"Grandad," the little girl said, "where were you when the war began?"
"Well, back in those days we lived in America and I was like a lot of people and worked for a small business. I worked very hard and I had good people who worked with me, and they worked hard like I did. Sometimes we worked 60 or 70 hours a week, but we earned good money and made our customers happy and we provided well for our families. Most of us had even put away money to start our own businesses or pay for a nice retirement."
"But what did that have to do with the war, Grandad?"
"You see, at first we didn't know it was a war at all. We thought the nation was in trouble and they were trying to save us. We thought they were heroes and wise men. But pretty soon they came to our town with government work programs which paid what they called a 'prevailing union wage' and a lot of our workers went to work for the government contractors. Our boss raised our wages to keep us on, but prices for everything were going up and pretty soon we had fewer and fewer customers, and even though we were earning a lot more, with the higher prices we were barely scraping by. The stock market went down and never recovered and we had to spend our savings at a quarter of what they had once been worth. They passed policies to help the poor and hurt the rich, but they actually targeted everyone who worked hard to help those who had no ambition."
"What did you do then, Grandad?"
"When we had nothing left union organizers came to talk to us and some of my coworkers got really excited about how the unions could raise our wages and get us better contracts and new pensions. We held a vote and I would have voted against the union, but our votes weren't going to be secret and I was afraid some of the other workers would be angry if I didn't vote for the union, so I even went along."
"Unions are good, Grandad. My teacher is from America. She wears a pin for hers and tells us they helped save the country."
"Well, this union did get our wages raised and they got our hours reduced to only 35 hours a week, but that meant we weren't really earning any more money per week, just per hour. And with the new taxes to pay for national healthcare and expanded social security and national debt reduction, even though our hourly wage was three times what it had been a few years before, we were taking home less than half of that pay and when we spent it everything had become so expensive we could barely feed our families."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Baritone
Those filthy commie bastards!
2 - Lumpy
I already had a discussion quite like this with a politically insensible (but quite cute) neighbor explaining the current situatiion.
3 - roger nowosielski
And?
4 - Ruvy
That last line tossing in the Qur'an was pretty good, Dave. Nice job....
5 - roger nowosielski
Nice concept, Dave. I was under the impression, however, that the American Dream was somewhat more inclusive. You didn't have to get stinking rich, just sufficiently so to afford a house, a nice car, etc. Running a small business, perhaps, like a butcher or a baker shop.
Are we running out of those options? What say you?
Roger
6 - Dave Nalle
Well, Roger, in the article I didn't suggest that the protagonist had aspirations of being "stinking rich." He says "Most of us had even put away money to start our own businesses or pay for a nice retirement." I think that suggests more or less the same vision of the American dream you're talking about.
And yes, the American Dream isn't necessarily being Bill Gates or dominating the universe. It's about being self-sufficient, your own boss and living on your own terms. The problem is that the war on 'excessive' wealth and success destroys that dream as fallout, because the conditions which make independence and self-sufficiency possible cannot exist without the possibility that some few people will capitalize on them to become mega-successful and 'excessively' rich. So to shut down the extreme cases you have to shut down the whole system.
Dave
7 - STM
Better to be in charge of an Indo slave factory than Red!
8 - STM
Also Dave, if you're ever thinking you might like to write some future-related science-fiction (or science fantasy), perhaps as a screenwriter or something, can I give you a bit of advice: Don't give up the day job.
9 - pablo
Hey Nalle,
You see Chuck Baldwin on Alex Jones yesterday man?
Jones broke the story of the Missouri State Police profiling as domestic terrorists guys who vote for third party candidates. [Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
Go Alex Jones!
10 - roger nowosielski
Dave,
Granted about "the American Dream" comment. Done it only for emphasis' sake.
Re, STM's comment (#8), I think it was rather harsh. You do have a nice concept there, but you can't explain to a five-year old the "War on Capitalism" in the terms that you do (and that, I believe, was the point of STM's remark). You have to break it down somewhat.
I think the potential could be there, but it would require some work.
Roger
11 - Cindy
He said: "Most of us had even put away money to start our own businesses or pay for a nice retirement."
Then he's confabulating or just lying. Of course, it depends on who he means by 'us'.
12 - bliffle
This parable is too lead-footed to get more than about 1/4 through, and not entertaining enough to justify the effort.
13 - REMF(MCH)
"You didn't have to get stinking rich, just sufficiently so to afford a house, a nice car, etc."
With fortified compounds optional.
14 - Dave Nalle
STM, this isn't supposed to be a script for a drama. It's a parable as someone pointed out later. I'd write it very differently if it was intended for a dramatic production.
Then he's confabulating or just lying. Of course, it depends on who he means by 'us'.
'Us' means the long-term employees of a successful small business. People earning a reasonable wage and part of the middle class. People I know a lot of and who are the unintended targets of the War on Capitalism.
Dave
15 - Dave Nalle
And Pablo, I'm sure that being a fan of Alex Jones will get you profiled as a domestic terrorist too.
Dave
16 - Clavos
Then he's confabulating or just lying. Of course, it depends on who he means by 'us'.
I am one of "us," at least I was until the Market started its freefall. So was virtually everyone I call "friend" in the real (as opposed to the virtual) world.
Fortunately, I had long ago decided I didn't want to stop working until death forced me into it, because now it looks like that's exactly what will happen.
17 - Cindy
'Us' means the long-term employees of a successful small business. People earning a reasonable wage and part of the middle class. People I know a lot of and who are the unintended targets of the War on Capitalism.
Yes, okay, I'll buy that. In the parable, 'Us" is the workers who are 'successful' in the American Dream--the ones who didn't get so completely screwed over by the Capitalists themselves, they believed they still had some stake in the game.
In other words, what is shaping up to be a minuscule drop in the bucket and/or people who still have some money so they don't have to admit being screwed over.
18 - Baronius
Wow! Chuck Jones knows Alec Baldwin?
19 - Dave Nalle
Cindy, I realize things look different up there in the rust belt, but it's only a small part of the country. Your viewpoint is tainted by environment. In most of the country entrepreneurs and small businesses still dominate the economy and the work environment and pay a fair wage and treat workers decently, because that's how you build loyalty and productivity.
The industrial model which supports your anarchist fantasies is breaking down. The huge industrial giant with dronelike workers is now the anomaly rather than the rule, and it's a relic of the past -- just like anarchism -- in developed countries.
Get out and about the country. The middle class and the entrepreneurial class is vibrant and growing and productive and will save the country, if Obama's War on Capitalism doesn't destroy them.
dave
20 - Cindy
Dave,
Actually, I have been watching world news just about every day since early December. I'm not basing anything I say about what is happening in my area. Have you seen the number of riots and occupations around the world? Are you paying attention to this news Dave? You have to look for it. MSM isn't bringing it to you--yet.
It's only the beginning. Governments are scared--they're taking away "rights". Imagine a Democracy trying to enforce a law about clothing--like no hoods or masks in Greece.
Let me repeat that, it's important: people in the U.S. are not getting the news about what is happening worldwide as a result of the economic crisis. China isn't even letting that news out. It seems they are punishing reporters for reporting it.
I am in D.C. right now. I talk to cab drivers, doormen, etc. In NYC every time I smoked I talked to some working person. Guess what? These people aren't agreeing with you.
Dave, I don't recognize just those people you included, as valid people.
Wasn't your story about the world Dave? remember what I said about it depending on who "us" is? Well maybe that is your "us".
"[Your us]...is shaping up to be a minuscule drop in the bucket"...of the whole world." --me
21 - bliffle
The "War On Capitalism", history will show, was fought by capitalists. And they won: they destroyed capitalism!
Just another example of societal suicide. Just like communism.
IIRC, Oscar Wilde wrote:
"For each man kills the thing he loves
by each let this be heard,
the brave man does it with a sword
the coward with a word"
And we had a plentiful supply of wordy cowards.
22 - Dan(Miller)
Well, maybe it won't turn out as badly as Dave foresees it. Here is an inspirational article about a wonderful Utopian land where people who don't want to work live well and aren't dependent on capitalist slave drivers.
This brings tears to my eyes; such despair even in Utopia!Sadly, even some of those folks are not completely happy.
Dan(Miller)
Head bowed, shuffles despondently away to dream of a better place.
23 - Clavos
I think it's unconscionable that the Council forces those 10 people to live in a three bedroom house. Disgusting.
Does the British government lack all compassion?
I urge Secretary Sebelius to contact the Thompson family and offer to bring them to the US, where we can show them true compassion for the unfortunate among us. It may be difficult to find a 10 bedroom house, but the Department of HHS could easily build them one, perhaps a nice waterfront one (or even one on a beach) in Florida -- I'm sure they would feel much more appreciated than they do in London, and besides, the climate's better.
I've always known those Poms are selfish bastards. No wonder we revolted.
24 - Dave Nalle
Meanwhile, here in Texas 10 Mexicans voluntarily live in a 2 bedroom apartment, sleeping in shifts and saving enough money to send home to support their families, and they consider themselves lucky. And I find them inspirational.
Dave
25 - Dan(Miller)
Slavery is what it is, Sir. Slavery plain and simple. Despicable! But don't fret. When the Red Revolution Comes, and Sir Winston Churchill is exhumed and forced to smoke a three cent cigar*, there will be changes. These people will live in the lap of luxury they so richly deserve. And Nobody will have to pay a cent for it! Not only that, but they won't have to worry about buying gasoline or paying mortgages.
Dan(Miller)
*Surely someone must remember that Revolutionary song from just a few years back. No? Oh well.