an op-ed explaining why class-based campaigns don’t work in america. we’re all “pre-rich” here, cooling our heels as we wait for our lucky/worked-and-fought-for break. a funny way of thinking about it that actually rings true. i’ve never experienced much class resentment; i figured that’s cause i’ve never spent extended periods of time with underprivileged people. but if even the bulk of lower-income men can’t be persuaded to vote against the interests of the rich, there’s little hope for a serious grassroots revolutionary spirit. unless i guess it comes from the nonwhite sectors, people who still feel that the system is biased against them.
yesterday when searching for one thing i uncovered a twelve year old capital steps album, “sheik rattle and roll.” yelping with glee at the good timing of it, i brought a tape player into the kitchen and my father, my brother and i sat there listening to the whole album. some parallels are eerie — the looming iraq war, of course, being the paramount example, but also the deficiencies of the democrats, their inability to come up with a coherent, consistent, meaningful message, and the crookedness of the rich.
other songs were evocative just for the part they played in my growing-up. they certainly got my family through the first gulf war. they may have been my primary source of information, especially since, at the age of 9, i was bound to better absorb and understand anything sung than said. you can’t go wrong with rhymes.
overall it was quite a trip (down memory lane). remember those days of S&Ls?? i don’t!, but i sure do remember the songs.