Note, this piece appeared late last week. I am reposting it because it’s just so excellent and I want more people to read it. — efc
Judith Gayle | Political Waves
The American oligarchy spares no pains in promoting the belief that it does not exist, but the success of its disappearing act depends on equally strenuous efforts on the part of an American public anxious to believe in egalitarian fictions and unwilling to see what is hidden in plain sight. — Michael Lind, To Have and to Have Not
I know what drives the Teabagger movement. I get their anxiety and despair, their outrage and desire to turn back the clock to easier times. Both of my talented sons are unemployed — one with kids and an exhausted wife hustling two little jobs; one out of work for over two years, picking up an occasional buck as a handyman.
Here in the Patch, the leaks in the roof that escalated to full-blown waterfalls in October took on dire overtones with the snow load. I now have a lodge pole in the living room, wedged to keep the roof in place — since I won’t be addressing that challenge anytime soon, I haven’t decided whether to hang things on it or carve it as a totem. It will be interesting to see what new decorating options the Spring rains bring.
I know what drives the anger. Within the Bagger movement, many are old enough to have heard about the Great Depression and some even lived through it as kids, telling tales of meager meals and shabby clothes. The ripple effect drove the generation that produced the Boomers to strive for stability, security, and resulted in stuff. Remember “Two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot?”