theangrywhitemancolumn

Dear Readers:

This comment from Gary Hubbell's personal website comes as "The Angry White Man" column has reached millions of Americans. Gary Hubbell's personal commentary:

Hello, America. Thanks for reading, thanks for listening. I see I've stirred up quite a commentary amongst you all. The great majority of you have been supportive of my words and my thoughts, and a minority of you have been vicious, nasty, bitter, and hateful. I've got broad shoulders. I can take it. Interestingly, the liberals who were offended by my column trotted out the buzzwords of hate, and they were personally directed to me: "Fascist. Racist. Hatemonger. Misogynist. Sad little man. Fearful man. Sexist. Gary Hubbell for Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Evil. Anti-Christian. Trailer trash. Redneck. Moron. Stupid. Killer..." and the list goes on.

Interesting, isn't it, that I exercised my First Amendment right to freedom of speech, describing a long-quiet group of citizens and voters that had long been ignored by the media, the pundits, and the candidates--and was either highly praised or roundly vilified for it? The comments have ranged from bilious and hateful from a Washington, D.C., insider's blog, to the highest of praise from active and retired members of the military, including generals, colonels, lieutenants, and a whole lot of non-commissioned officers and enlisted men.

But I got you all talking. I got you talking about issues of race, entitlement, working hard, respecting freedom, loving America, and our political and social future. Last time I checked, there were millions of comments about my column, ranging from those of you who personally identified with it, to those of you who absolutely hated me for writing it. By the way, the last time I checked, there were 34,700 results in Google for my column and my name. The first 90 results had quoted liberally from my piece and all but a few had posted my column in its entirety--without my permission, violating my copyright. Interesting, interesting. Edit copy, edit paste. Steal my original thoughts and creativity without permission, and then trash me. All told, out of those 34,700 results, fewer than a dozen had asked my permission to post my original work. To those who posted in my support, thank you, and you have my permission. To those who haven't and have trashed me, consult your legal departments and see where you stand. It's not looking good.

Let's move beyond that. Let's work together to define a new future for America, a future that looks appealing to all of us. Let's work beyond race and gender and affiliation to a common identity, a goal for the future, an understanding among us.

I think anyone who personally knows me will say that I am anything but stupid. Put me in any room, with any company, and I can hold my own in any debate conducted on rational terms. If you don't think so, pay the plane ticket and the honorarium, and I'll be there. But you better have your best game that day, or you will go down in flames. This has been an interesting exercise in America's civil liberties. While I wrote this piece to describe a group of men who pay the freight on a daily basis, there are those who attacked me--and, subsequently, those hard-working men (and women) who make this country great. To those attackers, I ask you: what have you done lately that was productive? Did you feed or clothe anyone? Did you grow a crop? Have you made anything that someone will use? Did you help someone or defend someone? Or did you just go around trying to find an angle to attack someone or scheme another plan to make wealth or game the system without creating productivity--and get paid for it?

To those who have laid their lives on the line, in a longstanding defense of our nation's liberties, I thank you. To those of you who will further vilify me, go ahead. I can take it. I've got broad shoulders. However, if you want to know what a day's work is all about, call me. I've got a lot of fence to build. Let's see if you can hack it.

Gary Hubbell

Column for the Aspen Times Weekly, February 9, 2008: "In Election 2008, Don't Forget the Angry White Man"

by Gary Hubbell

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.

He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.

The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.

The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.

His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.

He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.

Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”

He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.

He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.

Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.

He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.

There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.

He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.