What exactly is a Southern Appalachian Democrat?
I often describe myself as a Southern Appalachian Democrat – an Appalachian Conservative Democrat, if you will. Several people have asked me today just what that means, so let me tell you about it:
A Southern Appalachian Democrat is an innovative, out-of-the-box-thinker who is, nevertheless, grounded in the Southern values of family, good pay for hard work, taking care of those who need help most. (Congressman Heath Shuler comes to mind.)
A Southern Appalachian Democrat is not a liberal Democrat but is fiscally conservative, cautious with the public purse on the idea that individual responsibility is the most valuable currency. But when it comes to the greater long-term good, I am willing to take broad strokes – as FDR did for the poor of Appalachia in the 1930s.
A Southern Appalachian Democrat does not back away from his or her Southern roots but does not ascribe to the hatred and divisiveness of the past.
A Southern Appalachian Democrat values hard work over big words. As the second of three generations of business owners, I know that long hours, not long sentences, make things happen.
A Southern Appalachian Democrat is neither in the center nor to the left or right, but somewhere different – an innovator with a new way of solving problems.
A Southern Appalachian Democrat is a broker of progress – one who is able to persuade on the power of his or her uniquely Southern personality. (I think here of the late Speaker Sam Rayburn.)
A Southern Appalachian Democrat is, by definition a Southerner, either by birth or in spirit – one who calls on the gentility, steeled by determination, that defines the Southern character.
A Southern Appalachian Democrat is … Mike Padgett, a new definition of Democrat.
