Simple Truth about Simple Folk

Isn't amazing that that so many decades after the Kennedy image makers contrived Camelot as their symbol, we can once again return to that same Lerner and Loewe musical for understanding about politics in the present age?

It's a show stopper. Arthur and Guenevere singing "What do the Simple Folk Do."

What... do the simple folk do?
To pluck up the heart and get through?
The wee folk and the grown folk who wander to and fro
Have ways known to their own folk we throne folk don"t know.

Fast forward to Barack Obama at a fund-raiser explaining to those equally puzzled in the present day what the "Simple Folk" do.

The problem is not Obama, but the sad fact that his audience needed an explanation about how regular people lived.

The "Throne Folk" of merry old England are replaced by today's elites, who are just as out of touch. They are the self-declared royals who look with contempt at those who must do real work and struggle to make ends meet.

Many are the Silver Spoons. Others are those who were able to flourish by doing what they were told, without questioning their teachers. That way they were given the good grades which got them into the various country club universities, whose real intellectual specialty is networking.

By the time they enter adulthood, they have been largely insulated from the intrusions of humanity and wisdom that one only gets from the struggle to achieve.

Worst of all, they make that struggle harder. With their lock on access, they inherit power from those who successfully excluded everyone else. Their key for keeping their privilege is to make damned sure they do whatever they need to do to keep control of the levers of power.

It involves a lot of subterfuge, because we pretend that everyone has an equal voice. Those in our lower castes have a theoretical say in how things are done. They are fooled into accepting and supporting the very system that keeps them in their place.

So the insiders venture out saying and doing whatever it takes to win the prizes in the regularly schedule election masquerades.

Guenevere Clinton can be found, if necessary, acting like she's at home tossing back a shot and a beer. King William has often been able to play the regular guy role too, creating legends of his own.

As for Prince John McCain, he has certainly paid his hard dues, but now he's showing that he is comfortable with economic policies that keep the fat cats fat. That way, this man who has earned what he's gotten, gets to join those who have not.

The very premise of elitism is false. We don't really have an elite, no aristocracy, no meritocracy, no "tocracy" at all. The fact that we've created a false one explains why our rulers are taking our country down the tubes.

We do have millions of brilliant and accomplished people from all walks of life, geniuses in whatever they do.

But the truly intelligent are smart enough not to wall themselves off from the "Simple Folk".

Those who survive simply by the pretense of elegance bring to mind another song by the Blues band Fathead. It's called "First Class Riff Raff".

Comments

[RickO]

I don't live in Pennsylvania but I do feel like one of the "simple folk" Obama was talking about. I'm a musician and anyone who knows that business knows that each day is a struggle. You literally sing for your supper. It's a great occupation but doesn't come with a lot of benefits. When the Republicans tout their policies, it doesn't affect me. I am bitter, I feel voiceless, and I cling to what I know. It's not God or guns necessarily, but it is those similar visceral aspects of my own life that I do have control over. It's friends and musical expression.

When McCain speaks, it is hollow nothingness and abject bullshit. When Hillary speaks, she is looking down at me from some pedestal. When she says she'll "fight for me", I don't need anyone to fight for me and besides, Presidents shouldn't have to fight for me, they're the frikin' president. I can fight my own battles. Just give me something I can work with, someone I can trust.

When Obama speaks, he looks me in the eye and says to me, "If I'm president, with your help, I'll work to level the playing field so you can have fair fight." No one has ever said that to me before. I don't know if he can do it, but I believe him and I want to give him a shot because what he says speaks to me.

[definitelyNOTmisterRIGHT]

RickO, Beautifully stated. I agree with you, wholeheartedly. Keep up the good word!