Webblog

Lecture 10 discussed the political nature of the plains. The lecture begins with political contradictions on the plains. We discussed how in the plains region we tend to be conservative in nature and elect republicans to state level offices but when it comes to national office we tend to elect Democrats. It was explained that by electing republicans to state offices we avoid being heavily taxed within the state and in return by sending Democrats to Washington we are able to bring tax money back to the state. This creates somewhat of a balancing act that seems to benefit the plains region greatly especially in the form of much needed farm aid and other programs like it. Without these forms of aid that our nationally elected officials get us I feel it is reasonable to believe that we may have seen the end of the family farm years ago instead of just a slow decline in it. The lecture shows another contradiction to our conservative values by pointing out the socialist type institutions on the plains. Organizations like the Grange, the Farmers Alliance, the populist party, the non-partisan league, and institutions in Canada like the cooperative commonwealth federation all go against conservatism but seem to be needed in order to survive in such a tough landscape. These organizations created institutions like the Bank of North Dakota, economic cooperative purchasing in the U.S. that benefit farmers greatly and helps allow their survival on a smaller level and in Canada these type of socialist organizations created state and eventually national health care which benefits all. I believe that these types of socialist institutions evolved on the plains because it seems that we need the governments help and the help of our neighbors, especially with regards to farming, just to survive here. What I wonder is since we do have some socialist tendencies here on the plains might plains states be the first to come up with some sort of state health care like our neighbors to the north before it ever occurs on a national level? The lecture then ends primarily with reactionary elements on the plains like Gordon Call and goes into detail about that whole ordeal and the standoff in Medina. What I found very interesting about this lecture was the socialist institutions that have been created here on the plains over the years, I never really realized they were in place before but it all makes sense now that they would exist. Although our values are conservative at heart and without the mentioned socialist institutions and movements here we probably would not be able to survive and the make up of the plains would probably look much differently without them.