people make democratic decisions about how they want to be governed, the state would punish them by withdrawing funding.
An interesting article about a very real problem that seems to have no solution: the disenfranchisement of much of rural America.
The author seems much stronger on political theory than on the details of California politics or even California geography. His description of Shasta County politics harking back to “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” is interesting, although I suspect his description of the Shasta residents as having “barricaded the salon” was meant to be “barricaded the saloon” (unless the author is unintentionally revealing his urban roots).
The author might also consider doing his research more thoroughly if he hopes to be taken seriously. For example, the article opens with this assertion:
“Shasta County has always attracted American outliers, a laboratory for both success and failure. These are the valleys and mountains where John Steinbeck sent his characters in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, …”
Steinbeck’s stories, and certainly Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, were almost all set in the Salinas Valley which is about 250 miles south of Shasta County.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting article about how disenfranchised Americans try to reassert political power in a nation dominated by postmodern elites. It’s easy to ridicule such Americans but, short of rebellion and secession, how are they to once again find a political voice and assert their desire to live in communities that reflect their values?
I really stumbled on the Steinbeck part thinking this person has no idea where he is or anything about the difference between the Salinas Valley where a lot of US produce is grown and the more mountainous area of Shasta. I felt like the author saw the trunk of the proverbial elephant and failed to realize that there was a lot more to it.
I’m 45-year California resident, and yes to your comment and J Bryant’s above. Even so, I thought it was an interesting portrait of one part of a large, very populous state that people some people don’t associate with anything beyond Hollywood, Silicon Valley, or San Francisco.
Yes, I stumbled over Steinbeck as well. Even as a British national who has only visited California as a ‘legal alien’, it seemed a very strange thought.
But at least it has motivated me to go back and re-read some of his books to see if I can find even a trace of Jefferson in there.
I’m 45-year California resident, and yes to your comment and J Bryant’s above. Even so, I thought it was an interesting portrait of one part of a large, very populous state that people some people don’t associate with anything beyond Hollywood, Silicon Valley, or San Francisco.
Yes, I stumbled over Steinbeck as well. Even as a British national who has only visited California as a ‘legal alien’, it seemed a very strange thought.
But at least it has motivated me to go back and re-read some of his books to see if I can find even a trace of Jefferson in there.
Right. I respect a community’s right to take their politics in any voter-supported direction they choose, as long as the basic personal, lawful liberties of residents with divergent views are protected, and (I hope) respected in principle and practice. Compared to some factions, libertarians should have no problem doing a decent job of that. Just hold back from firing the first shots from your stockpiled bunkers, and please don’t try to secede.
Salon! Quite silly, intentional or not.
Salon: they read this; it’s now fixed.
However, there is also an unfortunate ‘succession’ which makes no sense; surely the author meant ‘secession’.
As a non-native English speaker I had to look up whether ‘succession’ has a meaning like ‘secession’ 🙂
As a non-native English speaker I had to look up whether ‘succession’ has a meaning like ‘secession’ 🙂
Salon: they read this; it’s now fixed.
However, there is also an unfortunate ‘succession’ which makes no sense; surely the author meant ‘secession’.
Yes, what we learn most of all from this article is how an outsider views rural America.
I grew up in California. Wasn’t the 1941 barricading by Shasta County separatists an attempt to keep out the detested “Okies” or migrants from the poorest parts of the Dust Bowl Midwest? It took Steinbeck’s sympathetic novels set in the San Joaquin Valley to change the general public’s mind about those migrants.
Thanks for that historical context. I was unaware of the Shasta Co. part. While there may be an exception or two in Steinbeck’s large body of work, most of his fiction is set in the Salinas (not San Joaquin) Valley, and on the Pacific Coast in or near Monterey.
Your comment also points to a time when “white-on-white” ethnic or class-based bigotry was more common–or at least more open in these yoo-nited states. Many well-heeled or heavily-schooled Americans of today view rural folk, especially if they have Southern accents, with contempt or disgust, brandishing the same kind of prejudicial broad brush they attribute to those of a “rural mindset”.
Thanks for that historical context. I was unaware of the Shasta Co. part. While there may be an exception or two in Steinbeck’s large body of work, most of his fiction is set in the Salinas (not San Joaquin) Valley, and on the Pacific Coast in or near Monterey.
Your comment also points to a time when “white-on-white” ethnic or class-based bigotry was more common–or at least more open in these yoo-nited states. Many well-heeled or heavily-schooled Americans of today view rural folk, especially if they have Southern accents, with contempt or disgust, brandishing the same kind of prejudicial broad brush they attribute to those of a “rural mindset”.
From Melbourne Australia this article fills me with envy about the power the US public have. Count your blessings US citizens.
Steinbeck was a Commie
The Redcoats are coming the Redcoats are coming !!
Kill an overpaid cop — Join the Tea Party.
They dont call them PIGS for nothing;
first to the trough.
After the Revolution read your Whiskey Rebellion history,
where GW & Alexander(central bank)Hamilton
slammed a federal excise tax on the poor corn farmers
& backed it up personally with the military force !They are not patriots they are revolutionaries.
As was the case the first time , this time also the Tea Party will lead to the destruction of the nation.
Though both the latter & the present were not against their mother country they naively thought
that they could have a revolution without separation, killing bloodshed, violence, war.
If you do not know history it will repeat itself.
NO THE TEA PARTY DOES NOT LIKE AMERIKA It is a sick bird; AN ILL EAGLE !!!
I really stumbled on the Steinbeck part thinking this person has no idea where he is or anything about the difference between the Salinas Valley where a lot of US produce is grown and the more mountainous area of Shasta. I felt like the author saw the trunk of the proverbial elephant and failed to realize that there was a lot more to it.
Right. I respect a community’s right to take their politics in any voter-supported direction they choose, as long as the basic personal, lawful liberties of residents with divergent views are protected, and (I hope) respected in principle and practice. Compared to some factions, libertarians should have no problem doing a decent job of that. Just hold back from firing the first shots from your stockpiled bunkers, and please don’t try to secede.
Salon! Quite silly, intentional or not.
Yes, what we learn most of all from this article is how an outsider views rural America.
I grew up in California. Wasn’t the 1941 barricading by Shasta County separatists an attempt to keep out the detested “Okies” or migrants from the poorest parts of the Dust Bowl Midwest? It took Steinbeck’s sympathetic novels set in the San Joaquin Valley to change the general public’s mind about those migrants.
From Melbourne Australia this article fills me with envy about the power the US public have. Count your blessings US citizens.
Steinbeck was a Commie
The Redcoats are coming the Redcoats are coming !!
Kill an overpaid cop — Join the Tea Party.
They dont call them PIGS for nothing;
first to the trough.
After the Revolution read your Whiskey Rebellion history,
where GW & Alexander(central bank)Hamilton
slammed a federal excise tax on the poor corn farmers
& backed it up personally with the military force !They are not patriots they are revolutionaries.
As was the case the first time , this time also the Tea Party will lead to the destruction of the nation.
Though both the latter & the present were not against their mother country they naively thought
that they could have a revolution without separation, killing bloodshed, violence, war.
If you do not know history it will repeat itself.
NO THE TEA PARTY DOES NOT LIKE AMERIKA It is a sick bird; AN ILL EAGLE !!!
An interesting article about a very real problem that seems to have no solution: the disenfranchisement of much of rural America.
The author seems much stronger on political theory than on the details of California politics or even California geography. His description of Shasta County politics harking back to “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” is interesting, although I suspect his description of the Shasta residents as having “barricaded the salon” was meant to be “barricaded the saloon” (unless the author is unintentionally revealing his urban roots).
The author might also consider doing his research more thoroughly if he hopes to be taken seriously. For example, the article opens with this assertion:
“Shasta County has always attracted American outliers, a laboratory for both success and failure. These are the valleys and mountains where John Steinbeck sent his characters in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, …”
Steinbeck’s stories, and certainly Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, were almost all set in the Salinas Valley which is about 250 miles south of Shasta County.
Nonetheless, this is an interesting article about how disenfranchised Americans try to reassert political power in a nation dominated by postmodern elites. It’s easy to ridicule such Americans but, short of rebellion and secession, how are they to once again find a political voice and assert their desire to live in communities that reflect their values?
“Speakers from the floor discuss the pros and cons of Dominion voting machines”
Anyone who thinks there are pros to voting machines needs to come to the UK. Old fashioned paper & pencil with results available within hours of polls closing, despite manual counts.
This is true. I was visiting Wales during an election and went with my Brit friend to vote. Paper ballots in a neighbor’s barn. She served us tea too and yes, results were available the same day.
Canada as well – all paper. I don’t understand why anyone would use voting machines.
Perhaps because our levels and state and county autonomy allow for a thousand different standards or election rigor, fairness, and poll-worker competence, some of which seem to make things take way too long in our instant-click, microwave world. Also, remember the “hanging chads”?
(*Has anyone else found that sometimes their comment(s) can’t be edited?)
The machines only tabulate the marks on a paper ballot. While that seems simple enough, mis-calibration or reading errors can happen. The tabulated counts then go into a database that can be manipulated. In principle, machines can be more accurate than humans except they also can be misused.
Perhaps because our levels and state and county autonomy allow for a thousand different standards or election rigor, fairness, and poll-worker competence, some of which seem to make things take way too long in our instant-click, microwave world. Also, remember the “hanging chads”?
(*Has anyone else found that sometimes their comment(s) can’t be edited?)
The machines only tabulate the marks on a paper ballot. While that seems simple enough, mis-calibration or reading errors can happen. The tabulated counts then go into a database that can be manipulated. In principle, machines can be more accurate than humans except they also can be misused.
This is true. I was visiting Wales during an election and went with my Brit friend to vote. Paper ballots in a neighbor’s barn. She served us tea too and yes, results were available the same day.
Canada as well – all paper. I don’t understand why anyone would use voting machines.
“Speakers from the floor discuss the pros and cons of Dominion voting machines”
Anyone who thinks there are pros to voting machines needs to come to the UK. Old fashioned paper & pencil with results available within hours of polls closing, despite manual counts.
“vaccine mandates were viewed as a further infringement on their personal liberties”
viewed as ?!
“vaccine mandates were viewed as a further infringement on their personal liberties”
viewed as ?!
The rural folks in California have legitimate gripes but the solution is not so easy. I live in Northern California and a few times a year drive up into Shasta and Trinity Counties. I’ve read local accounts that correspond with what the author reports here. But Shasta county accounts for less that one half of one percent of the entire population of California. The five counties discussed here might be around two percent of the State’s population. How much should they drive the State’s priorities? They could break away and form their “State of Jefferson”, but as the author states, 85% of their funding comes from State and Federal funds. They are takers not givers. Shasta County’s population density is 10 people per square mile. If those 10 people (which includes non wage earners) had to pay the entire bill for their roads, schools, and other services, they would scream even louder than now. Also, the problem would just be transferred. In the new State, the rural folks would be wailing that Redding, or what ever other capital gets designated, are not prioritizing their concerns. This is not to say that they don’t have real issues that need to be addressed by Sacramento. I just don’t think these militias and separatist movements are solutions.
Exactly. A very, very small minority that would not survive without the funding from the rest of the state.
The 85% is funding for what exactly? I suspect a whole lot of compulsory government programmes the SoJ don’t want.
Your comment made me curious and sent me looking. I found the County of Shasta Budget document for FY 2022/2023. It was 650 pages of details on the expenditures. I didn’t read it but did scan it. The funding goes for government services such as public safety (police, sheriffs, jails, courts judges, juvenile services, etc.), public works (roads infrastructure, water, etc), health services, general government administration, and on and on. When I looked over the document it appeared to cover the services that a reasonably advanced democratic government would supply to its members. Can you find programs that certain segments don’t value? Of course, but they are not a major driver for the budget.
You left out schools. Generally, conservatives are fine with small town public schools. Some of them move there for that very reason. But the Libertarians will find a problem with the taxes and the more religious they are the more they’ll have a problem with the cultural stuff and more likely choose to home school, which makes them even madder about the taxes.
Property taxes tend to be the thing that pays for schools. Those taxes are calculated by the county based on the value of houses and property. The county assesses that value. Those values keep going up. Housing prices inflate. People become cynical and resentful about the whole system because of this.
You left out schools. Generally, conservatives are fine with small town public schools. Some of them move there for that very reason. But the Libertarians will find a problem with the taxes and the more religious they are the more they’ll have a problem with the cultural stuff and more likely choose to home school, which makes them even madder about the taxes.
Property taxes tend to be the thing that pays for schools. Those taxes are calculated by the county based on the value of houses and property. The county assesses that value. Those values keep going up. Housing prices inflate. People become cynical and resentful about the whole system because of this.
Your comment made me curious and sent me looking. I found the County of Shasta Budget document for FY 2022/2023. It was 650 pages of details on the expenditures. I didn’t read it but did scan it. The funding goes for government services such as public safety (police, sheriffs, jails, courts judges, juvenile services, etc.), public works (roads infrastructure, water, etc), health services, general government administration, and on and on. When I looked over the document it appeared to cover the services that a reasonably advanced democratic government would supply to its members. Can you find programs that certain segments don’t value? Of course, but they are not a major driver for the budget.
Exactly. A very, very small minority that would not survive without the funding from the rest of the state.
The 85% is funding for what exactly? I suspect a whole lot of compulsory government programmes the SoJ don’t want.
The rural folks in California have legitimate gripes but the solution is not so easy. I live in Northern California and a few times a year drive up into Shasta and Trinity Counties. I’ve read local accounts that correspond with what the author reports here. But Shasta county accounts for less that one half of one percent of the entire population of California. The five counties discussed here might be around two percent of the State’s population. How much should they drive the State’s priorities? They could break away and form their “State of Jefferson”, but as the author states, 85% of their funding comes from State and Federal funds. They are takers not givers. Shasta County’s population density is 10 people per square mile. If those 10 people (which includes non wage earners) had to pay the entire bill for their roads, schools, and other services, they would scream even louder than now. Also, the problem would just be transferred. In the new State, the rural folks would be wailing that Redding, or what ever other capital gets designated, are not prioritizing their concerns. This is not to say that they don’t have real issues that need to be addressed by Sacramento. I just don’t think these militias and separatist movements are solutions.
Poor old militias – they never learn NOT to talk to journalists like the creep that wrote this article. As for journos and others trying to stir up civil war in USA: remember its only in your gated rainbow flagged communities that true segregation survives. Poverty, homelessness and addiction are great levelllers. Big corps and even much of the third sector have realised hiring on merit NOT ethnicity raises performance. When we celebrate our annual 4th July shindig (on the 3rd this year) you will see a wide range of class, colour and age worshipping various gods or none at all. What you will not see are hacks from “left foot forward” or any other outfit dedicated to a closed society drowning in its own hate.
Poor old militias – they never learn NOT to talk to journalists like the creep that wrote this article. As for journos and others trying to stir up civil war in USA: remember its only in your gated rainbow flagged communities that true segregation survives. Poverty, homelessness and addiction are great levelllers. Big corps and even much of the third sector have realised hiring on merit NOT ethnicity raises performance. When we celebrate our annual 4th July shindig (on the 3rd this year) you will see a wide range of class, colour and age worshipping various gods or none at all. What you will not see are hacks from “left foot forward” or any other outfit dedicated to a closed society drowning in its own hate.
As long as we’re complaining about the spelling issues, “secession”, not “succession”, and “RINO”, not “rhino”. Both are unnecessary distractions from this interesting piece.
As long as we’re complaining about the spelling issues, “secession”, not “succession”, and “RINO”, not “rhino”. Both are unnecessary distractions from this interesting piece.
Ingenious essay. “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” hits the nail squarely on the head. Most of the media here in the States can’t bring themselves to treat these people seriously. But they actually have a valid perspective on the most fundamental question: What is the United States?
It’s undeniable that our form of self government has changed radically since the Founding. Thankfully, the form we put up with now (captured by the two party/uni-party system) is not necessarily the last word on the matter. We should all want to understand what other citizens are thinking. Somewhere in all of that is our likely future.
So my thanks to Mr. Mcilhagga. He should shop this one around for the sake of a wider circulation. This is real journalism; when I got to the end I knew something about the people of Shasta County and almost nothing about Mr. McIlhagga’s opinions. Let’s hear more from him.
But UnHerd really needs to do something about copy editing! A live, fresh, human would be best, but a robot would be better than nothing.
Ingenious essay. “Jeffersonian yeoman democracy” hits the nail squarely on the head. Most of the media here in the States can’t bring themselves to treat these people seriously. But they actually have a valid perspective on the most fundamental question: What is the United States?
It’s undeniable that our form of self government has changed radically since the Founding. Thankfully, the form we put up with now (captured by the two party/uni-party system) is not necessarily the last word on the matter. We should all want to understand what other citizens are thinking. Somewhere in all of that is our likely future.
So my thanks to Mr. Mcilhagga. He should shop this one around for the sake of a wider circulation. This is real journalism; when I got to the end I knew something about the people of Shasta County and almost nothing about Mr. McIlhagga’s opinions. Let’s hear more from him.
But UnHerd really needs to do something about copy editing! A live, fresh, human would be best, but a robot would be better than nothing.
Of Mice and Men — a large section is set in the town of Weed, where the main characters are chased out after a misunderstanding.
Weed, albeit in Siskiyou County — is still very much part of the Jefferson project’s larger zone that finds its current political heart in Shasta and Redding.
Yes, Grapes of Wrath is mostly set in Salinas — I was referring here to the broader rural primary extractive resource areas in contrast to urban California — and the difference these material priorities provoke. That Steinbeck sends his characters to flawed but promising ‘Edenic’ areas ‘like’ Shasta.
But, yes. This distinction could have been a bit clearer!
Since you’re here, Republicans In Name Only are RINOs, not “rhinos”.
Since you’re here, Republicans In Name Only are RINOs, not “rhinos”.
Of Mice and Men — a large section is set in the town of Weed, where the main characters are chased out after a misunderstanding.
Weed, albeit in Siskiyou County — is still very much part of the Jefferson project’s larger zone that finds its current political heart in Shasta and Redding.
Yes, Grapes of Wrath is mostly set in Salinas — I was referring here to the broader rural primary extractive resource areas in contrast to urban California — and the difference these material priorities provoke. That Steinbeck sends his characters to flawed but promising ‘Edenic’ areas ‘like’ Shasta.
But, yes. This distinction could have been a bit clearer!
Of course there is a massive and influential Pentecoastal Church in the area.
Of course there is.
One wonders about a missed elephant in the room.
It is now widely reported that Shasta County is inundated with illegal marijuana grow facilities. If reports are to be believed (there are pictures, mind you), they number quite literally in the thousands, all in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Three groups are responsible for them, the Mungs, the Russians, and the Mexican cartels. They use slave labor, steal water, dispose of chemicals in open pits, hire their own private armies, register thousands of non-existing persons to vote, vastly out gun local law enforcement, and murder at will.
None of this would be possible were there not a vacuum of political authority. Sacramento appears not to care. And as they look north, they may very well see their own future.
One wonders about a missed elephant in the room.
It is now widely reported that Shasta County is inundated with illegal marijuana grow facilities. If reports are to be believed (there are pictures, mind you), they number quite literally in the thousands, all in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Three groups are responsible for them, the Mungs, the Russians, and the Mexican cartels. They use slave labor, steal water, dispose of chemicals in open pits, hire their own private armies, register thousands of non-existing persons to vote, vastly out gun local law enforcement, and murder at will.
None of this would be possible were there not a vacuum of political authority. Sacramento appears not to care. And as they look north, they may very well see their own future.
Of course there is a massive and influential Pentecoastal Church in the area.
Of course there is.
“As Thomas Paine said in his funny little pamphlet, oddly enough called Common Sense,”
Why ‘oddly enough’?
“As Thomas Paine said in his funny little pamphlet, oddly enough called Common Sense,”
Why ‘oddly enough’?
What little hope there is for peaceful populist reform relies on states and localities simply ignoring and opposing the federal government, which has no enforcement mechanism with enough manpower to do the actual work of enforcing the laws. If a state wants to ignore federal immigration or marijuana laws, there’s very little the government can do in the short term other than send in the military, which no sane leader would do because that would be tantamount to declaring civil war, and I have serious doubts whether the military itself would carry out such orders. Such an order might well divide the military itself, as it did during the first civil war. The biggest stick they have is to withhold federal dollars, which may or may not work depending on the location. It matters, for example, what the dollars are being spent on. Some places would love to see the EPA, for example, pull up stakes and leave, so they could handle problems, or not handle them, in their own probably cheaper and less corrupt way. And cancelling all federal spending in an area is a bluff. Again, no sane president is going to cancel social security benefits or medicare or anything of the sort to any place. They’ll simply cancel grants for construction or development and all the other things that matter to local liberals and technocrats that want ‘economic development’, but the local residents may or may not in fact give a shit. A county declining in population doesn’t really need ‘new jobs’. They probably want fewer jobs because they like living in a rural area and don’t want or need an influx of people who are probably immigrants. Who does want new jobs, the very wealthy who profit off the pork barrel construction and development projects most likely to be cancelled, such as the cattle rancher accused of being a RINO (not a rhino) in the article. This is the only future the globalists and technocrats of the world have to look forward to, one in which they have to spend increasing amounts of money and energy to drag everyone along into their deluded vision of the future based on a flawed understanding of human nature. If they ever truly do set off a local uprising somewhere, they’ll find out pretty much nobody is going to side with Washington over their neighbors. They’ll be occupiers just like they were in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ultimately suffer the same fate. One hopes they’ll realize this is a worst case scenario for all concerned and make whatever changes and compromises are necessary to avoid it. One hopes for many things.
What little hope there is for peaceful populist reform relies on states and localities simply ignoring and opposing the federal government, which has no enforcement mechanism with enough manpower to do the actual work of enforcing the laws. If a state wants to ignore federal immigration or marijuana laws, there’s very little the government can do in the short term other than send in the military, which no sane leader would do because that would be tantamount to declaring civil war, and I have serious doubts whether the military itself would carry out such orders. Such an order might well divide the military itself, as it did during the first civil war. The biggest stick they have is to withhold federal dollars, which may or may not work depending on the location. It matters, for example, what the dollars are being spent on. Some places would love to see the EPA, for example, pull up stakes and leave, so they could handle problems, or not handle them, in their own probably cheaper and less corrupt way. And cancelling all federal spending in an area is a bluff. Again, no sane president is going to cancel social security benefits or medicare or anything of the sort to any place. They’ll simply cancel grants for construction or development and all the other things that matter to local liberals and technocrats that want ‘economic development’, but the local residents may or may not in fact give a shit. A county declining in population doesn’t really need ‘new jobs’. They probably want fewer jobs because they like living in a rural area and don’t want or need an influx of people who are probably immigrants. Who does want new jobs, the very wealthy who profit off the pork barrel construction and development projects most likely to be cancelled, such as the cattle rancher accused of being a RINO (not a rhino) in the article. This is the only future the globalists and technocrats of the world have to look forward to, one in which they have to spend increasing amounts of money and energy to drag everyone along into their deluded vision of the future based on a flawed understanding of human nature. If they ever truly do set off a local uprising somewhere, they’ll find out pretty much nobody is going to side with Washington over their neighbors. They’ll be occupiers just like they were in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ultimately suffer the same fate. One hopes they’ll realize this is a worst case scenario for all concerned and make whatever changes and compromises are necessary to avoid it. One hopes for many things.
Not a bad take. British status may actually have helped. The NYT would have been shut out. Author Seems to have found the fault lines among the various factions in this arena. I totally agree that these movements are much more like the Jeffersonian yeoman in historical terms than the KKK. The white supremacy label is the favorite characterization of the urban press and, having attached that label, they no longer need to describe the adherents. Except perhaps as low IQ vaccine deniers who enjoy pillaging the environment when not shooting or beating each other with agriculture implements.
The conflict has shifted from tight money, market monopolies and rail transport fees in 19th cent to the enormous regulatory powers of federal and state central governments which impose burdens on small businesses, agricultural production and local schools. Worth noting that Hispanics Americans are over represented in small family businesses particularly in California. Populism happens when the projects of the political elite fail too many people for too long.
Not a bad take. British status may actually have helped. The NYT would have been shut out. Author Seems to have found the fault lines among the various factions in this arena. I totally agree that these movements are much more like the Jeffersonian yeoman in historical terms than the KKK. The white supremacy label is the favorite characterization of the urban press and, having attached that label, they no longer need to describe the adherents. Except perhaps as low IQ vaccine deniers who enjoy pillaging the environment when not shooting or beating each other with agriculture implements.
The conflict has shifted from tight money, market monopolies and rail transport fees in 19th cent to the enormous regulatory powers of federal and state central governments which impose burdens on small businesses, agricultural production and local schools. Worth noting that Hispanics Americans are over represented in small family businesses particularly in California. Populism happens when the projects of the political elite fail too many people for too long.
When we see the American spirit up close and personal, it can be a bit intimidating. Don’t believe it is confined.
When we see the American spirit up close and personal, it can be a bit intimidating. Don’t believe it is confined.
I must admit I am envious.
How good it must be for everyday citizens to be able to mount a meaningful challenge to government failings. In Australia the public is fair game in an endless open season, while our taxes are paying the hunters. We are not even allowed to carry pepper-spray for self-protection.
Trying to report crimes punishable by 10 years in jail/worse as a public servant witness in Melbourne Australia turned me into an instant and concurrent adversary to Victoria Police and to Australia’s bikie gangs in 2009. Last house break-in on 13 April 2023, last unmissable cyber-crime less than 2 hours ago. There is no point in trying to report any crimes.
Being reduced to surviving crime-to-crime I had to learn
the cynical acceptance of fudged crime-statistics by our authorities, Victoria Police officers openly participating in crimes they block from being reported, andthat in Australia it is crime witnesses and victims who have to fear law-enforcement as well as public opinion: thugs committing heinous crimes grow old without any trouble.And,
thanks to fake crime statistics Melbourne Australia was voted recently the world’s 3rd most liveable city, while people are forced to organise their own security patrols in suburbs of million-dollar homes. I have owned my own home in one of these suburbs since 2001.
‘“Some 85% of our funding comes from state and federal dollars,” Rickert says. “We’re a taker, not a giver. We couldn’t survive.”’
It’s hard to believe that if people make democratic decisions about how they want to be governed, the state would punish them by withdrawing funding.
Are you suggesting that, should they manage to secede, then the State of California would have a moral responsibility to fund the SoJ?
If not that, then I’m not sure what your point is.
Yes, funny is it not? We declare independence but please keep funding us.
I’m sure he isn’t suggesting that. I think what he’s actually suggesting is that if there is a point of contention between the local, state, and federal government, that the higher authorities would actually sit down and talk to these people and come to some sort of compromise to heal political divisions that allows everyone to move forward with greater trust in each other and a sense of ownership of the situation rather than simply use the stick of cancelling funding to beat people into abject submission. Treating people in this fashion has consequences that aren’t immediately apparent. Rightly or wrongly, the people of northern California believe that the state government has consistently ignored their economic needs and values for the sake of the people of southern California. It should not have surprised anybody that they would ignore the state government to the greatest extent possible during a crisis like COVID. The simple logic is you ignore us, we ignore you. It’s not an easy problem to fix. More bullying tactics are not going to fix it.
Yes, funny is it not? We declare independence but please keep funding us.
I’m sure he isn’t suggesting that. I think what he’s actually suggesting is that if there is a point of contention between the local, state, and federal government, that the higher authorities would actually sit down and talk to these people and come to some sort of compromise to heal political divisions that allows everyone to move forward with greater trust in each other and a sense of ownership of the situation rather than simply use the stick of cancelling funding to beat people into abject submission. Treating people in this fashion has consequences that aren’t immediately apparent. Rightly or wrongly, the people of northern California believe that the state government has consistently ignored their economic needs and values for the sake of the people of southern California. It should not have surprised anybody that they would ignore the state government to the greatest extent possible during a crisis like COVID. The simple logic is you ignore us, we ignore you. It’s not an easy problem to fix. More bullying tactics are not going to fix it.
Are you suggesting that, should they manage to secede, then the State of California would have a moral responsibility to fund the SoJ?
If not that, then I’m not sure what your point is.
‘“Some 85% of our funding comes from state and federal dollars,” Rickert says. “We’re a taker, not a giver. We couldn’t survive.”’
It’s hard to believe that if people make democratic decisions about how they want to be governed, the state would punish them by withdrawing funding.