Apparently, judging by the title of her magnum opus and the topics dropped in her bio at Connecticut College's website, Dr. Stock specializes in looking down her nose at rural folk.
I think this is a sign --- one in a growing list of same --- that shows the Left is running out of bricks they can throw at Sarah. Once the Vice-Presidential debate is over, we can get on with the real campaign.
Fight this shameful display of bad Leftist behavior wherever and however you can!
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Despite her efforts to portray herself as an average, small-town,
"folksy" American, Sarah Palin's political views - ardently pro-gun,
pro-censorship, antichoice and antigay - make John McCain's
conservative credentials pale in comparison. What few observers have
said, however, is these beliefs are not just extreme - they are
radical, and even bear a comparison with some of the most notorious
"rural radicals" of our time.
It has been years since groups such as the Montana Militia, the
Posse Comitatus and the Sagebrush Rebels, and individuals such as Terry
Nichols and Ted Kaczynski have made us wonder why so many "angry white
men" populated our rural regions. Many of us have forgotten the threat
once posed by domestic terrorists and instead have turned our attention
to foreign terrorists. But we should never forget that in the late 20th
century, ultra-Christian, antistatist and white-supremacist groups
flourished in the states of the Pacific Northwest - called by many the
"Great White Northwest" - the very region that Sarah Palin and her
family call home.
Demographics most basically define this geographic region. In the
six states that make up the Pacific Northwest - Washington, Oregon,
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska - only six counties are more than 5
percent African American. Not by coincidence, each of these counties is
also near an important military installation with many African American
men and women. Even so, barely more than 3,000 blacks lived in all of
Idaho in 2000.
Although home to tens of thousands of native peoples, Alaska is not
much different in terms of diversity from the other states of the
region. African Americans live in areas near important military
installations in Anchorage and Fairbanks and almost nowhere else.
Wasilla, where Sarah Palin was mayor, makes the census' list of the top
10 Alaskan communities with the largest number of African Americans
because they make up a full 1 percent of the population. Rough
calculations suggest that 65 blacks lived in the town.
But the region also must be defined by its history of intolerance,
resentment, antistatism and violence. Appearing in the region in the
1980s and 1990s were some of the most notorious "hate radicals" of our
time: militia groups, survivalists, Identity Christians, secessionists,
white supremacists and others.
Some simply hated the federal government, like Randy Weaver of Ruby
Ridge, Idaho, a survivalist whose wife and child died when their
compound was fired upon by FBI agents attempting to arrest him on gun
charges. "Whether we live or whether we die," Weaver said, "we will not
obey this lawless government."
Other groups, like the Aryan Nation, with headquarters in Hayden
Lake, Idaho, actively planned to rid the United States of African
Americans, Jews, and other "non-Aryan" peoples. A few carried out their
plans, murdering Jewish radio host Alan Berg in Denver, the Goldmark
family in Seattle, an African American state trooper in Arkansas, Fish
and Wildlife officials and FBI agents in Wyoming, North Dakota and
Montana, and more than 160 federal employees and their children in
Oklahoma City.
There is no evidence that Palin was ever affiliated with
white-supremacist groups during her years in Idaho or at home in
Alaska. On the other hand, the beliefs of ultraconservative,
evangelical churches like her family's come dangerously close to those
of the Christian Identity movement of those years. Likewise, Palin's
husband was a member of a political party whose members favored
secession for Alaska, suggesting an affiliation with radical
antistatism.
Perhaps somewhere on the record, Palin has publicly condemned the
radical politics of her region. But it is hard to know where she stands
on issues of race, equality and diversity. Thus it is high time to
review the cultural ideals and models of the radical rurals from the
Great White Northwest and find out for sure where Gov. Palin stands.
Contact Catherine McNicol Stock
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