The Billies: Hill, Shill, and Pill

 

by Pa Rock

Bumpkin Pundit

Yesterday I used this space to comment on derisive terms that right-wing politicians are hurriedly trying to coin to disparage Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota - a former high school teacher, football coach, weekend warrior, and a remarkably well-liked and all-around nice guy.  So far they are field-testing two:  "hick lib" and "woke yokel."  Those "insults," as with many Republican plans, come with problems.  They really aren't the zingers that the name-callers would like for them to be, and they are, in fact, more humorous than hurtful.  I wouldn't mind being called either one.

Governor Walz is particularly upsetting to the Republican Party because he is stealing the spotlight - big time - from their own midwestern vice-presidential candidate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio.  Vance had risen from obscurity in 2016 when he published a best-selling memoir (at the tender age of thirty-two) of his life growing up in a culture of poverty, drugs, and depression in the Midwest.  That effort was entitled "Hillbilly Elegy:  A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis."  The Ohio State University and Yale Law School graduate was accused by some of using his narrative to exploit his background for personal gain.  At least one reviewer referred to Vance as a "shillbilly" for profiting not only off of his own life and story, but also those  of his friends and family.  "Shillbilly," was a targeted attack with much more of a sting than "hick lib" and woke yokel."

There is another derogatory term that is becoming common in the rural midwestern culture, and while it does not apply to JD Vance, it certainly resonates among a broad group of rural denizens whom Vance does discuss at length in his book, including one in particular who is a very close relative of the author.  The social class Vance talks about are opioid and prescription drug addicts, as well as heroin addicts.   This ever-expanding group of troubled souls have begun to be referred to as "pillbillies."  Drug addiction has become so common in the Midwest that the term "pillbillies" has even worked its way into the professional literature.

I can remember when "hillbillies" were folks in the funnies like Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae, Ma and Pa Kettle, and Snuffy Smith heading out at night to steal chickens.   But there was also a developing culture of moonshiners, thieves, and other assorted miscreants who were living on the edge of the law and slowly morphing into the heavy drug-dependent culture of meth cooks, addicts, abusers, thieves, vandals, vagrants, and other miscreants and social misfits who roam the hills today looking for quick money and their next fix.  

It looks as though the presidential election of 2024 will have more of a midwestern focus than we have seen in the recent past, so it can't hurt to expand our view beyond the big industrial cities and urban centers and out into the small towns with their Main Streets, coffee shops, and Friday night football games - and on down to honkey tonks, cheating spouses, thievery, abuse, addiction, willful mayhem, and all manner of moral darkness.  It's far more dangerous and disconcerting than just dealing with (and name-calling) the few who happen to lean left politically.

There are lots of serious problems in the Midwest.  Tim Walz and JD Vance have both experienced life here, and they know what those problems are.  Donald Trump has already spent four years in the White House and did not fix anything.  Perhaps Kamala Harris will.

I'm for going forward and finding out.