Weary, Stale, Flat

Dunkirk NY –

O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on’t! ah fie! ’tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.

I am so depressed this morning with the passing of the so-called American Health Care Act by the Republican Congress last night, not to mention that the Congress also repealed the “Work and Save” plans last Monday, plans which would have more easily set up retirement savings plans for workers in small businesses. I realized that I have lived through a time where the corporations of America once provided pensions and health care, to a time when corporations now provide neither of those things.

We no longer live in a democracy; we live in an oligarchy as bad as any oligarchy you can name in history. Consider this political cartoon entitled “The Laughter of the Gods” from Puck magazine in 1909:

header_essay-laughter-of-the-gods-27577u

It’s a bit difficult to read, so here is what it depicts:

  • The men on the left and the right are the “Republican Boss” and “Democratic Boss” respectively.
  • The man in the top hat is “Privileged Interests.”
  • The man second from the left next to Republican Bosses is labeled “Dive Keeper” as far as I can tell. I am not sure of that reference; it could either refer to landlords or to saloon owners.
  • The little guys in the ring carry broadsheets labeled “Democratic Principles” (left) and “Republican Principles” (right).
  • The Quote from the Big Four says, “Let ’em argue! If they stopped talking they might begin thinking, and then where would we be?”

Things have come full circle. When the robber baron monopolies of the turn of the last century were busted up, the Depression and the post-Depression era became eras for the average person, and oligarchs had a little bit of a vacation. But they have come roaring back in this century with a vengeance. The inequality of wealth distribution in this country is phenomenal, and I fear it will continue for some time. I am also pretty sure that the whole mess has to completely break down before change will be enacted, which will be another painful era in America’s ongoing story. We came damn close in 2007-08, and the next time it happens we may not be able to stop it. The oligarchical corporations have such a fixed and firm hold on everything that it’s difficult to imagine a way out. Like Hamlet, I find life becoming “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.”  -twl