Good on you for recognizing that this man could have a good heart and be a possible ally. The 2016 era has made us jump to conclusions immediately and shun anyone who seems sympathetic to conservatives. I get that and fully understand it, I do the same.
But the problem is that doing so pushes people in the middle towards conservatives. We can say his welfare lyrics are unacceptable without making him into a total pariah. He holds a lot of similar beliefs to us, and I bet you could sway him over a beer. He’s not a stubborn and hateful conservative, he’s a misguided moderate. We only create more enemies by our own hand if we shun everyone.
I’m inclined to think that his comments on diversity here are indicative of him rejecting a conservative idol position.
Exactly this. My hard right coworker showed me this song because i complain regularly about modern conservative country, and how the old-schools of country (Cash, Hank senior, Woody Guthrie, etc) knew the struggle of the working man and would not be modern republicans. He made me listen to it thinking it was a gotcha “what do you think about this guy” and I listend a few times, read the lyrics, and my man has 2 bad lines in the song, based on the lyrics he’d be fighting for stronger social safety nets and equal rights for all after a single night in the bar with a lefty.
I don’t think he even needs the night in a bar, he’s already there. He’s a blue collar guy from West Virginia turned to Country-Folk music and his music…well…it’s the music of the American Proletariat.
He’s not the Conservatives Guy and never was, he just got thrust into the spotlight because DeSantis brought him up during the debates and that resulted in an unfortunate knee jerk reaction from Liberals looking for a reason to tear him down.
We can toss around terms like “problematic” regarding his one line about welfare but denying the authenticity of everything else is foolish, it genuinely resonates with the American Working Class.
Good on you for recognizing that this man could have a good heart and be a possible ally. The 2016 era has made us jump to conclusions immediately and shun anyone who seems sympathetic to conservatives. I get that and fully understand it, I do the same.
But the problem is that doing so pushes people in the middle towards conservatives. We can say his welfare lyrics are unacceptable without making him into a total pariah. He holds a lot of similar beliefs to us, and I bet you could sway him over a beer. He’s not a stubborn and hateful conservative, he’s a misguided moderate. We only create more enemies by our own hand if we shun everyone.
I’m inclined to think that his comments on diversity here are indicative of him rejecting a conservative idol position.
Exactly this. My hard right coworker showed me this song because i complain regularly about modern conservative country, and how the old-schools of country (Cash, Hank senior, Woody Guthrie, etc) knew the struggle of the working man and would not be modern republicans. He made me listen to it thinking it was a gotcha “what do you think about this guy” and I listend a few times, read the lyrics, and my man has 2 bad lines in the song, based on the lyrics he’d be fighting for stronger social safety nets and equal rights for all after a single night in the bar with a lefty.
I don’t think he even needs the night in a bar, he’s already there. He’s a blue collar guy from West Virginia turned to Country-Folk music and his music…well…it’s the music of the American Proletariat.
He’s not the Conservatives Guy and never was, he just got thrust into the spotlight because DeSantis brought him up during the debates and that resulted in an unfortunate knee jerk reaction from Liberals looking for a reason to tear him down.
We can toss around terms like “problematic” regarding his one line about welfare but denying the authenticity of everything else is foolish, it genuinely resonates with the American Working Class.
Edit:
Doubt me?
Watch this.
Or this.
Or this.