Governor Derides Constituents As “Racist” And “Rednecks”

In defense of yet another government-mandated public education campaign, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer blamed its necessity on the state’s redneck population. You read that right; he claims the Treasure State is completely overrun by racist rednecks.

Effectively writing off any adult in the state, Schweitzer said his education act, Indian Education for All, was the only chance to prevent a never-ending succession of racist Montanans.

“All over Montana, you can walk into a bar, a café or even a school or a courthouse and … hear somebody, before very long, say something outrageously racist about the people who have lived in Montana for 10,000 years,” he said.

The remedy for this, in the Democrat governor’s mind, is to “start with a tender child,” requiring state schools to teach both American-Indian and U.S. history. “I decided I can’t turn the heart of a 45-year-old redneck,” he said.

As with schools forcing students to learn about the achievements of homosexuals in America, any program emphasizing group identification over actual curriculum is doing a disservice to the children and insults those to whom the school district is pandering.

While the educational aspect of this story certainly deserves some attention, a liberal governor willing to trash the overwhelmingly white population of his state to defend his agenda is beyond the pale. It’s not, however, unprecedented. John Murtha, the late Democrat Representative from Pennsylvania, infamously called much of his state racist leading up to Barack Obama’s first presidential bid. For this reason, Murtha said Obama would have a hard time in the polls in the area because of his skin color. In an statement earlier in his career, Murtha used Schweitzer’s other go-to-pejorative, labeling many of his constituents rednecks.

One would assume Schweitzer is ashamed of the racist tendencies of those in his state, which might be why he failed to mention the saturation of rednecks during a trip to New York City to drum up Montana tourism.

He called the state the “best place in the world to take your family.” Obviously, he failed to add “as long as your family is filled with hate-mongering Caucasians.”

Are there rednecks in Montana? Well, I would bet good money that there are, even without having actually met one. The governor using unsubstantiated barroom chatter to cast the wide racist net over the entire state is dangerously hyperbolic at best. At worst, Schweitzer has stigmatized his entire constituency for an immediate political gain without considering the long-term implications of leading a racist, redneck state.

Amid relentless, brutal attacks from mobs of blacks in Chicago, many against whites, I would contend Illinois has a racism problem at least on par with the phantom comments originating in Montana bars and cafes. Somehow, I don’t foresee Rahm Emanuel holding a press conference referring to his city’s residents in such a derogatory manner, though.

B. Christopher Agee founded The Informed Conservative in 2011. Follow him on Twitter @bcagee.