"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." - Mark Twain
"All of them agreed that the working-classes must be kept in their place; and all of them perceived that American Democracy did not imply any equality of wealth, but did demand a wholesome sameness of thought, dress, painting, morals, and vocabulary." Babbitt 1922 Sinclair Lewis
My dear friend and fellow Kossack, Charlotte Lucas, has encouraged me to broaden my reading list. Among the authors she suggested were Sinclair Lewis and Booth Tarkington. They are contemporaries, and both wrote fiction that addressed important issues of their day. Two works that stand out to me are Lewis' Babbitt and Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons. (Both are available in multiple formats, free, at The Gutenberg Project, links below.) Babbitt particularly struck me as a "rhyme" for our current situation. We see George Babbitt as a middle-aged businessman who takes a little side trip into his liberal college days, including a romantic dalliance (sorry, no steamy scenes), only to be recaptured by the conventions of his marriage and business interests. As I read along, I couldn't believe that the author was saying some of the same things we hear almost daily now. A slight tweak of the prose, and one would think she was reading a recent work.
George Babbitt is a middle-aged realtor who also does a little land speculation. He's got a wife, two teenagers, a nice house in the 'right' area, and is a regular pillar of the community. More than anything, though, he is a 'modern' businessman. Efficiency is almost a religion among his fellow businessmen.
"A good labor union is of value because it keeps out radical unions, which would destroy property. No one ought to be forced to belong to a union, however. All labor agitators who try to force men to join a union should be hanged. In fact, just between ourselves, there oughtn't to be any unions allowed at all; and as it's the best way of fighting the unions, every business man ought to belong to an employers' association and to the Chamber of Commerce. In union there is strength. So any selfish hog who doesn't join the Chamber of Commerce ought to be forced to." Babbitt 1922 Sinclair Lewis
I'm sure I don't have to point out the incredible irony of the previous citation. Much like our present-day GOP and 'baggers, George sees no irony or hypocrisy in that statement. Business is important and those pesky worker bees are simply a necessary evil. Keep them isolated and ignorant, and build a strong businessman's organization to maintain that very circumstance.
The League [The Good Citizens' League] was of value to the American Legion at a time when certain of the lesser and looser newspapers were criticizing that organization of veterans of the Great War. One evening a number of young men raided the Zenith Socialist Headquarters, burned its records, beat the office staff, and agreeably dumped desks out of the window. All of the newspapers save the Advocate-Times and the Evening Advocate attributed this valuable but perhaps hasty direct-action to the American Legion. Then a flying squadron from the Good Citizens' League called on the unfair papers and explained that no ex-soldier could possibly do such a thing, and the editors saw the light, and retained their advertising. When Zenith's lone Conscientious Objector came home from prison and was righteously run out of town, the newspapers referred to the perpetrators as an "unidentified mob." Babbitt 1922 Sinclair Lewis
We have been here before. We shouldn't have to do this all again, but it appears that that is exactly what's in store for us. Bashing each other isn't quite what it will take to do the enormous job we have ahead of us. I don't know why our species (and our particular, American brand of it) is so unutterably stupid, but whining about that isn't going to change it. It is going to take all of us, and maybe our children, to fix what has gone so terribly wrong.
The longest struggle of the Good Citizens' League was against the Open Shop--which was secretly a struggle against all union labor. Accompanying it was an Americanization Movement, with evening classes in English and history and economics, and daily articles in the newspapers, so that newly arrived foreigners might learn that the true-blue and one hundred per cent. [The] American way of settling labor-troubles was for workmen to trust and love their employers. Babbitt 1922 Sinclair Lewis
Although I'd say our adversaries have advantages that their predecessors did not have, such as the instantaneous media with which to indoctrinate and saturate those who would buy the tripe they're selling, we retain one advantage: there are still more of 'us' than there are of them. As they cater to smaller and smaller groups of those in the rarified upper class, that leaves more of us who are just ordinary folks. While they look on us with dismissive scorn, we must use our enormous numbers and incredible creativity to push back. Eventually, they will fall of their own weight, but it won't hurt us a bit to nudge them over the edge.
"They're getting so they don't have a single bit of respect for you. The old fashioned coon was a fine old cuss--he knew his place--but these young dinges don't want to be porters or cotton-pickers. Oh, no! They got to be lawyers and professors and Lord knows what all! I tell you, it's becoming a pretty serious problem. We ought to get together and show the black man, yes, and the yellow man, his place. Now, I haven't got one particle of race prejudice. I'm the first to be glad when a n----r succeeds--so long as he stays where he belongs and doesn't try to usurp the rightful authority and business ability of the white man."
"That's the i.! And another thing we got to do," said the man with the velour hat (whose name was Koplinsky), "is to keep these damn foreigners out of the country. Thank the Lord, we're putting a limit on immigration. These Dagoes and Hunkies have got to learn that this is a white man's country, and they ain't wanted here. When we've assimilated the foreigners we got here now and learned 'em the principles of Americanism and turned 'em into regular folks, why then maybe we'll let in a few more." Babbitt 1922 Sinclair Lewis
Demonizing the "other" isn't new, but we'd deceived ourselves into thinking we'd made it passé. It's frustrating to have to refight these battles, but it's also critical that we do. I hope it's helpful that there are still many of us around from the last struggle. Maybe we won't have to start from square one...
The Magnificent Ambersons is the story of the rise and fall of a powerful family over the span of just three generations. When I was young, my folks had rich friends who were just as common as an old shoe. They moved into a duplex in our very working class neighborhood and educated us on the facts of "old" money. They would never drive a Cadillac or a Lincoln – too much flash without any added benefit. A Mercury or a Buick was just fine, thank you. They did not have to work, but they DID do so. Their big rule was "never touch the principal." By working and using only the interest on their trust, they maintained a comfortable but in no way lavish lifestyle. Anyone who spent money unnecessarily was/must be "nouveau riche."
The Ambersons are a perfect illustration of what my parents' friends were talking about. It's painful and frustrating to see young Georgie grow up with such a sense of privilege that the term 'riff-raff' is an integral part of his vocabulary before he hits his teens. He becomes a heartless and socially awkward man in a family where 'work' is, indeed, a four-letter word. His plans for the future include college, with nothing so banal as an occupation to follow. This boy from the Midwest wants to be a yachtsman. His uncles have no real occupation at all. One takes a turn as a politician, and the other does pretty much nothing at all. The following excerpt is from a party scene when he is home from school during the Christmas holiday (I think):
"That's my Uncle George Honourable George Amberson. I thought everybody knew him."
"He looks as though everybody ought to know him," she said. "It seems to run in your family."
If she had any sly intention, it skipped over George harmlessly. "Well, of course, I suppose most everybody does," he admitted—"out in this part of the country especially. Besides, Uncle George is in Congress; the family like to have someone there."
"Why?"
"Well, it's sort of a good thing in one way. For instance, my Uncle Sydney Amberson and his wife, Aunt Amelia, they haven't got much of anything to do with themselves—get bored to death around here, of course. Well, probably Uncle George'll have Uncle Sydney appointed minister or ambassador, or something like that, to Russia or Italy or somewhere, and that'll make it pleasant when any of the rest of the family go travelling, or things like that. I expect to do a good deal of travelling myself when I get out of college." The Magnificent Ambersons 1918 Booth Tarkington
By the time Georgie is an adult, the family fortune has been lost to bad investments or squandered by the prior generation. I won't give away the ending, but he does have a love interest (to whom he is sort of engaged for eons), who refuses to marry him, and he ends up, not on a yacht, but somewhere VERY different.
I'd encourage you to put these on your reading list. They are good books, in and of themselves, but they can be a little frustrating to read. Knowing that we've been through all this before makes it a lot tougher to tolerate it now. I always did favor free verse. Knowing this particular "rhyme of history" makes me understand exactly why.
As far as I know, these works are in the public domain, and therefore, may be quoted freely. Babbitt is here, and The Magnificent Ambersons is here. I'd also recommend the works of Upton Sinclair, whose classic work, The Jungle, is (or was) standard fare in most literature courses. His other works are equally good and some are a little less overtly depressing to read. You can find them on Gutenberg by doing a search on the author.