In the diverse humanity that makes up the United States of America many groups such as the farmers appear to be both separate and integrated, at once distinct and blended in the common image. Others have been more despised and mocked than farmers, and occasionally some have been equally praised. But none other has been the subject of as much idolatry and contempt as the hayseedy son of honest toil and sweat, the noble yokel, the independent and thoughtful clodhopper, the bucolic philosopher, the industrious sucker, the indispensable hick, and the God-fearing, hell-fire-and-brimstone breathing last stronghold of woolhatted democracy — the farmer. Let us look at his political, economic, and cultural significance.