C'mon country music, listen to blue states too

The Dixie Chicks (Wikimedia Commons)

The Dixie Chicks became popular nationally when CMT was popular in a faddish sort of way. CMT still exists and it still has music videos, but it has faded into more of a typical cable channel - viable but obscure.
I congratulate any country music performer or group who can attract a national following. It's a difficult climb to make.
The Dixie Chicks are all women. It's delicate for me coming up with a descriptive word. If I say "headstrong" it might be put down by feminists as suggesting they are pesky or beyond their legitimate bounds. If I say "articulate" - well, you know what happens when a black person is described as "articulate." It's considered a condescending swipe. That assessment rather rankles me as someone who considers himself devoted to the English language. I believe Joe Biden caught some brickbats because he described a black person as "articulate." Was it Barack Obama? I consider "articulate" a total compliment.
The Dixie Chicks are marvelous musicians worthy of boundless praise. They entered infamy for at least a short time because of a comment that stirred political waters. This came during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The political landscape was different then with George W. Bush leading the charge for people who waved the conservative flag.
Today it's so different with people of a moderate or progressive stripe almost pining in a nostalgic way for the Bush days. You have to close your eyes and re-imagine 2003 America. We still seemed on our heels from the 9/11 disaster, a disaster which Donald Trump said "happened on Bush's watch." The conservative community collectively shrugged about this obvious serious diss of Bush. The Trump train rolled on. But Bush was truly a red state hero as the new century got started.
The invasion of Iraq had an inevitable air about it. You can sense these things. I remember a formal protest at our University of Minnesota-Morris. Admirable but futile. We can forget the gravity of war decisions. Did the invasion of Iraq achieve any sort of vengeance in response to 9/11? Of course it didn't. And you can say Trump is right when he derides the U.S. intelligence community for being wrong on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But his argument was one of convenience, part of his strategy of fending off law enforcement in the face of the Trump family's misdeeds with foreign powers.
 
A comment leading to uproar
The Dixie Chicks were in London for a concert in March of 2003. The U.S. was within days of launching the Iraq invasion. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, the lead singer, said the emperor was wearing no clothes, in effect, by saying "We don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the president of the U.S. is from Texas." The British audience was receptive to the sentiments. In the U.S. which was awash with the likes of Fox News, the story was different.
There are always intelligent voices to combat the impulse toward jingoism. The people who air those views are heroes, willing to deal with slings and arrows in the aftermath of such comments. My whole childhood was with the Vietnam war as the backdrop. So it's easy for me to make the assessments I'm making now.
Talk shows in the U.S. became inflamed with critical rhetoric toward the Dixie Chicks. Boycotts of the group were called. Why? Maines had aired an opinion on the most important issue of the day, coming from their heart and not from special interests. But this is America where so often, it seems, you have to raise your finger to the (political) wind if you know what's good for you. Again I'll cite the Austin Powers movies where we have "Dr. Evil" saying "let daddy do his work." Dr. Evil's normal son made an obvious criticism of what his father was doing. And the father retorts "let daddy do his work," in other words, this is just something I have to do. Impulses toward military engagements can seem like that.
I have advised a friend of mine in country music that the professionals in that genre should be careful about getting overly associated, at least in public perception, with conservatives and Republicans. Remember the Big and Rich song "Raising McCain" to promote that man's presidential bid? Today McCain (or his memory) is no hero to the political right. He'd instead be derided as a never-Trumper even if he wouldn't describe himself as such.

What has happened to conservatives?
What a weird political world now: we have classy and intelligent conservatives like Jeff Flake and Bob Corker treated almost like enemies of the red state crowd. Those guys have principles and morals, hearkening to a time when U.S. conservatives thought basic deportment and conduct were important elements. Conservatives are supposed to be stoic and not to encourage so much disruptive drama. But the red state crowd as we speak - America 2018 - is bizarre, devoted to a family without basic scruples or morals, as the Mueller investigation is steadily revealing.
Since when do Republicans embrace tariffs?

Bless Merle Haggard

The Dixie Chucks faced a fierce uproar but not from everyone. The venerated Merle Haggard emerged as a hero and he said: "I don't even know the Dixie Chicks, but I find it an insult for all the men and women who fought and died in past wars when almost the majority of America jumped down their throats for voicing an opinion. It was like a verbal witch-hunt and lynching." Country music should start to embrace the blue states more.
The song "Po' Folks" (Bill Anderson) cheered conservatives because it suggested this poor family didn't need or want government help. My response: Ask the mother in that family if she would have liked some government help. Nothing headstrong about that.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com