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The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker QUOTES

The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker QUOTES

1 " In addition, when they talked as if city people lived by different values, they were not emphasizing abortion, or gay marriage, or the things that are typically pointed to as the cultural issues that divide lower-income whites from the Democratic Party. Instead, the values they talked about were intertwined with economic concerns. "

― , The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker

2 " In Door County, the “thumb” of Wisconsin, I heard a similar thing from a woman taking part in a conversation after a church service: Having been raised and grown up here, it has gotten to the point that I think Door County is becoming very elitist. Thank God I have a home. I was lucky enough that my husband and I had worked for it and paid for it before he died. On my wages, I could not have bought a home by myself. The cost of all of the surrounding land has become so expensive because of all the people who don’t live here more than six weeks out of the year, and build three-quarter-million-dollar homes, million-dollar homes, and basically visit, and so they’ve driven the property values so high that those people who have lived in a home their whole lives and were able to afford, can no longer afford because the tax rate has gone up so high. The wage scale is not that great in Door County. People say, “Well, you know, you make a good living.” No. And they somehow get the impression that we go to the gas station and we pay less for our gas, and pay less for our food because we live here. Ah, wrong! We pay the same price [laughter], but we don’t make the wages, and we’re paying for what has been driven up, and it’s—I see it as a real hardship. I’m fortunate, but I look at my children and my grandchildren and I wonder will they be able to live here and own a home? Maybe they’ll be able to rent, but to live here and own a home and take pride in that? That’s scary. Really is scary. "

― , The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker

3 " I draw attention to a kind of politics in which people do not focus their blame on elite decision makers as they try to comprehend an economic recession. Instead, they give their attention to fellow residents who they think are eating their share of the pie. These interpretations are encouraged, perhaps fomented, by political leaders who exploit these divisions for political gain. "

― , The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker

4 " There’s so many things where people can set the process, whether it be gasoline or whatever it is, but farmers are typically—somebody else is setting the price for the farmer. "

― , The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker