This Land is Your Land

(Revised 8-6-2008)

In the 1930s, Woody Guthrie wrote and sang the great folk song, This Land Is Your Land, but today most people do not know it was and is a protest song.

Woody, bless his soul, was pointing out how the wealthiest few had come to own more and more of the land, control most of the wealth of the nation, and treat everyone else more and more unfairly. And that has once again become increasingly the case during the last 28 years, even more during the last 18 years, and especially during the last 7 years.

Most Americans now forget or don’t realize that there are three verses to that song that are either ignored or just not sung now:

"As I went walking I saw a sign there. And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." But on the other side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me."

"In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people. By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking, Is this land made for you and me?"

"Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway; Nobody living can ever make me turn back. This land was made for you and me."

The wealthiest few hated Woody Guthrie for that, just as they hated everyone else who was speaking up and advocating for the working poor, the poor, and the least of their brethren.

In the 1930s the wealthiest few hated people like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joe Hill, Paul Robeson, Josh White, Dorothea Lange, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others who were pointing out injustice and advocating "left-wing liberal" progressive values, which are in fact the most empathetic, compassionate and charitable Christian values.

In those days, the good progressive advocates were accused of being "Communists." In fact, throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, and particularly in the ‘50s and ‘60s the most corrupt of the Republicans, who were advocates for the rich, accused good liberal progressives of being Communists, and were quite successful in slandering advocates for the poor and working poor. (See the page on Little Known American History.)

It’s pretty much the same today, except now the rich Republicans accuse liberal, progressive advocates of the working poor and the poor of being "unpatriotic," or of "starting class warfare." But the truth is that right-wing Republicans, the advocates for the wealthiest few, have been waging political-economic war against the poor and the working poor, particularly since the 1930s. And right-wing Republicans mistakenly think patriotism means fighting to gain or maintain private wealth, power and domain, not advocating for equality and justice for all.

That’s why Woody Guthrie’s song is quite relevant once again, and it’s been growing more and more relevant for the last two and a half decades since the dark cloud of Reaganism and Bushism has increasingly blocked the sun from the vast majority of people, while increasingly enabling the wealthiest few to live more and more luxuriously and bask in the sun. (See the page on Poverty: America’s Hidden Shame.)

After all, because the wealthiest few have been enabled to make or inherit their vast fortunes and control most of the wealth, they have drastically changed our economy. They’ve been able to purchase the most prime real estate, and drive the working poor and the poor out of many areas. Gentrification is dispersing the urban poor into overcrowded suburban areas, and even into trailer homes and campers. And while the wealthiest few can easily afford college tuition costs of $50,000 per year and higher, it is rapidly making college education a privilege of the "upper" class.

Meanwhile, the majority of us grow less and less financially secure, and in growing instances we are even deprived of beauty and pleasure. The wealthy are buying up real estate for vacation homes in resort areas, driving up prices and driving out the working poor. Bleachers in stadiums and arenas are shrunk so more extremely expensive "skybox suites" can be constructed to cater to the wealthy. The prices of all entertainment keep rising, which is gradually making it unaffordable for the working poor, and even for the lower middle income population.

That’s why the Pew Research Center has found that happiness is unequally distributed. Most people earning more than $150,000 a year describing themselves as "very happy," while that is not the case with most of us. Most Americans are not as happy as the people in several other countries that enjoy much greater equality and fairness, including countries like Denmark, Iceland and Norway, which rank highest on the happiness index.

Ironically, in America all this is actually and inevitably causing discomfort for the wealthy too. As prices for real estate, goods and rent soar higher and higher in resort areas and towns with service-oriented economies, the farther away its service workers have to live, which causes traffic congestion and commute problems.

The good news is that this "bubble" too will burst. One way or another, this inequity, unfairness and corruption will come to an end. And the wealthy will ultimately realize why I say that as you treat the working poor, the poor, and the least of our brethren, so you treat me and the Lord God who I serve.

I should add that just as Woody Guthrie’s song, This Land is Your Land, is misunderstood by many people, so is Bruce Springsteen’s song, Born in the U.S.A.

Most people don’t hear the verses, they just hear the chorus, which says "Born in the U.S.A.," repeated three times. But here are the verses people don’t hear.

Born down in a dead man's town. The first kick I took was when I hit the ground. You end up like a dog that's been beat too much, 'Til you spend half your life just covering up.

I got in a little hometown jam. And so they put a rifle in my hands. Sent me off to Vietnam To go and kill the yellow man.

 Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me." I go down to see the V.A. man. He said "Son don't you understand."

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn Fighting off the Viet Cong. They're still there, he's all gone. He had a little girl in Saigon. I got a picture of him in her arms.

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary. Out by the gas fires of the refinery. I'm ten years down the road Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go.

Bruce is a good man, but many songs are sung to the air, because many people hear only what they want to hear.

(This article was inspired by Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, This Land is Your Land.)