Woody Guthrie and the Politics of Division

woody_guthrie_nyc1From the Writer’s Almanac: Today is the birthday of Woodrow Wilson — aka “Woody” — Guthrie, born in Okemah, Oklahoma (1912). Woody Guthrie never finished high school, but he spent his spare time reading books at the local public library. He took occasional jobs as a sign painter and started playing music on a guitar he found in the street. During the Dust Bowl in the mid-1930s, Guthrie followed workers who were moving to California. They taught him traditional folk and blues songs, and Guthrie went on to write thousands of his own, including “This Train Is Bound for Glory.” In 1940, he wrote the folk classic “This Land Is Your Land.”

America has always had its social problems associated with the intermixing of races, nationalities and social classes, but countering that, it’s had many wonderful people like Woody Guthrie who arose from obscurity to lead the downtrodden to a more hopeful place.

What’s altogether new, however, is the all-out war between those who are tolerant and compassionate towards people with brown skin … and those who aren’t; it’s a division that is becoming more prominent and aggravated with each passing month, and it’s driven almost exclusively by one thing: money-driven politics. Us vs. them in America is one big, long Super Bowl, spinning itself out 24 hours of every day, every week of every year.

The politics of division is important to both of the two main U.S. political parties, but it’s absolutely vital to the Republicans; they depend on it for its very existence.  Think of how irrelevant Trump, Evangelical Christianity, and the low-brow MAGA people would be like if there weren’t nearly 40% of voters who think that a wall on the southern border and the disestablishment of the federal government are essential to preserving the American way of life. Yes, you’d still have the high-brow super-rich, but, here’s a big problem: there are very few of them; they’d be powerless to achieve their huge tax breaks and the dismantling of government on their behalf if they didn’t have the support of the very people who are being so brutally raped by these policies.

It’s not impossible that we’ll have another Woody Guthrie coming along, but here’s the reason no one’s betting on it: the downtrodden don’t want one.  As Steinbeck noted, “In America the poor (white people) see themselves not as exploited proletariats but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” That was the case in the mid-20th Century, and now it’s made worse: the proletariats think their leader is making America great again.  The fact that their lives haven’t improved doesn’t seem to matter.

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2 comments on “Woody Guthrie and the Politics of Division
  1. marcopolo says:

    Craig,

    How very sad and tragically ironic.

    You must be feeling very desperate to invoke ancient leftist heroes like Woody Guthrie.

    The ironic tragedy of your absurd situation shines through your in your terminology. Your language revels your frustration and elitist bitterness at the behavior of those whom you regard as “low-Brow”, stupid and ungrateful “Proletarians”.

    Good grief, no wonder working class American’s have forsaken a political party dominated by hypocritical billionaires and smug self-righteous elitists.

    The US working class grew tired of condescension and being taken for granted by patronizing, corrupt politicians. Contrary to your opinion, they are not stupid, they chose a man who they can understand.

    The President has his faults, he’s boastful, vain, and at times crass and often employs awkward terminology. His redeeming qualities are he’s all too human, open, candid, astute, focused and insightful. The working class call this “Street Smart”.

    His flaws are understandable, even endearing. his faults are very ‘American”.

    They relate to him. He’s aspirational in ways they understand. They don’t believe anyone is “raping” them. Before his election blue collar jobs were disappearing. The working class, had become trapped in poverty and despair. President Obama was more concerned about his image, affluent suburban middle class and being and internationalist, globalized symbol.

    President Obama was more interested in the plight of workers in China, than Ohio.

    President Trump, in contrast, is very forthright about not giving a damn about the plight of workers in Jiangxi, Hunan or Guangxi, he cares about workers in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland. America first and always is his motto.

    The Trump administration has reduced unemployment to the lowest level in living memory. Hope and prosperity has returned to blue collars workers. Wages are slowly rising, without causing inflation. They have found a champion who doesn’t sneer at them, who doesn’t talk down to them as if they were naughty children, ‘deplorables’, or ungrateful “low brow” proletariat.

    They found a leader who shares their concerns, is nationalistic, cares about their needs.

    As long as he delivers on his promises (or tries to) he can count on their support, (46% is guaranteed). Even among rural voters who are bearing the brunt of the trade war with China, his support remains rock solid as these people understand the President’s policies are important in the long term.

    And yet, in your arrogance, you are unable to understand why he is a true “man of the people” and not you?

  2. marcopolo says:

    Craig,

    I made this item a separate post, because it once again raises the question of why you are unable to free yourself from the prison of your own prejudice ?

    The most under-reported story this week was President Trump quietly signing an executive order that could save as many as 43,000 lives of kidney patients.

    His order involved several compassionate measures. These measures include increasing the supply of available kidneys by as much as 50% by 2030.

    The President’s announcement speech was uncharacteristically modest, thoughtful and quiet. He was obviously deeply moved by the plight of these Americans and resisted all the reasons, lobbyists and bureaucratic hurdles that have deterred the last three Presidents.

    The President listened to a specialist from Johns Hopkins University at social dinner one evening who informed him over 100,000 Americans with kidney disease are awaiting donor transplants. About 20,000 Americans are awaiting transplants of other organs.

    The Professor told the President that number represents only a small percentage of a much larger figure. Many people are never counted. Most never bother with the transplant waiting list because, under the current system, their prospects of receiving a transplant are so low.

    (Last year, there were about 21,000 kidney transplants in the United States, but the transplant waiting list has remained stuck in the 90,000 to 100,000 person range for some years. If you are old, or even a young person in frail health, you won’t receive a kidney. Donor kidneys are reserved for more “deserving” recipients).

    It’s estimated that 43,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they don’t receive a life-saving kidney transplant. This exceeds the number of people who die in car accidents each year.

    The President was informed the shortage of kidneys and other organs is substantially, and probably fully, the fault of inhumane government regulations. The President shrewdly inquired if being rich solved the transplant problem, and was angrily informed that was correct.

    Within weeks President Trump had made inquiries and was informed by the bureaucracy basically it was true, only the very lucky or rich could be assured of the getting an urgent transplant. Since that would never affect the President or his family, what was the concern?

    The President asked “What have previous Presidents done?” “What did Obama do?” the reply was basically nothing the problem was not “urgent” and not newsworthy.

    President Trump replied angrily , “Either find the problem and fix it, or I will appoint people who can” ” not next month or next year, within one week”

    10 days later, President Trump signed an executive order with all the detailed accompanying machinery to implement, among other provisions, the remove the prohibition on any possible payment for lost wages or child care costs for those who donate organs to others.

    That’s has always been the primary objection making it so hard for the supply of kidneys and other organs to reach the people who need them. For a living donor, donating the kidney itself is not the problem, donors live a perfectly normal lives afterward while at the same time giving life itself to a second human being.

    The law forbade even insurance companies from covering legitimate expenses, which can be considerable. Also no tax breaks are available.

    As the President observed in his speech, “the actual supply has always existed, just vested interests prevented it happening for ordinary folk”.

    The President is also sending a bill to Congress that would go even further. The changes he proposes will permit a government payment to willing donors, thus increasing the supply of affordable kidneys and other organs for all who need vital transplants.

    The bill would also prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage (life or health) to donors or jacking up rates for living donors. Insurance companies could get tax credits to make up the losses.

    The spokesperson from Johns Hopkins University observed, “the long lines and dying patients have been going on a long time, at least since the 1980s. Any President could have fixed this, but none did. Until there was Trump”.

    ————————————————————————————-
    Now, I doubt anything could penetrate the Carapace of your prejudice, but down among the “”low brows’ and “deplorables”, these sort of Presidential actions are appreciated.

    His supporters understand The President’s motives and methods. They understand he often acts without regard for Party agenda, special interest groups or political niceties. He isn’t concerned about offending the rules of the Washington bureaucrats.

    This is Trump at his best, emotive, astute, effective and unafraid of anyone’s opinion but his own.

    They also understand, he doesn’t need to do this sort of stuff. He is rich enough not to ever need the provisions of this executive order. His actions were modest and even unassuming because like his religious practices, this sort of action isn’t something he brags about.

    Trump often boasts about inconsequential stuff. His boasts are often pointless and inane, sometimes just an over reaction to criticism better ignored. Yet he has a deeper side. Actions such as these, where he is quite modest and even shy of revealing a more compassionate Trump.