Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pepper Spray

The Agrarian tradition in America is basically conservative (not the fake conservatism of the likes of Hannity or Fox news), but it simultaneously harbors a broad populist streak that dislikes concentrations of power and wealth. I think many of the OWS crowd is clueless about solutions, but they are right that something is wrong. The banks own the government. Supporting the big business/big government alliance is neither conservative or agrarian. I have never known a farmer that did not regard bankers as somewhat akin to groundhogs-- basically a costly nuisance but in really hard times you might be able to eat a young fat one. I don't care much for public protests but I like injustice a whole lot less. Pepper spraying peaceful hippies at the behest of big banks is just plain wrong. I am glad I am not the only one who feels that way.... Great New Song by Rick Saenz in the rural populist tradition. Give a listen!

5 comments:

Rick Saenz said...

Wow, thanks for the kind words!

We're in dangerous territory when our politics prevent us from looking at a situation and saying to ourselves, "That ain't right." My admiration for Peter Rowan, card-carrying liberal and free spirit, shot up tremendously when he wrote the song "Ruby Ridge," which does no more than tell the story of the confrontation from Randy Weaver's point of view. He took a lot of heat for it from his liberal audience, and his response was "Well, I'm not especially fond of white supremacists, but I'm not fond of government-sponsored murder either."

It's a tricky thing writing a song like "Pepper Spray," which can be taken as sloganeering for one side. But I tried hard to keep the focus on a simple, apolitical question: where should a paid agent of the authorities draw the line?

The Midland Agrarian said...

Rick,
I think you got the balance you were seeking in that song.


Thanks for the Peter Rowan story.

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