The unofficial start of summer across this great nation is, of course, Memorial Day. The lead-up to the reverence of Monday’s significance is peppered with town-wide yard sales, poker runs, graduations, and a full spring cleaning that would make grandma beam with pride. This year, embracing the sales and camaraderie with neighbors and allowing time for some frivolity before the respectful tributes, heartlanders have put Hillary Clinton on curb alert – free for the taking, as long as she stops talking.
Hillary Clinton Goes All Handmaid
Oops, she did it again. No, we aren’t talking about Britney Spears, but losing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has the right to remain silent, though evidently not the ability. She had a snarky moment in front of cameras during a May 1 discussion at New York City's 92nd Street Y. When asked by the event moderator what advice she had for the first female president of the US, she let this tumble right out: “Well, first of all, don’t be a handmaiden to the patriarchy, which kind of eliminates every woman on the other side of the aisle, except for very few.” Sigh. One good gal picked up on something of note somewhere in Clinton's candidate emerita persona. Kristal Ellison of Green Bay, WI, commented: “At least she's admitting 1st female President will be a Republican!”
Oh, Hillary, that just gives conservative women a reason to step all over you again.
One woman who wants to remain anonymous hit the nail on the head, setting the tone for a good discussion: “Hillary calls us handmaidens, but conservative women are honey badgers—fearless, thick-skinned, and proud to stand beside strong men and lead with grit.” Cheryl Lynn Chumley agreed, declaring: “Honey badgers are my spirit animal.”
Conservative women, like the GOP’s elephant mascot, have long memories – or, at least, a better History Channel. The word “hypocrisy” popped up a few times in conversation. In Valdosta, GA, Jeanette Driver Carter wondered aloud: “Does she mean like Bill's aides were to him?” In the Show Me State, Cindy Bartlett Baker gave a chuckle and added: “Staying with Bill after all he did, and she says that?”
In Nashville, TN, Tina Ferguson pointed out: “She’s the captain of handmaidens, right?”
Melissa Snow Tilley in Rockingham, NC, responded positively, at least at first: “We should uplift all women who seek to lead, not tear them down based on assumptions. True feminism supports a woman’s right to think for herself—even if her judgments differ from our own. I’m so thankful that you were left behind by the women (Republican or Democrat); if you, Hillary, never spoke again, I would be thankful!”
Curb Alert!
In Remembrance
Across the plains, prairies, mountains, hollers, farms, and ranches of America, the emerald-green lawns are decorated with flags for the fallen. Whether it was the Battle of Concord, Gettysburg, the Siege of Yorktown, the Invasion of Normandy, New Orleans, Iwo Jima, Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq – no heartland family has been untouched by the sacrifices of America’s service members. Stories are told of every skirmish, of every loss. Pride of patriotism is intact, well displayed, and honored, whether it’s a red poppy on the dash or a flag in the front yard snapping in the wind.
Arizona’s Bobby Kern, a veteran who says he “studied at the University of South Vietnam School of Warfare,” reposted a powerful and viral message attributed to Kevin D’Onofrio:
“Monday will be the most expensive holiday on the calendar. Every hot dog, every burger, every spin around the lake, or drink with friends and family…is a debt… purchased by others. This is not about all who have served…that day comes in the fall. This one honors those who paid in life and blood, whose moms never saw them again, whose dads wept in private, whose wives raised kids alone, and whose kids only remember them from pictures. This is not simply a day off. This is a day to remember that others paid for every free breath you ever get to take. FREEDOM. God bless the USA!”
And the heartland responded. The High Falls Saloon, a nice little honky-tonk bar in Warren County, IN, left the money outside the door, closing with this message: “We are closed tonight. Let us remember ‘those who died in active military service.’ They All Are ANGELS protecting This Great Country!”
From Kramer, IN, Larry Ware posted on Facebook: “This is not just a long weekend; it’s a memorial to those brave individuals who went before us. Their sacrifice deserves our reflection.”
From Metairie, LA, Cyril Mauras remembered: “My Uncle Ed Lankston was killed in WWII when his B24 Bomber was shot down over Germany in February 1945.”
Dan Solly in Fayetteville, GA, said: “This Memorial Day, let’s honor their sacrifice by living fully, loving deeply, and never taking liberty for granted. They gave their all so we could have it all.”
One Christian music man, John Peed of Alabama, came in with what might be the way most folks From the Back Forty will celebrate this year. “I was fortunate that none of my relatives died in wars, although my dad and all my uncles served during WWII. However, I am forever grateful for the sacrifices of the men and women who have lost their lives serving this country. They are true heroes, and I will be thanking them in prayer on Memorial Day. I will also celebrate my niece's daughter’s graduation from high school.” Yes, it is what we do in Middle America.
We’ll give this week’s last word to Hal DeKeyser of Arizona. “I will be remembering Harold Joseph DeKeyser, my namesake and uncle I never met as he went down in a fireball over North Africa in 1943,” he explained on Facebook. “That caused Dad, his next-in-line brother, to purposely flunk out of the Navy-sponsored engineering program at Michigan Tech so he would be sent to the fleet. He was sent to the South Pacific. We honor that kind of faith, patriotism, sacrifice, and love. What was common then is rarer today.”
And finally, we'll end with a selection from Sara L Vickers Oberholtzer's 1882 ode "Under the Flowers" - “Rich with peace-perfume our thoughts rise today; God-granted tribute we thankfully pay. Unto our heroes who crossed on war’s tide; Watching they wait us on Time’s golden side.”
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Editor's Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation's longest-running and most popular weekly column.
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