Is it a Southern thing to brag about your political connections?

[The Backlash Cometh]

I've noticed this about people who are truly Southern. I mean, the actual autocratic males. They really think that their positions and their connections are something to wear on their shoulders like Officer stripes. I noticed this when I went to my son's orientation at a Southern college, one of the in-state dads in our small group introduced himself, "My name is blah-blah, and my daughter's here because we had connections in the college." He wasn't saying it to be funny or apologetic, even. He was saying it as if he had clout and should be reckon with because of it.

Then on another occasion, a property owner who is building nearby leaves a message on my recorder, "Hi, I'm blah-blah, I'm the president of Student Indoctrination at Local U. University and I'm moving in next door." It was all in the tone, very much as if his next comment would have been, "So prepare to kiss my ass," and I'm thinking to myself, boy, did he call the wrong house.

Maybe it's because I was the daughter of a civil servant, but merit means something to me. Merit, and then, humility. Those were two qualities that were drilled into us as we grew up. Don't Americans believe in those things anymore?

[hobbit709]

1. This kind of yatter

is used by people who have nothing else to point to. If you define yourself based on who you know instead of who you are, thn you really don't have anythingof your own inside.
edit to add. Its' not just southern males but that autocratic attitude.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Sometimes I wonder if it's a left over from the Confederate days

when it seemed important to separate yourself from the "white trash." Maybe it's just a way of communicating to compensate when their family's aristocratic positions were lost during the civil war? Probably the root of the good ole boy networks.

[Subdivisions]

23. I think you are spot on with your assessment. eom

[PurpleChez]

2. Not sure...maybe yes and no...

I work for a man who is a county-level souther politician, republican even, and I hear none of this from HIM. I don't think he could be less impressed by his own connections. But it's funny listening to people trying to invoke the fact that they know him. When something in the store isn't to their liking they'll puff themselves up and announce "well, I'm just gonna talk to Joe Smith about this," as if I should be really impressed that they know him by name. I mean...he's a local businessman, a politician, active in church and social settings -- EVERYBODY knows him...no big deal.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Your boss...

...is he involved with any business organization, like the chamber of commerce or Rotary Club?

[dbt]

5. Possibly a mutation of a common tendency here.

The way-less-than-autocratic (which is most of us) will identify our connection to the community when making the acquaintence of a stranger. It'll go something like, "Hey, I'm Billy Clyde Worthington, I run the feed store down on Front Street." What you're referring to sounds to me like some hey-look-at-me outgrowth of that.

FYI: You will never hear such bragging from the truly powerful political types in my part of the South. They are very quiet about their connections and they look extremely ordinary.

:hi:
dbt
Remember New Orleans

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Good point about the FYI.

That's true. The really established PFs (prominent families) in my area keep a low profile and look very ordinary. Makes me wonder even more about these braggert types. I don't deny they're very politically connected, but somehow it makes me feel like they're trying to sell their clout too. It feels dirty.

[tenshi816]

6. I'm from the South originally

and I used to hear it said that one of the differences between the South and the rest of the country is that outside of the south, when you meet someone new, you ask what they do for a living.

In the south, you'd ask "who are your people?" My family has been in the same part of NE Georgia since the late 1700s, so when I was a child I always figured it was a way to find out if you were related to somebody or not. It really made sense to me, because there were times I believed I was related one way or another to just about everybody across two counties.

So, maybe some people want to let you know who they are and why they're there right off the bat without you asking. Or, there's quite a strong possibility that they're just assholes (sounds like the guy moving in next door to you was one of those, for sure).

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. The guy next door...

...he's "arrived." I don't deny his clout. It's evident in ways that I don't care to declare. But, the fact that he wants to continue pushing it like he's setting himself up to be a don, is unsettling. I know there's a good ole boy network in town, but to see this new guy come in, marking his territory, is just, well...we shall see how far he takes it.

[tenshi816]

17. Do you live in the South yourself?

The good old boy network used to drive me crazy. I know that kind of thing exists everywhere, but it seems to me to be stronger in the south. The difference is that they smile while they're pushing you around.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Florida is where the sludge settles.

Yep. Strong good ole boy network that is spurred on by Northern transient strategies and money. They take pride in stealing fair and square, so yes, they smile a lot.

[Island Blue]

7. I've lived in the South all of my life and I've never experienced

what you've described. People moving down from other areas and bragging about how much they know and trying to tell folks how things "ought" to be done, yes. What you've described, no.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. We seem to have all three. The perfect storm.

We have Northerners who come down bringing their ways with them on how things should be done. Quick easy money because they know Northerners will retire in Florida and pay high prices for their homes. We have existing "Prominent Families," who like what they hear because it means they'll get lots of money for their land and they can still maintain their low profile in the community because there is an untold number of lackeys who will do the dirty work for them; then we have the Southern braggerts who seem to know how the real system works, and they want to mark their territory before they even get here so that the first two don't totally rip them off, like the rest of us are being ripped off.

[TAPat]

9. Not from my experience...

The worst offenders I ever knew were my partner's folks. They'd drop a politician's name at any opportunity - although for them it was more about veiling the fact they were actually bragging about money.

Everyone knows that you don't have *connections* with pub politicians unless you've bought them!

[Clark2008]

10. No - any more than it's a Northern thing to assume stupid shit

about Southerners.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Do you live in Florida?

You take the worst of the North, with the worst of the South and then you get...Florida.

[Hosnon]

14. I agree with Post #5...it is very rare to ever hear a truly powerful

Southern man admit to his power. The most you'll see are the effects.

[treestar]

15. Not sure if it's Southern

In this small state, you get a lot of it.

I had a friend brag she knew the state Insurance Commissioner and so she was sure her worker's comp claim would be well take care of.

I was tempted to ask her if she was telling me that the I.C. she knew was so corrupt that she treated her personal friends' cases better than those of the rest of the people in the state.

These are the people who think in terms of the rule of men, not of laws - reminds me of medieval history and connections at court. Or who they know is in their minds better than what they know, yet they still think they should be awarded the jobs that they know they can't do but only have because they knew somebody.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. See, this is incomprehensible to me.

My dad was a civil servant. He didn't believe in cronyism and felt you had to earn your promotions on your own. He would NEVER have used his position improperly to give more consideration to a family member or friend. It's as if his job's credibility and his authority relied on remaining objective.

What happened to that? When did we start going down the wrong road in this country?

[mmonk]

18. I think you can find these types all over North America.

It's more related to being business people these days. As I saw the politicalization of even small business people grow in the last few decades, I resisted. Even small business people join political organizations masquerading as business organizations that favor big business over them and I've always thought how stupid (I've been self-employed most of my adult life).

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. Here, the best small-business organizatiosn are

The Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

[Sammy Pepys]

21. I've noticed this too, with one exception....

Many of the Southern women I know are not shy about highlighting their political connections...much more than the guys I know. And there are a lot of Southern women involved in politics today.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Very good observation.

I was bested by the same lady that bested Al Gore.