Flyover Nation: You Can’t Run a Country You’ve Never Been To
By Dana Loesch
I discovered Dana Loesch’s radio show some time last year. I’m not sure how – maybe it was a re-tweet from someone else I follow or I simply left my radio dial set to WIBC after listening to the Chicks on the Right show the previous day. I read her first book, Hands off My Gun, last fall and try to catch a little of her show each day on my lunch hour. Some might find her personality too tough or in-your-face, but her stances on the Second Amendment, abortion and individual freedoms granted by the Constitution resonate very deeply with my own beliefs and as a female millennial surrounded by peers who veer to the left, I love listening to a strong female conservative standing up for the same things I hold near and dear to my heart.
Dana’s latest book, Flyover Nation: You Can’t Run a Country You’ve Never Been To, pretty perfectly sums up the state our nation is in right now. There’s a great divide between how those of us in the heartland and those who live in the coastal regions view the issues affecting our culture today. If you grew up in the rural areas of a flyover state (a state most people only view by air but never actually visit) you probably went to church every Sunday, learned how to drive a tractor before a car, have a family member who served in the armed forces and know how to shoot a gun. Communities are small. Everybody knows everybody and people are willing to pitch in to help each other out. Neighbors share fruits and vegetables from their gardens and look out for one another in times of need.
Nearly every important issue currently affecting our nation is covered in Flyover Nation. Dana touches on gun control, the Black Lives Matter movement, feminism, equality and explains how each topic differs from the coastal’s point-of-view. A lot of the content is autobiographical and very personal but the subjects covered are also balanced out with research and facts (the sources can be found at the end of the book and are broken down chapter by chapter, which is very helpful).
The most interesting chapter, in my opinion, was Dana’s chapter on feminism and equality, which was one of the most personal parts of the book. After being raised Democrat and actively participating in third-wave feminism, the birth of her son completely changed her perspective on the movement:
“Up to this point I had spent my time making him, the male sex, the enemy. I had helped create a culture that was growing in hostility toward the male sex…Things that I supported were harmful to his well-being. Suddenly my long-held ideology and the reality of my circumstances collided: How could I continue railing against the travesties of the patriarchy, how could I continue my campaign against men, when here in my arms lay a boy, a boy whom his father and I
were to raise into a man?”
Throughout the rest of the book, I laughed (especially when she quoted a family member as saying “warsh” instead of “wash” – members of my family do the same), smiled and nodded in agreement. People in big cities and on the coast may not understand our way of life or values here in the rural heartland but they’re worth fighting for and preserving. In Flyover Nation, Dana hits on a lot of issues affecting culture today and each chapter is just a brief overview of out of touch the progressive movement is with the values of many of the people who live in flyover.
One thing that I would have liked to have seen addressed in the book is how coastal thinking is creeping in to the heartland and how it may impact the political climate of the future. In the 2008 Presidential Election, my home state of Indiana went blue – it stunned everyone because traditionally Indiana ALWAYS goes red. Then in the Democratic Primary this May, Bernie Sanders beat out Hillary Clinton in a surprise win. There’s a definite shift happening in the heartland so touching on this topic would have been an interesting addition to the book. Maybe a future topic?
Overall, Flyover Nation is a solid book that feels very personal and really hits home. It didn’t tell me a whole lot that I didn’t already know but hopefully it will make some waves and change some minds with on the other side of the aisle.
Thanks to Dana for visiting Indy on July 8th & signing copies of Flyover Nation!