Two Americas

"Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional" — Roadside sign along the Lincoln Highway in Nebraska.

Yesterday President Obama spent time in Los Angeles raising money for his 2012 election campaign. He visited a Mexican restaurant to gain favor with Hispanic voters. After tasting some spicy chicken wings he was off to the home of Melanie Griffith to attend a fund raising dinner hosted by her and actor Antonio Banderas along with other Hollywood moguls.

In New York City the Occupying Wall Street gang continues to camp out on private property with the support of New York’s liberal mayor, Michael Bloomberg. The welfare lovers, Marxists academics, and college students have been camping out for almost a month demanding an end to capitalism, free college, forgiveness of student loans, and a grocery list of socialist programs.

In Madison Wisconsin we have seen teachers along with public sector union thugs and college students rioting against minor cuts in pension and health care contributions proposed and enacted by Governor Scott Walker and the state legislators. These protestors caused over one million dollars in damage to the state capitol building while demanding more benefits.

These are just three examples of what had been happening on the east and west coasts and major urban centers where union, academics, welfare recipients, teachers, and college students are demanding more and more from the American taxpayer. These are the protests and rallies that draw the attention of the media, celebrates and talking heads.

There is another America we do not hear much about unless there is a flood, tornado or other natural disaster. This is the America where people go to work every day to support their families, tend to their farms, and run their small business. It is the county of Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot. It is a part of the country we refer to as “Fly-over County.”

I have recently completed a road trip along the historic Lincoln Highway from Pennsylvania to California. My wife and I spent fourteen days driving through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California driving the Lincoln Highway and exploring the small towns along the route. We ate at local cafes. We saw the vast farm lands of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. We saw the cattle county of Wyoming and Utah. We passed through the fall foliage in the mountains of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. We saw the vast agriculture of California’s central valley where the environmentalist in San Francisco have cut off the water supply for the farms and almond orchards to protect a tiny fish they believe is being harmed in San Francisco Bay. We saw farm equipment and truck dealers that were much more prevalent than BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus showrooms. We saw acres and acres of corn and beans in Iowa and Nebraska where farmers work from dusk to dawn seven days a week tending their crops while being good custodians of the land they farm.

These are the people the elites call hayseeds and boobs. They grow our food, raise our meat, mine our minerals, and drill for our oil. They pay billions is taxes and obey the law. They are for the most part conservative and patriotic because they believe in the word “conserve.” They conserve the traditions, values and land of America. They fly American flags on their houses and buildings. They construct memorials to their ancestors, sons and daughters that have sacrificed their lives at Saratoga, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, The Chosen Reservoir, Khe Sanh, Fallujah, and Kandahar. They invest in their farms and businesses. They spend a quarter of a million dollars for harvesting machines and tractors that rival a Mercedes in comfort and technology.

The people in this fly-over county drive pickup trucks and SUVs not Priuses and Chevy Volts. They invest in enormous grain storage silos, irrigation equipment, road maintenance, and their local schools. Their schools and public buildings fly the American Flag, not the Mexican Flag. They preserve their historic buildings, traditions, and culture.

This is the America the media pays little attention. It’s the America many of us grew up in where political correctness was never heard off. It’s the America where owning a gun is considered a right not to be tampered with and Washington, D.C. is not high on their list of concerns, except when the EPA begins to pile on regulations that affect their ability to make a living.

If you remove the influence of the big urban centers like Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Des Moines, and Omaha these states would be listed as red states. Red states in the context of voting Republican and conservative, not in the context of Marxism or socialism.

It would be good to see those freaks and parasites demanding an end to capitalism and government handouts who our protesting in New York, Los Angeles and other big cities to pay a visit to this fly-over country and work a few weeks on a farm of in a small business so they could complete their expensive, elite education by getting their hands soiled producing something rather than rhetoric. Perhaps they would develop a love of country and the values that have endured in Middle America for these many years.