Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America [Hardcover]

Garrison Keillor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2004

In a book that is at once deeply personal and intellectually savvy, Homegrown Democrat is a celebration of liberalism as the “politics of kindness.” In his inimitable style, Keillor draws on a lifetime of experience amongst the hardworking, God- fearing people of the Midwest and pays homage to the common code of civic necessities that arose from the left: Protect the social compact. Defend the powerless. Maintain government as a necessary force for good. As Keillor tells it, these are articles of faith that are being attacked by hard-ass Republican tax cutters who believe that human misery is a Dickensian fiction. In a blend of nostalgic reminiscence, humorous meditation, and articulate ire, Keillor asserts the values of his boyhood—the values of Lake Wobegon— that do not square with the ugly narcissistic agenda at work in the country today. A thoughtful, wonderfully written book, Homegrown Democrat is Keillor’s love letter to liberalism, the older generation, John F. Kennedy, the University of Minnesota, and the yellow-dog Democrat city of St. Paul that is sure to amuse and inspire Americans just when they need it most.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

His Minnesota boyhood and the putative values of his state allow novelist and NPR favorite Keillor to conjure up a heartwarming case for liberalism, if not necessarily the Democratic Party platform. "[T]he social compact is still intact here," he writes of life in St. Paul, summing up attacks on that compact in a Menckenesque rant: "hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists...." Liberalism, Keillor declares, "is the politics of kindness," and he traces his own ideology to his kindly aunts and his access to good public education, including a land-grant university. Though he criticizes Democrats for losing touch with their principles, as when they support the drug war, he catalogues "What Do-Gooder Democrats Have Done for You," from civil rights to clean air, though he acknowledges, "The great hole in the compact is health care." "The good democrat," he declares, distrusts privilege and power, believes in equality, supports unions, and is individualist—"identity politics is Pundit Speak," he notes, which might get him in trouble with some interest groups. "Democrats are thought to be weak on foreign policy... but what we fear is arrogance," he writes, in a chapter notably short on prescription. Near the end, he offers another potent monologue, if not a rant, about September 11 and Bush's "Achtung Department" (aka Homeland Security). It doesn't all hang together—heck, Keillor's so loosy-goosey, he begins most chapters with a limerick—but call this Prairie Home Companion meets Air America.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In his contribution to the latest U.S. presidential election campaign, the writer-host of NPR's long-running Prairie Home Companion takes his stand on the ground of Minnesota to declare why he's on the side he's on. Being a Democrat "was simply the way I was brought up, starting with" the Golden Rule, the Minnesota maxim "You are not so different from other people so don't give yourself airs," and the Christian reminder "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Egalitarianism and fellow-feeling, manifested by good-neighborliness and a social safety net sustained by government, are the bedrock of being a Democrat for Keillor, and Democrats go wrong when they mouth slogans, forget about the powerless, and fail to focus on "real consequences in the lives of real people." Republicans these days--he allows that once they were better--are the obverse of Keillor-style Democrats, and his rants about them are an intemperate pleasure of the book. Its considerable other pleasures arise from the autobiography that constitutes its core; if he sounds like a parody of a Democrat when lambasting the GOP (and--unfairly, one can't help feeling--Texas and the South), Keillor is the voice of truth about where he grew up and went to school. (Full disclosure: this reviewer was taught in the same schools by many of the same teachers six years after Keillor.) Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (July 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670033650
• ISBN-13: 978-0670033652
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #595,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Garrison Keillor is the bestselling author of Lake Wobegon Days, Happy To Be Here, Leaving Home, We Are Still Married, Radio Romance, The Book of Guys and Wobegon Boy (available in Penguin Audiobook). He is the host of A Prairie Home Companion on American public radio and a contributor to Time magazine. He lives in Wisconsin and New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

298 of 324 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth About Liberals, July 28, 2004

By 

DevonTT (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America (Hardcover)

If you've bought into the usual talk radio screed against liberals, prepare for some serious cognitive dissonance when you read this book. You have been programmed to believe that liberals are treasonous, immoral, elitist spendthrifts hell-bent on stripping America of its military power and you of your right to worship as you please.

In 'Homegrown Democrat,' Keillor describes how his liberal values were instilled by hardworking, modest, kindly Midwestern Christian folk as American as apple pie, who believed in helping one another because that's just what decent people do.

Try to hold these conflicting ideas in your mind at least long enough to ponder the possibility that the stereotypes you've learned from Limbaughian/Coulterian right-wing media are, perhaps, maybe, conceivably not quite accurate and that Keillor's expression of liberalism might possibly, by some remote chance more closely reflect what's in the hearts and minds of all the other liberals you love to hate.

On the other hand, if you're of the liberal persuasion, you will probably quickly connect, as I did, with Keillor's description of liberalism as a natural outgrowth of common-sense, Golden Rule, all-American values.

For me, the most profound concept in Keillor's book is that of the 'social compact.' He writes, 'The fear of catastrophe could chill the soul but the social compact assures you that if the wasps come after you, if gruesome disease strikes down your child, if you find yourself hopelessly lost, incapable, drowning in despair, running through the rye toward the cliff, then the rest of us will catch you and tend to you and not only your friends but We the People in the form of public servants. This is a basic necessity in a developed society... This is Democratic bedrock: we don't let people lie in the ditch and drive past and pretend not to see them dying. Here on the frozen tundra of Minnesota, if your neighbor's car won't start, you put on your parka and get the jumper cables out and deliver the Sacred Spark that starts their car. Everybody knows this. The logical extension of this spirit is social welfare and the myriad government programs with long dry names all very uninteresting to you until you suddenly need one...'

I know and like many Republicans/conservatives--on a personal level, they're fine people. What I can't understand is how they have failed to see that their politics should reflect their personal values. If they would not knowingly drive past someone lying in a ditch, then how can they refuse to support programs for people in trouble?

Right-wingers have convinced a great deal of Americans that what matters most is that you and your family are taken care of. They have divided the country into Us and Them. But the genius and power of the United States of America lies in our UNITY and our historical desire to create a rising societal tide to lift all boats--regardless of race, religion, economic standing, or gender. Writes Keillor, 'America is predicated on an idea, which is equality, and the equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are not a herd of woolly mammoths united only for self-preservation...'

'Homegrown Democrat' reminds us that one of the government's basic jobs is to protect the weak from the powerful, and that our Union is weaker--and the soul of this great country dies slowly--when we as individuals fail to act collectively to look out for the welfare of others.

111 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing, uplifting and thought-provoking read, July 16, 2004

By 

K. Byrd (Central, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America (Hardcover)

Garrison Keillor quotes Dante as the reason for writing this short, delightful book: "Dante says the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece, and thank you, dear reader." I don't usually like Keillor's written work--I prefer hearing him tell stories--but his honesty, good will and hopes for the country that he loves shine so strongly in Homegrown Democrat that it is almost like hearing him talk out loud. I appreciate the fact that he is willing to challenge liberals as well as conservatives and his observations about 9/11 and Homeland Security are quite valid. Homegrown Democrat is a valuable reminder of where we have come from and where we are headed as a country.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A terrific conversation, July 27, 2004

By 

Glenn Miller (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America (Hardcover)

This book will, no doubt, enrage Republicans. But, as Keillor says toward the end of this book, the hottest circle of hell is reserved for those who remain neutral during a time of crisis. And so, he has put down his thoughts, for what they're worth, in this slim volume. And for a life-long Democrat like myself, this makes for a wonderful read. It is structured much like an extended conversation at Keillor's favorite St. Paul coffee shop. Autobiographical for much of the first half, the second half is the portion that lays out the case against the current administration and, in turn, will prove to be the most controversial. So many of us shake our heads at the daily absurdities and surreal proclamations that emanate from those within the Bush circles. The cathartic powers of Keillor's book prove to be a healing respite to today's headlines.