Flyover Nation
You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Dana Loesch believes in Christianity, patriotism, traditional marriage, and the right to bear arms, among other “quaint” ideas. For the elites in DC, Los Angeles, New York, and Silicon Valley, that makes her as bizarre as a three-headed dog.
Loesch is alarmed that America is fracturing into two countries—not North and South, but Coastal and Flyover. Worse, the people in charge don’t understand the first thing about how most of the country thinks and lives. Consider a few examples . . .
• In Flyover America, people believe criminals should be punished. Coastal America focuses on “rehabilitation.”
• Flyovers think the Declaration of Independence was crystal clear: “All men are created equal.” For Coastals, Black Lives Matter—but anyone who adds that all lives matter must be a racist.
• Coastals think they understand firearms because they watched a TV movie about Columbine. Fly- overs get a deer rifle for their thirteenth birthday.
• Coastals talk about blue-collar workers in the abstract. Flyovers have a relative who works the night shift in a granola bar factory, where the big perk is taking home a bag full of granola bars every Friday.
• Coastals think every problem—from hurt feelings to the cost of birth control—requires government intervention and huge federal spending. Flyovers know that money isn’t magic fairy dust, and many problems can be solved only by individual character and hard work.
It would all be funny—if Coastals weren’t winning on most of today’s big issues.
As Loesch writes, “Most of these pinkies-out, cocktail- drinking-appletini fans selfishly entertain grandiose plans of economic equality without realizing the negative impact their plans would have on the very people they pride themselves on helping. That’s the true class warfare.”
Loesch shines the light of truth on everything from feminism to gun violence to abortion. She reveals the damage done by elitists who flat-out don’t get the lives and values of people in the heart of the country. And she asks commonsense questions such as: How can you be angry at Walmart if you’ve never shopped in one? How can you hate the police if you’ve never needed help from a cop? How can you attack Christians if you don’t have a single friend who goes to church?
In other words, how can you run a country you’ve never been to? And how much could our politics improve if Coastals would actually listen to their fellow Americans? This book is a rallying cry for anyone who wants our leaders to understand and respect the culture that made America exceptional in the first place.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
According to right-wing radio and television host Loesch (Hands Off My Gun), in terms of political affiliation and cultural differences, America comprises two separate "nations": the liberal elites of the East and West Coast, and the conservative "flyover nation" that encompasses the rest of the continental states. Loesch's unapologetic defense of middle America breaks down the current problems in the country with much flair and sass. Part political commentary and part autobiography, the book at times gets bogged down in the author's generalizations, which pin many of the country's ills squarely on those who live and breathe on either coast, but she shines when writing about her childhood, tying her rural Ozark upbringing and Christian faith to her political change of heart in her early 20s. Loesch urges coastal elites to heed the values of people with upbringings like hers, and not to belittle and ignore those whom President Obama once described as "bitter" in clinging to guns and religion. The author's proud rhetoric, which will please fans, will not win over those on the other side of the aisle, and it also runs the risk of alienating otherwise sympathetic readers living on either of the dreaded coasts.
Customer Reviews
Highly recommend!!!
Dana does a great job explaining how the elites on the coasts look down on the rest of us. There are some personals moments about her family that run the range of emotions. Some hilarious stories, one about hipsters that I literally LOL'd at and some infuriating parts about arrogant politicians.
Very folksy nostalgia
I had high hopes for this book that we would really discuss cultural differences between interior America ("flyover nation") and coastal America. Her chapter on feminism was perhaps the strongest at that, but more often than not, the book is filled with charming folksy nostalgia about scandals in the past 8-10 years that have riled conservatives (e.g., Kermit gosnell, Sandra fluke, clock boy, Reid's shady real estate, bitter clingers, Schumer's plane tirade, you name it...) than it is with true examination of what makes life in interior America unique.
Hopes I had for the book:
*The loyalty of country music fans not seen in pop music
(...and a healthy examination of rap vs country music)
*A comparison between cost of living in interior America vs coastal America
(...and bonus, life in skid row, LA vs homelessness in,say, Dallas)
*Methods of discipline in red vs blue families
*"It takes a village" vs "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality
Ummm ... What??
I can't even stand the blurb. The Christians did not make this country great. In fact they killed off a majority of the population that formed the backbone of this country. And when was the last time YOU took the time out to understand non-white people (who btw also live throughout flyover country). TAKE A HISTORY LESSON AND GET OVER YOURSELF. Or take your own advice and LISTEN (to someone other than yourself or those who go to your church). Also, as someone who lives in Denver, I can tell that clearly YOU have never experienced anything close to Columbine. Or Aurora. Or Colorado Springs. Or, you know, a place where people live together rather than in isolation.