Merle Haggard has always had his guitar hardwired to the gutbucket pulse of Middle America. Back in the Vietnam era, he seemed the essence of a historic political migration: white males fleeing the feminized, antiwar, politically correct Democratic Party. He was your basic Reagan Democrat, fully loaded with a resonant, iron-edged voice and the ability to write razor lyrics that stuck in the mind and the craw. His brilliant anthem—Okie from Muskogee—became a rallying cry for those who were disgusted by the "hippies out in San Francisco" smoking marijuana and burning draft cards. His next patriotic volley had this chorus: "When they're runnin' down my country, man, you're walkin' on the fightin' side of me." And so when I heard that Haggard had written a song endorsing Hillary Clinton for President, which you can hear him sing on TIME.com, I was more than curious about the motivation for his apparent left turn. And Merle let me know that he was more than happy to talk politics, given that he has a new album, The Bluegrass Sessions, which seems a political and musical return to his family's Okie and New Deal Democratic roots.
He picked me up at the Holiday Inn in Redding, Calif., a wizened guy in a black T shirt and jeans driving a politically incorrect white Hummer. "Believe it or not, this is a pretty nice little town," he said as we headed out to his ranch, past a bleak, unending landscape of big-box stores that brought to mind a recent Haggard lyric: "Everything Wal-Mart all the time, no more mom and pop five and dimes... What happened, where did America go?" A vague populist annoyance with big stores and big shots is one of the themes that have led Haggard to "change labels," as he told me with a laugh. "The folks don't have a say-so anymore. They're being force-fed—music, yeah, but every other darn thing too. I supported George W. I'm not exactly a liberal. But I know how that Texas thing works, who those oil folks are and what they wanted in Iraq... I'm a born-again Christian too, but the longer I live, the more afraid I get of some of these religious groups that have so much influence on the Republicans and want to tell us how to live our lives."


But Haggard's greatest complaint is a matter of pride—and pride, in his hardscrabble past and his country, has always been his favorite song. "The thing that gets under my skin most about George W. is his intention to install fear in people," he said, after walking me down a hallway lined with gold and platinum records. "This is America. We're proud. We're not afraid of a bunch of terrorists. But this government is all about terror alerts and scaring us at airports. We're changing the Constitution out of fear. We spend all our time looking up each other's dresses. Fear's the only issue the Republican Party has. Vote for them, or the terrorists will win. That's not what Reagan was about. I hate to think about our soldiers over in Iraq fighting for a country that's slipping away."


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Oh, it's another political rant. I thought England and maybe Scotland were going to start up a new form of alcohol prohibition. (I wasn't worried about the Irish on this one!!)

Good one Burky.....

uh...this is the politcal forum right?....no grog?...oh well...

It is amazing to hear someone like Merle, say something like that about the Republican Party isn't it?!

KJ

Yeah it is. I am sure there are alot more people like him that feel the same way.

Oh My It's Hard to be Humble...when you're perfect in every way....

or so I'm told...

Those would be the Patriots...

KJ

LOL.. I work with a guy that was a huge Bush supporter. A few days ago I think it finally hit him. He actually started agreeing with me. People are starting to wake up. To bad it took them so long.

Yes, they are...and I hope it's in time....

Countdowns on....later

KJ

The old man on the mountain's coming home.lol

Not to worry. Whenever the Republicans need a little boost, a video from Osama - Tim Osman - bin Laden makes a convenient appearance.

Funny what voice morphing and video editing can do these days. That, and a little bit of Grecian formula for beards, the Cave edition.

Merle Haggard? I thought he was dead.