by E.R. Bills / March 4th, 2011
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is obviously not the sharpest tool in the Republican shed, but you can be sure of one thing: he’s read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Specifically, Chapter 14.
Walker knows that two workers are not as perplexed and vulnerable as one. Walker knows that a shared plight heartens the downtrodden. Walker knows that to faithfully serve his primary constituency, he has to try to keep downtrodden folks apart. Walker understands that, in the real world, “Davids” on their own almost never succeed against “Goliaths,” but they have a chance if they band together. Walker realizes that the thing to crush, destroy and, yes, even bomb, is two, three or a hundred Davids standing shoulder to shoulder willing to challenge him and his ilk.
Walker knows this, but—like Mubarak—he’s too late. The Davids are winning this round, and the people who run things are going to lose. It’s a small step in a single state, but lots of Davids in lots of states are paying attention. And the fear of their collective will is going to send Walker and those who fancied him a rich man’s messiah scurrying back to their bunkers to regroup.
It won’t do them any good, of course, because—as Steinbeck put it (and I’m paraphrasing)—their wealth has frozen them forever into the “I” approach to things and forever cut them off from the collective sense of “we.” This is why they loathe unions; this is why they despise the Democratic Party.
The mere utterance of the phrase “We’re in this together” makes them dash to the bank and make sure their money is secure. And critics of “income inequality” make them buy more guns.
They are the American equivalent of royalty and their paranoia and rapaciousness rule our puppet government.
E. R. Bills is a writer from Ft Worth, Texas. You can reach him at: erbillsthinks@gmail.com or visit the "E R Bills" page on Facebook. Read other articles by E.R..
This article was posted on Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 8:01am and is filed under
Democracy.
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