I don't know if you have ever watched the ancient flick 'Sergeant York" featuring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan....
It is of course the highly fictionalized story of the most decorated US soldier in the US Army in WW1.....
The point is: Alvin York is a hell raiser in the hills of Tennessee.... one day, as he was about to shoot some guy he did not like, he is struck by lightning, and gets the word....turns to religious fundamentalism.....
He is a model citizen.... swears off any kind of violence, per the new testament....
At some point he is drafted. In the little idiot backwater town he lives in, the local postmaster, who doubles as the town preacher and storekeeper a-la Sam Drucker, is the lone representative of the Federal government. He tells Alvin he has to go....Alvin goes reluctantly, and then has a revelation that he should go and kill Germans if he is ordered to....Of course this flick was made in 1941 so I am sure there is some propaganda content....
Where am I going with this: At some point in the day, everybody has a choice as to what law to comply with, if any. In those days, the story suggests that although he had strong loyalty to his local preacher, and a set of values that were given to him by his community and family, Alvin was compelled by his patriotic duty to abide by the laws of the US and show up to be inducted, even though at the time he felt the war was immoral. There was some propaganda value in that, too, by the way....
So the question is: If a religious fundamentalist firearm-toting hell raiser in north-central Tennessee was drafted today, would he be compelled to go, or would he tell the government to shove it? The point at which enough of these people decide to abide by the laws of their tribe and not by the laws of a government that is far away, the system will break down.
Fentress County TN is where Sergeant York grew up. Let's look at this place for a minute:
a. The local population is 17,667, and is over 90% white.
b. 20% of the population is under the poverty level. The mean income is less than $30K/yr
c. Over half of the population over 16, as of the relatively prosperous year of 2000, was considered "not in the work force"
d. In 2000, there were 39 employees of the Federal Government in this place. As of 2008, there were 104.
e. about 15% of the local population gets supplemental income from the welfare system.
f. Only about 500 of the county's 17,000 people have a college degree.
So it's still a bit rough, I would say.
So when push comes to shove is this place going to rebel from the US government, or the state government? I am thinking not. 1 out of 6 of the population is dependent on them for food, I would be willing to believe that in Sergeant York's day, with one federal employee in the county, and zero getting food aid, Sgt. York was much more likely than today's equivalent hillbilly to revolt against the government.
Now if that food supply dries up, all of a sudden, there is a different dynamic in play, isn't there?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pall_Mall,_Tennesseehttp://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_DP3&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on&-geo_id=05000US47049http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco_wel_cas_tot_rec_percap-caseloads-total-recipients-per-capitahttp://www.eyeonwashington.com/few_map2000/htm/Tennessee.htm[url]
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http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?locIndex=12418http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/educLevel.php?locIndex=12418