We Are The Neo Peasants
Stan Grimes
March 08, 2009
"I heard the news today oh boy about a lucky man who made the grade (Beatles)." Fact is, I havenīt heard much good news lately. Old gray-haired men fighting in our nation's capitol because they each have some misguided ideology and to hell with the will of the American people. That same attitude failed when the Boston Tea Party succeeded. 12 ― million people out of work and none of them are politicians.
I heard the news today about tent cities cropping up in certain regions in our country. Why? Are we now a third-world country? Our homeless shelters are bursting at the seams. Why? Wall Street Executives are sleeping well tonight. After cocktails during a dinner of shrimp and sirloin letīs cozy up in front of the fireplace and feel sorry for the peasants.
Is that what we have become, peasants? John Lennon in his controversial song, "The Working Class Hero," speaks of modern classism. We have our niceties, our televisions, computers, cell phones, "but you still look like peasants to me." Interesting thought I think. Have we degenerated to the scale of rich and poor? We once were middle class, but itīs just a name, just a label. Maybe we really are simply peasants. No different than the ones in some Charles Dickensī novel with one exception, we have more toys. But, we have no more say so in our lives. We are the smallest of birds flying around in the cages of aristocracy with only a resemblance to freedom.
Unemployment at 8.1 % and Iīm out of work. If not for my wife, we would be joining the tent cities, living with a relative, or simply living in our car. We, like so many others, are hanging on to our mortgage and eating what we can purchase at wholesale grocery stores. This is not the position I had hoped for at the age of sixty-three. I had hoped to be a best selling author living the good life. The baby boomers wanted a better life and worked for a better life, but are the ideas of a "better" life just an illusion created by media advertisements and government lies? The thought begs attention.
Republicans and even some Democrats are slinging the word socialism around like it was spit on a griddle, but are we not close to the dreaded "S" word ism? The government is slowly buying out our banks and small banks are failing. We will soon subsidize failed mortgages. We have Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. What part of these programs is not a form of socialism?
If I may repeat John Lennonīs revelations "You all look like peasants to me." I hope that anyone following me in the soup line will explain the difference, because Iīm feeling like a peasant and nothing more.
I heard the news today about tent cities cropping up in certain regions in our country. Why? Are we now a third-world country? Our homeless shelters are bursting at the seams. Why? Wall Street Executives are sleeping well tonight. After cocktails during a dinner of shrimp and sirloin letīs cozy up in front of the fireplace and feel sorry for the peasants.
Is that what we have become, peasants? John Lennon in his controversial song, "The Working Class Hero," speaks of modern classism. We have our niceties, our televisions, computers, cell phones, "but you still look like peasants to me." Interesting thought I think. Have we degenerated to the scale of rich and poor? We once were middle class, but itīs just a name, just a label. Maybe we really are simply peasants. No different than the ones in some Charles Dickensī novel with one exception, we have more toys. But, we have no more say so in our lives. We are the smallest of birds flying around in the cages of aristocracy with only a resemblance to freedom.
Unemployment at 8.1 % and Iīm out of work. If not for my wife, we would be joining the tent cities, living with a relative, or simply living in our car. We, like so many others, are hanging on to our mortgage and eating what we can purchase at wholesale grocery stores. This is not the position I had hoped for at the age of sixty-three. I had hoped to be a best selling author living the good life. The baby boomers wanted a better life and worked for a better life, but are the ideas of a "better" life just an illusion created by media advertisements and government lies? The thought begs attention.
Republicans and even some Democrats are slinging the word socialism around like it was spit on a griddle, but are we not close to the dreaded "S" word ism? The government is slowly buying out our banks and small banks are failing. We will soon subsidize failed mortgages. We have Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. What part of these programs is not a form of socialism?
If I may repeat John Lennonīs revelations "You all look like peasants to me." I hope that anyone following me in the soup line will explain the difference, because Iīm feeling like a peasant and nothing more.