Paul Harvey Takes Go Daddy to the Woodshed

 Ta Prohm, Cambodia - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman

This year’s Super Bowl was memorable for many forgettable commercials vying for number one, none of which was more nauseating than Go Daddy’s skit of the geek and babe sucking each others' face. Usually the commercials are a point of interest with fans, but this crop was so bad that after the first few we tuned them out, until Paul Harvey’s “So God Made a Farmer.” 

After the November 2012 Presidential Election, David Brooks wrote an editorial detailing the demise of the conservative message; it essentially was a requiem for the people Harvey praised.  With only 21% of the population living in rural areas and between one and two percent living on farms (there are more people in prison than living on farms), there simply were not enough of them to make a difference.  The independent, pioneering spirit which did much to define the American experience, is no longer relevant to an urban society which prefers to be entertained, succored, being told what to do, and living vicariously through movie and television celebrities.

From the 1950s through the 1980s Paul Harvey dominated radio news and commentary in the Mid and Rocky Mountain West.  Unlike the news broadcasts from the major television networks, which were predominately influenced by the East Coast political establishment, Harvey’s views sat well with rural America.  While the likes of Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, and David Brinkley poked fun at Westerners’ backwardness and lack of faith in government, Harvey was at least aware that New York could not claim the first female governor or Massachusetts the first state to grant women’s suffrage; both of those distinctions go to Wyoming, ostensibly one of the most conservative states in the country.  Although ranchers and farmers recognized a need for government, they did not expect nor want any help from it.  The Wyoming Legislature met forty days each year, and as far as the natives were concerned, that was too much. 

Nearly all of my relatives were involved in the ranching business at one point in their careers, but now I cannot name one who still works the land.  The occupation is financially risky, physically taxing, and if animals are involved, allows no time to get away from it all.  Our parents sold out, and my generation flocked to the cities and other professions; rural life is just too difficult and constraining.

If life on the farms and ranches is so unappealing, why the rave reviews of a presentation given to the National FFA Convention in 1978?   Not all Americans have drunk the Kool Aid and appreciate simple words which highlight the stunning difference between the farmers’ ethos and that of the degenerate political elite.  Harvey’s encomium praises the very few who make great sacrifices to take care of the rest of us.  Paul Harvey had a lot to say in two minutes, and we remained riveted to our seats not wishing to miss a second of what he conveyed, but the Go Daddy commercial was the perfect opportunity to get off the couch, walk to the bathroom, and sit on the throne.  

Road from Hue to Danang - photo by JoAnn Sturman