It would be easy to describe where I’m from as the “real America.” That term dominates talk of pragmatism in Democratic politics, where pundits obsess over “coastal elites” and their supposed inability to appeal to “the heartland,” also known as “flyover country.” People from Massachusetts, California, New York? Not “real Americans.” According to the stereotype, a real American is not a professor, banker, or artist living in New York City or Seattle. Real America is Dixie Chicks and wide open spaces, proud men and hospitable women, farms, trucks, guns, patriotism, building, rebuilding,
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