The “cowboy” mythos is a destructive toxin. Heather Cox Richardson explains it well. Although maybe a shorter summary would be “this man is an asshole”.
Jeff Kowalsky’s photograph of the “American Patriot Rally” at the Michigan statehouse on April 30 shows a large, bearded man, leaning forward, mouth open, screaming. Positioned between two police officers who are staring blankly ahead above their masks, he is focused on something they are preventing him from reaching: the legislature. His fury is palpable.
The idea that such a man is an “American Patriot” is the perverted outcome of generations of political rhetoric that has celebrated a cartoon version of “individualism.” That rhetoric has served a purpose: to convince voters that an active government that regulates business, provides a basic social safety net, and promotes infrastructure—things most Americans actually like—is socialism.
Americans embraced an active government in the 1930s and 1940s to combat the Depression and fight World War Two, and by 1945, that government was hugely popular among members of both parties, but not with the businessmen who resented government interference in their industries. To get voters to turn against a system they liked, in the 1950s, leaders eager to destroy business regulation linked their mission to racism.
After the Supreme Court, headed by former Republican Governor of California Earl Warren, unanimously ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional, reactionaries determined to undercut the New Deal government told voters that this is what they had warned about all along: an activist state would redistribute white people’s money to black people through taxes, levied to do things like provide schools, or the troops necessary to protect the black youngsters trying to enroll in them.
That rhetoric resonated with certain white Americans because it echoed that of Reconstruction, when Democrats opposed to black rights insisted that Republican policies to level the playing field between formerly enslaved people and their white former owners were simply a redistribution of wealth. Money for roads and schools and hospitals that would now be accessible to black Americans would have to be paid for by tax levies. Since most property owners in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War were white, this meant a transfer of wealth from hardworking white taxpayers to lazy African Americans. As one reporter put it: socialism had come to South Carolina.
In contrast to the East, with this crushing system, stood the postwar West, where Democrats admired the cowboy. The actual work of a western cowboy in the short period of the heyday of cattle ranging from 1866 to 1886 was dangerous, low-paid, and dirty; the industry depended heavily on government supported-railroads and military support; and a third of the cowboys were men of color. But people eager to criticize the Republicans’ social welfare policies insisted that the cowboy was the true American individualist. Almost always white in this myth, he wanted nothing from government but to work hard as he tamed the land and the “savages” on it, provide for the wife and children he someday hoped to have, and be left alone. The image of the cowboy became such a dominant myth during Reconstruction that it turned Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show into the nation’s first mass entertainment spectacle.
It was no wonder then, that in the 1950s and 1960s, those eager to destroy an active government tapped into the image of the American cowboy as their symbol. Gunsmoke debuted on the new-fangled television in 1955, and by 1959, there were 30 prime time Westerns on TV. These westerns portrayed the mythical cowboy much as he had been after the Civil War: an independent white man fighting the “savages” of the plains to provide for his eventual family. A man who wanted nothing of government but to be left alone.
Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, with his square jaw and white Stetson, tapped into this mythology as the Republican presidential candidate in 1964. He assured white southerners that the adjustment of race relations was an unlawful assumption of power by the federal government. So, too, was business regulation. Goldwater lost the election, but turned five deep South states from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, a pattern Ronald Reagan capitalized on in 1980. Swapping his usual English riding outfit for jeans and a western saddle, Reagan personified the mythological American cowboy. He assured Americans that “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” then began the process of dismantling the New Deal state, slashing taxes and programs to restore to glory the American individualist.
Reagan’s election saw the first gender gap in American voting, as women hesitated to sign on to a program that was working against their ability to provide for their families. Lots of men weren’t so sure they wanted to slash workers’ protections and government regulation of business, either. So those eager to reinforce the image of the American individualist against a socialist government upped their game. In 1984, we got Red Dawn, the bloodiest movie made up to that point, featuring high school boys in the West standing against an invasion of communists after the town government sells everyone out.
In 1992, the idea of a western individualist standing against an intrusive government got a real demonstration when government forces tried to arrest a former factory worker, Randy Weaver, who had failed to show up for a trial on a firearms charge, at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. An 11-day siege killed Weaver’s wife, fourteen-year-old son, and a deputy marshal. Far-right activists and neo-Nazis swarmed to Ruby Ridge to stop what they saw as the overreach of government as it attacked a man protecting his family.
The next year, government officers stormed the compound of a religious cult whose former members reported that their leader, David Koresh, was stockpiling weapons. A 51-day siege ended on April 19, 1993, in a gun battle and a fire that killed 76 people. Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that the government had invaded Waco to “murder” a citizen. The modern militia movement to protect individuals from government tyranny took off.
Now, having sown the wind, we are reaping the whirlwind. Anti-government cowboys are protesting the tyranny of government measures designed to protect citizens from dying. The right of governors and legislatures to protect health is well-established, of course, but that doesn’t matter to men steeped in the rhetoric of the past generation.
This now-famous image of the screaming “American Patriot” is a portrait of the failure of the individualist image. This is a man who punches down, not up, and who wants to have the power to decide whether his neighbors live or die. He is a bully and a coward.
You know who’s brave? The doctors and nurses who get up every morning and go to their jobs. The bus drivers who have continued to work without either hazard pay or sufficient protection, at least 94 of whom we have lost to Covid-19. The janitors and housekeeping staff who combat the virus all day, every day. The meat cutters and fishermen, shippers, drivers and store clerks who are keeping us alive, some only because it is the only way they can feed their children, which makes it all the braver. The Navy sailors trying to contain the virus so they can complete their mission. The teachers who stay upbeat for the students they terribly miss. The parents who are so very tired as they try to work and teach and parent and shop, but who get up every morning and do it again. And, yes, the political leaders trying to legislate to protect us as a handful of screaming anti-government activists terrorize them… and the photographers who record it.
These true American Patriots– not a screaming bully whose “rights” require others to die– are the very good people Abraham Lincoln meant when he called for a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
John Wayne and Ronald Reagan are still regarded as good people and heroic champions of the common man, when they were just superficial, shallow jingoists. I predict that ten years from now there will be a vocal set of ignorant people who will likewise revere Trump. It’s never going to end, no matter how awful and destructive these “cowboys” are.
By the way, that Michigan rally was an astroturf operation funded by right-wing fanatics.
The two groups behind the “operation gridlock” rally in Michigan on Wednesday have ties to the Republican party and the Trump administration.
The Michigan Freedom Fund, which said it was a co-host of the rally, has received more than $500,000 from the DeVos family, regular donors to rightwing groups.
The other host, the Michigan Conservative Coalition, was founded by Matt Maddock, now a Republican member of the state house of representatives. The MCC also operates under the name Michigan Trump Republicans, and in January held an event featuring several members of the Trump campaign.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media—with Fox News’ coverage, which almost perfectly replicates the network’s handling of the tea party movement back in 2009-10—does not seem to have figured this out. The anti-lockdown protests have generally featured very small crowds (with a few notable exceptions, including the Olympia event), and yet coverage of them so far has created the impression that the numbers of protesters are massive.
They aren’t. And counterprotesters are not appearing at these events because they generally are willing participants in the collaborative effort to reduce the spread of the virus. So the picture emerging in the media of the anti-lockdown crowd is one that, once again, portrays them as sincere citizens out defending their liberties rather than the fevered ideologues that they actually are. As Charles Pierce adroitly observes:
These protests are tiny. Five states is not “coast to coast,” even if small groups of bored loons flocked together in Florida and Washington state. Every scrap of polling data indicates that massive majorities support continuing the measures that seem to be working to flatten out the pandemic. To inflate these small gatherings of angry shut-ins as a national movement is profound journalistic malpractice.
Some distant day from now, perhaps, the media that are bending over to enable this insanity will be forced to recognize the cold reality that the public massively supports the COVID-19 lockdown, and the protesters are actually a tiny handful of bellicose nutcases who have no regard for democracy or a civil society. Someday.
That “perhaps” is significant. I’m more pessimistic than Neiwert is.
Over here in good old GB “Cowboy” is a term for incompetence and dishonesty ,as in “Those cowboy builders charged me £3,000 to lay a driveway ,and it is breaking up after only a week ” .
There are consumer rights programmes on TV ,where they lay traps and film the cowboys at ,haha work .
And at the end they confront them with the evidence of their dishonestly ,for overweight men they don’t half run fast .
PS ,a funny thing about the whole cowboy thing is that Asian builders sometimes advertise their services with the slogan
“You Have Tried The Cowboys ,now try The Indians ”
Nothing to do with the topic ,just thought it would amuse .
Here too (Massachusetts and Rhode Island, US), at least (as in your example) when applied to small building-contractors and the like.
‘Swastikas and nooses’: governor slams ‘racism’ of Michigan lockdown protest
The GOP/Trump regime has totally failed every step of the way to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
They aren’t going to stop now.
The next step the GOP/Trump will fail is in reopening the USA.
If it isn’t done right, we will just end up with the pandemic continuing at a slow rate with occasional flareups here and there.
Forever.
The federal government is Missing In Action here.
They are doing nothing but issuing orders with no way to enforce them or carry them out.
It is going to be up to the states to do the reopening.
Some states will do it right and some states will drop the ball big time.
We will see which is which in a few months.
I’m trying to find the difference between those armed protesters and the Black Panthers who are still in jail decades after taking their arms into public places.
I’m sure there must be a difference.
I’ve read that the screaming man in the picture is from Southern California, a white supremacist, and paid to attend the rally.
Found the FB post that says his name is [edit, pzm] and that he lives in Los Angeles. No other attribution so I don’t know if the claim is valid.
“It was no wonder then, that in the 1950s and 1960s, those eager to destroy an active government tapped into the image of the American cowboy as their symbol. Gunsmoke debuted on the new-fangled television in 1955, and by 1959, there were 30 prime time Westerns on TV. These westerns portrayed the mythical cowboy much as he had been after the Civil War: an independent white man fighting the “savages” of the plains to provide for his eventual family.”
So, mass media and pop culture have an influence on politics? Why has no one else ever said this!?
I’d be reluctant to name the guy until there’s better identification, but yeah, I’ve also heard that the screamer is a paid demonstrator from California.
That all seems to forget cowboys like Roy Rogers. And strangely omits any Democrat sources of problems. And more. Great party propaganda for folks who don’t mind serious cherry picking, though!
Strange for a history professor.
Davidc1.
Point well made about cowboys in the U.K, and the Asian tradespeoples wry humourI wonder where that came from originally. I think we’re a lot less impressed by square jawed supermen types than our American friends. Our heroes tend to be much more flawed and darker, like Dr Who, Holmes or Bond. We don’t have that superhero obsession either.
As an aside, why do you do that weird thing with commas and spaces in your punctuation?
“…Roy Rogers…”
The kids’ show cowboy, and conservative Republican who had Trigger stuffed. I’m familiar, watched him when I was young. Hardly indelible. But nice cherry picking on your part.
For indelible, talk about the invasion of Iraq, which was referred to as Indian country, for instance.
“…Democrat sources of problems…”
Sure. We’re aware, but thanks for the what-about-ism anyway.
“Strange for a history professor.”
Hmm…
@9 I’d be reluctant to move into Alex Jones territory. Not to dismiss the possibility entirely, of course, but getting into the “crisis actor” stuff is a bit risky.
Good point, and my apologies, PZ.
Ironically, in the 1880s “cowboys” were considered outlaws, lowlifes, and rowdy troublemakers by town folks.
Susan Montgomery @13: The far right has been paying people to demonstrate for decades. It’s not really a secret, and it’s why people like Jones and Limbaugh are so quick to accuse progressive demonstrations of being paid for by George Soros.
No idea whether that particular white idiot was paid to be there, but ultimately I doubt it matters.
@15 You’re right about that. And, I don’t think it matters. Calling people out on shameful behavior kinda requires those people to have a sense of shame to begin with.
Stephen Robinson has an excellent post dealing with the astounding privilege the protestors enjoy.
https://www.wonkette.com/all-lives-matter-an-awful-lot-when-youre-protesting-while-white
Well, Typhoid Mary has not been declared a martyr … yet …
Really?
daverytier @ # 18: … Typhoid Mary has not been declared a martyr … yet …
Ya think? #TyphoidMary – now a hashtag – was a maligned immigrant who got a bum rap
Here’s a better (non-Facebook) link for Heather Cox Richardson’s article: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-3-2020
She’s been posting mostly-daily summaries of the news around Trump from a historian’s perspective, IIRC since around the beginning of the impeachment proceedings; worth reading, but sometimes quite depressing. link: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com (It’ll ask you to subscribe, but you don’t need to). She’s also been posting video discussions and Q/A about US history more generally, but I don’t know of a way to get those outside of Facebook.
@11 I could say it is a little eccentricity of mine ,but the truth is I am crap at writing proper English like .LOL.
@20 lol, so unbeknownst my prediction became true just days before I made it.
Their ability to spin and rationalize literally everything scares me to death. It’s like being locked in a room with a psychopath – he hasn’t turned on you yet, but you know there is nothing preventing him from doing it the next second.
@19. Yea. but those where the old Democrats of the past. To appease drew’s likes, one must always come to the conclusion that the present Dems are as bad as the Republicans. Two legs bad, four legs good. Taking sides dumb, biased, golden mean fallacy smart, objective. That’s how they roll.
typical of the conservatives to pick as an icon an underpaid and over worked agricultural laborer
from the past, they certainly did not have them have them in high regards at the time they were “plentiful” come to think of it they do not have them in high regards today, now big agribusiness CEO’s on the other hand …..
uncle frogy
These idiots are trying to kill everyone else to satisfy their need for a haircut and manicure. Just do to them what was done to Randy Weaver and David Koresh. Shoot em.
@#5, Howard Brazee
The Black Panthers fed the poor and helped the elderly. (According to what I have read, which is not authoritative, the modern US school lunch program was basically started in order to take control of the idea away from the Black Panthers.) It was really the fact that the leadership of the Black Panthers like Fred Hampton were opposed to things like race warfare which caused the FBI to panic and start highly-effective propaganda to convince people of the opposite. If the Black Panthers had really been violent and anti-white, they would have been permitted to continue in order to scare white people.
I can’t imagine any of these modern idiots ever making any situation better, except possibly by going away.
@#24, daverytier:
Yeah, those Democrats of the past who were barely-concealed racists and opposed effective big government programs to interfere with business for the benefit of the citizen body. Sure is good that the party isn’t, you know, apparently going to nominate somebody who fits that description. Also mentioned elsewhere in the comments is how the invasion of Iraq was racist — good thing the party has totally turned away from everybody who went along with that. Nope, nobody like that left in the party at all. They certainly aren’t running the show. Not one bit. It sure is cathartic to complain about the Republicans doing things that the Democratic Party is totally innocent of, amirite?
@27. You say they are as bad as they were back then ?
“Some distant day from now, perhaps, the media that are bending over to enable this insanity will be forced to recognize the cold reality that the public massively supports the COVID-19 lockdown, and the protesters are actually a tiny handful of bellicose nutcases who have no regard for democracy or a civil society. Someday.”
As soon as it becomes profitable. Media is all owned by corporations that look at Murdoch’s profits with envy and greedy lust. If Fox hadn’t staked the territory so well, they would have a LOT of competition for those almighty ConservaDollars. The media is fully owned by corporations whose only concern is their bottom line. As Leona Lansing says in News Room, “We have BUSINESS before this Congress.”
No one is going to piss off a looney-tunes GOP senator with an army of programmable meat sacks at his disposal to scream at you like the above photos show, just to tell the truth. There’s no money in it.