John Cory begins by recalling the words of Steinbeck: "When he began the book, he wrote: 'I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this.'"
From Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' (Florence Owens Thompson) series, Nipomo, California, early spring 1936. (photo: Dorothea Lange)
Beautiful Wisconsin
28 February 11
Reader Supported News | Perspective
hen he began the book, he wrote: "I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this."
It started three years earlier as a series of articles for the San Francisco News. He investigated camp life, and even drove Route 66 so he would know the terrain. He walked and talked with the people, capturing language and lives, and then put ink to paper.
The book was an immediate bestseller - revered and reviled - banned and bought. The corporate world denounced the author; the FBI compiled a file to track him, and radio and political pundits pummeled him. He was called a socialist, a communist, a propagandist, and for good measure, a socialistic communist propagandist agitator. One slur is never enough.
The book spent a year on the bestseller list and won a Pulitzer Prize. A year later it was turned into a movie. Twenty years after its publication, the author won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
John Steinbeck wrote "The Grapes of Wrath" to tell the story of the Great Depression. Of farmers turned into migrants, of every-day citizens turned into beggars, while the corporate owners grew fat and fierce and greedy for more. He wrote to give hope amidst the vicious and divisive tactics of corporations and to remind them and us: "... the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed."
At the end of the film version of "The Grapes of Wrath," Tom Joad lays it out: "... A fella ain't got a soul of his own - just a little piece of a big soul. The one big soul that belongs to everybody ..."
And there is the beauty of Wisconsin.
The big soul gathered together, just like the motto says, "From the many - one."
And that is the fear of the corporate sponsors of Gov. Walker and the would-be owners of America. The people. We, the people - coming together.
The facile mantra of "what's good for business is good for America" is nothing more than the promotion of indentured servitude. And if we accept it then we are truly lost.
The Wisconsin issue is not about politics, economics, or good governance. It is about stopping "we the people" from gathering together. It is about stirring envy and crisis in order to corporatize, consumerize, and conformitize the masses for the profit of the few, the rich - the privileged owners of America.
This is all about the separation of we, the people - divide and conquer - about turning neighbor against neighbor, scrabbling for crumbs while the corporation steals the loaf.
Where once we cheered 'united we stand, divided we fall,' we are now sold on 'looking out for #1.'
Steinbeck learned that those greedy bastards couldn't be shamed. They could be blocked if we banded together and supported one another in the battle for rights and equality and dignity.
What does it say about America when unions are more regulated, more controlled, and have more oversight than Wall Street, or corporations that profit from pollution and poison? What does it say about America that our Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are persons and money is free speech and therefore persons with lots of money have more free speech than persons without money?
The people of Wisconsin say different.
Wisconsin says that people matter, that we, the people matter, and that we, the people belong to one another and not the corporate states of America.
The banks and Wall Street profit from selling us a house and they profit from our mortgage debt by slicing it up in multiple slivers for investors to profit off our payments, and when our jobs go away, the banks and investors profit off foreclosure. Heads, they win. Tails, they win. And when we have nothing, they tell us we must sacrifice more in order to save The American Dream, Inc.
Tom Joad said: "They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat ... The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it."
Too big to fail. Too big to be managed. Too big to be held accountable.
The beauty of Wisconsin is that the people have no fear. The fear comes from the political puppets of corporate sponsorship. The people do not fear the power of the wealthy; the corporate lackeys fear the loss of power over we, the people.
Maybe it is true that the wealthy manipulators of the Tea Party and corporate conservatism of the modern GOP are taking America backwards, back to the Gilded Age of 1890. But we can only go backwards, even a single step, if we allow ourselves to be pushed without pushing back. And that is the beauty of Wisconsin.
"The great owner ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression ... For a man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments ... he may slip back, but only half a step, never a full step back ..."
That is what the barons of business fear most, and why they grab as much as they can, as fast as they can. They may not acknowledge that "little screaming fact" of history, but deep inside their soulless hearts and minds, they know it is coming. That is their fear - the fear of we, the people.
And that is the beauty of Wisconsin. Even in the snow, 70,000 - 100,000 people showed up this weekend. Thousands of people across the country did the same in their own communities in support of Wisconsin, regardless of whether the corporate media covered any of it.
The people know.
The people understand.
"... in the eyes of the people there is the failure: and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."
Beautiful Wisconsin.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
 20 May 2012
|
 20 May 2012
|
 22 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
 21 May 2012
|
 20 May 2012
|
 20 May 2012
|
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Apparently you've never found it necessary to become literate since you've obviously never read "The Grapes of Wrath." Those people cared for each other, often beyond what their means would allow. They worked together to try to gain bearable wages and decent respect from those who thought they were better than they. They fought the banks. They were treated like illegal immigrants and had to fight for a chance everywhere they went-except for the U.S. Government Camp, which was run by a committee made up of residents and was the best place they found.
You're apparently confusing Tom Joad with Glenn Beck.
A few years ago, under the Bush Regime, I saw this coming again and pulled out my copy of Steinbeck's classic for another lesson on the rich man's inhumanity to other men and what the rest of us will need to do to survive.
We already have the most income inequality in the industrialized world. The last time it was this bad was right before the Great Depression. As I used to say when George W. stole the presidency-"Those who flunked history will doom us to repeat it."
Now that corporations have either moved overseas (avoiding taxes and seeking slave wage labor) and your job (which used to be BETTER than the postman's or the teacher's or the snow plow operator's) is always AT RISK, you want to punish your neighbor?!?
We ALL pay for people who work for us, whether soldiers, US Senators, or teachers). They ALL contribute taxes, too. The hedge funder gets away with only paying 15% on billions of income - and NO Social Security or Medicare contribution. The oil companies enjoy "fake" depletion allowances and pay NO taxes on their billions in profits with no contributions for their "personhood" to Social Security and Medicare. And you want to punish your neighbor - because he and others around town negotiate together and say, "No, we deserve better conditions, need more health care cost assistance to insure the health of our families, or have to suffer large classes of spoiled, disrespectful children or gun toting outlaws."
You, lovell, speak with the words finely tuned by Koch money for Rush, Hannity, Beck, Ingram to manipulate your anger toward your friends and neighbors. THINK!
Unfortunately, the laws of Wisconsin say that we have to endure the jackass for a full year before we can recall. My fear is that he will have so much harm to our democracy by locking us out of the Capitol ILLEGALLY that our Democracy will not be recognizable!
That's where your 60% comes from.
The Bill Of Rights also gives us the RIGHT of free expression, the RIGHT to assemble, the RIGHT to form associations (A.k.a. Unions) and the RIGHT to petition our government for redress, A.k.a : BARGAINING. What Walker is doing not is un-American and is contrary to the spirit of the Bill of Rights, if not to the letter.
Quoting
Oh, Really? Only if he ILLEGALLY closes our Capitol, ILLEGALLY ignores a court order, ILLEGALLY confiscate pensions that the State has not contributed to. My pension, sir, came out of my salary before I could spend it. It is called DEFERRED COMPENSATION. Over the years, I have paid for 100% of what I'm receiving now. The State of Wisconsin does NOT contribute to the Employee Trust Fund, which is the entity that signs my retirement check. Educate yourself, sir before you write such drivel!
Funny how the Republicans rejected PRECISELY that line of argumentation on Obama's health care reforms, despite the Demcorats' sweep in 2008.
And so right on!-- It is time that we push back-- the rich and the greedy never really win- so many end up so unhappily--their children suffer- there are so many examples- the sad life of the recently deceased J.Paul Getty II- suffered so much because of his greedy father.
We have to take back our power-- only when there is a strong, powerful middle class, will the country be healthy again-
Bravo to Wisconsin- and their supporters everywhere.
to the people who understand that it is all about "e plurbus unum" and little else matters.
He can be recalled with the circulation of petitions beginning 11/3/11, and many of us are itching to carry them. We only hope that, first, the Democratic Senators can hold out in IL and second, that Walker and cohorts don't do too much damage before he's kicked out. Hmmm--perhaps there's a cosmic reason Russ Feingold is no longer in the U.S. Senate, despite his stated disinterest in executive office. Hmmm...
I'm from Texas. We don't have a single state-wide office that's not held by Republicans. Our Supreme Court is all Republican. They always side with big business.
We inflicted three Presidents on the rest of the nation. It's hard to tell who the least bad was but at least LBJ suffered for the mistakes he made. He dragged us into Vietnam because he was afraid the Republicans would say he was a chicken if he didn't, and they would have. The other two twits probably just did what they were told the whole time they were in the White House (and made some really profitable connections.)
From our experience with the nitwits and crooks we have here and from Wisconsins experience with Republican politicians who lied and sold out to the fat cats (surprise!!) let's all agree not to make the mistake of thinking that Republicans are out for anyone but themselves and the guys who bankroll them. Don't vote for Republicans no matter what lies they tell you. We see what they do all across the country when they get in office. They are not going to change their stripes.
Thankfully my friend and companion has drawn out his pension and took an early retirement so these crooks won't steal the money he worked for and put towards his retirement.
Those people like this fool who had the audacity to post these lies better wake up because if these people are willing to steal workers pensions your pension could be next.
What is the difference between a bank robber robbing people savings and these people robbing our pension funds ? Nothing they are both thieves and should be behind bars not elected officials or wealthy oil barons !
And would we be surprised to find out that Goldman Sachs was a major player in bringing on the Great Depression by selling fraudulent bonds? Read Matt Taibi's Griftopia to see how they've been behind most of the major Watt Street crime in this country and never get punished.
Fact is though, in concert with FDR many corporations came up with plans to keep from laying a lot of people off and the government created jobs through public infrastructure projects that did help people.
Republicans, your intentional delay of our nation's economic recovery will body slam you in 2012. And your attempts then to blame our first black president for the problem will also backfire, showing you are all lying bastards.
The Repugnant Repubs Senators in WI have voted to punish their Democratic colleagues to the tune of $100.00/day. The fact is that there is no law forcing a Senator to vote or to be present. They are just making the laws as they go. Should we start fining every Senator and Congressman who is absent for any vote? (State or Federal)
Another reader, A. Zide and I both believe you have to hit them in the wallet and start small. Stop buying Koch products. Start with Brawny towels, Sparkle glass cleaner and Northern tissue. You don't need them. Switch to something else.
I encourage everyone to close their BofA accounts and put their money into credit unions.
Small steps, but if you pass it along to everyone you speak with, it will start a domino effect. Then...we go from there. It's much better than just complaining.
Tom Joad was a symbolic character, who represented the youth and the future of Depresion era America. As he saw his future crumble, he was able to see through the facade of lies and greed that left him destitude.
America's true hope lies with the modern day Tom Joads. I pray our educators have provided our youth with the intellectual tools to see through the same facade we have today that existed in the 1930's. If not, then the Banks and the Corporations have succeeded.
Steinbeck was right - greedy bastards have always been around, and always seeking to be King of the Hill. Sadly, the GOP has become nothing but a toady for reactionary forces.
Maybe this will awaken Americans before it's too late.
A union member, a Tea Party member, and the CEO of a corporation are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies looks at the tea partier and says, "look out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie".
Future should never be a repeat of History but a chance to bring pieces of that time with us so we can make it better. Guess only the Real Americans learned the lesson.
Excellent Article, Mr Cory
Vote in 2012 please Dems for the Kockroaches can be overcome by our vote.
This is all about re-distribution of wealth thru De-regulation and Tax evasion of all kinds.
The Stockholder model is showing signs of cracking... Fascism is the Default of Capitalism under attack.
Thomas Paine would be proud as well Joe Hill but we have to get some serious changes made...nationalize: Banking, health care ins, Big AG, Transportation and Energy. Otherwise it will just be more of the same and with scum like the Neo-Libs in the Dirty House now - they (DLC maybe purged but they stench never goes away) have a tendency to con with alacrity.
i will never forget the Dorothy Lang photo Exhibition at the Getty/405 - what a sad documentary. And it's happening here and now.
Industrial Workers of the World
fw 371037
May more rise up and protest the injustices that have grown unbearable.
Some suggested placards:
Walker take a hike!
Do you RECALL voting for denying rights?
Recall the Gov.
Impeach Walker
--DMS
RSS feed for comments to this post.