Broken Heartland’s thesis is not limited to the existence of rural poverty and its causes, but the politics of hate and ethnic scapegoating. Davidson’s chapter on “The Growth of Hate Groups” begins with a depiction of the meeting of the Iowa Society for Educated Citizens, a far-right anti-Semitic hate group at Colony Village Restaurant off I-80. Davidson describes the German prayer above the doorway to the meeting room, the prayer’s message of acceptance is juxtaposed with the group’s hate. The sign and restaurant present a window for context into ethnic hate and the Midwest, through which he does not look.
The Colony Village Inn has a Williamsburg address, but every local recognizes the little neighborhood of gas stations, hotels, and restaurants …show more content…
As in any other state in this country or country in the world, Iowa and the Midwest have a history of hate. While Davidson describes in fascinating detail a growth of hate groups and ideologies in the 1980s, the lack of discussion of the history of hate in Iowa and Midwest could give a reader the false impression that hate is something new to the region, a product imported from the former Confederate states to meet a market created by the loss of family farms. As is clearly shown in the story of the anti-German sentiment and the Babel Proclamation of 1917 and 1918, the 1980s were not only time some Iowans in a time of great strife and anxiety have turned to hatred of an outsider group, whom they allege is plotting to undermine …show more content…
A discussion of the history of populism in Iowa and the Midwest is relevant to a discussion of the development of far-right hate movements in the last half-century. While the ideology of the James B. Weaver and Lyndon LaRouche bear few similarities both presented their goals as the salvation of the common man, the suffering farmer, from a conspiratorial pact between big business and government on the eastern seaboard, which caused a crisis for rural America. Even LaRouche’s followers switching back and forth between the two major parties has strong Midwestern precedent. As ARTICLE AUTHOR discussed, the populist movement of the late nineteenth century accomplished many of their political objectives in Iowa by working within the two party system. (CITATION) Populism is not fascism, but right-wing populism has often served a thin façade for fascism. Both Hitler and Mussolini rose to power casting themselves as men of the people fighting against a backstabbing conspiracy involving the political elite. A populist movement becomes a hate movement the moment its definition of “the people” begins to exclude those of a certain race, ethnic origin, or religion, or its list of the people’s opponents is made to include
The Colony Village Inn has a Williamsburg address, but every local recognizes the little neighborhood of gas stations, hotels, and restaurants …show more content…
As in any other state in this country or country in the world, Iowa and the Midwest have a history of hate. While Davidson describes in fascinating detail a growth of hate groups and ideologies in the 1980s, the lack of discussion of the history of hate in Iowa and Midwest could give a reader the false impression that hate is something new to the region, a product imported from the former Confederate states to meet a market created by the loss of family farms. As is clearly shown in the story of the anti-German sentiment and the Babel Proclamation of 1917 and 1918, the 1980s were not only time some Iowans in a time of great strife and anxiety have turned to hatred of an outsider group, whom they allege is plotting to undermine …show more content…
A discussion of the history of populism in Iowa and the Midwest is relevant to a discussion of the development of far-right hate movements in the last half-century. While the ideology of the James B. Weaver and Lyndon LaRouche bear few similarities both presented their goals as the salvation of the common man, the suffering farmer, from a conspiratorial pact between big business and government on the eastern seaboard, which caused a crisis for rural America. Even LaRouche’s followers switching back and forth between the two major parties has strong Midwestern precedent. As ARTICLE AUTHOR discussed, the populist movement of the late nineteenth century accomplished many of their political objectives in Iowa by working within the two party system. (CITATION) Populism is not fascism, but right-wing populism has often served a thin façade for fascism. Both Hitler and Mussolini rose to power casting themselves as men of the people fighting against a backstabbing conspiracy involving the political elite. A populist movement becomes a hate movement the moment its definition of “the people” begins to exclude those of a certain race, ethnic origin, or religion, or its list of the people’s opponents is made to include