The Rich Have No Sympathy or Use for the Poor

W.J. Astore

Oliver Anthony Strikes A Chord with “Rich Men North of Richmond”

A working-class song has gone viral. Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” is a lament for the state of the working classes in America: long hours, low pay, dead-end jobs, even as “the rich men north of Richmond” make the real money on the backs of the working poor.

Here’s a link to the video, which just screams sincerity:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sqSA-SY5Hro?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Naturally, his song is drawing attention—and criticism. NBC News calls it a “conservative anthem” because I guess there are no liberals or progressives or even moderates who are working class and who can relate to the song. Also, NBC is at pains to criticize Anthony for making a quick reference to obese welfare moochers, which is fair enough, I suppose, though it’s not the point of his song.

This is what Anthony had to say (also at NBC News): In an introduction videouploaded to his YouTube channel a day before the song’s release, Anthony said that his political views tend to be “pretty dead center” and that both sides “serve the same master.”

He said he used to work 12-hour shifts six days a week and today continues to meet laborers struggling to make ends meet. 

“People are just sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he said. “So yeah, I want to be a voice for those people.”

Amen to that, Mr. Anthony. My father knew his pain. Before he became a firefighter, my dad worked in factories doing hard physical work. He told me the harder the work, generally the lower the pay you earn in America. So-called “shit” jobs like cleaning motel rooms, being a waiter or waitress, digging ditches and working as a “common” laborer, are looked down upon despite how tough and necessary they are.

As I said, my dad knew the score, as he recounted in a journal he left me about his life. One time, he organized with a few other men for a pay raise at the factory. Here’s what my dad had to say about that experience:

A five cent an hour pay raise

It seems that Mike Calabrese on his own asked Harry Gilson for a pay raise and he was refused.  Mike decided to organize the men members and go down in a group.  In our group he got ten men to approach Harry G. for a raise.  But when it was time to “bell the cat” only three fellows went to see Harry.  Well Mike said he couldn’t join the group because he had already tried to get a raise.  I knew I was being used but I was entitled to a raise.  Well Harry said to me, “What can I do for you men?”  So I said to Harry: 1) Living costs were going up; 2) We deserved a raise.  So Harry said, “How much?”  and I said ten cents an hour would be a fair raise.  So he said I’ll give you a nickel an hour raise and later you’ll get the other nickel.  We agreed.  So, I asked Harry will everyone get a raise and he replied, “Only the ones that I think deserve it.”

Well a month later I was drinking water at the bubbler [water fountain] and Harry saw me and said what a hard job they had to get the money to pay our raises.  Well, Willie, Harry Gilson and his brother Sam and their two other Italian brother partners all died millionaires.  No other truer saying than, “That the rich have no sympathy or use for the poor.”

My dad’s experience was roughly 80 years ago, but his sentiment is echoed by Oliver Anthony’s song today. This has nothing to do with conservatism and everything to do with giving workers a fair shake in America. It’s not a left-right, Democrat-Republican, issue: it’s a class issue, a moral issue, and a matter of life and death for so many people struggling across America.

We need more people to raise their voices, whether in song like Oliver Anthony or for pay raises like my dad.

11 thoughts on “The Rich Have No Sympathy or Use for the Poor”

  1. Thanks for this analysis. I thought of my own working class origins and the struggles of my neighbors when I saw a video of Oliver Anthony earnestly performing his anthem.

    For me, his taking a potshot at the passengers on Epstein’s “Lolita Express” was unexpected but appropriate as those flights were indeed full of “rich men north of Richmond.”

    His fat shaming and potshot at welfare recipients were more predictable and will make the audience assume he is a MAGA type though he says he is not.

    Most of all I thought about Chris Hedges’ ongoing attempts to get affluent readers to understand that the economic pain of white working class people is generational at this point and we ignore it at our peril. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/01/chris-hedges-forgotten-victims-of-americas-class-war/

    That many have been tricked by our corporate overlords into blaming fellow victims (i.e. working class people of color, migrants, welfare recipients) doesn’t help them in their struggle to survive, but it does provide an opportunity to divide and conquer.

    A recent visitor to rural Maine wanted to know what all the Confederate flags were about. Hard to be in solidarity with someone glorifying white supremacist government from 150 years ago.

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    1. Yes, I saw a lot of Confederate battle flags in rural Pennsylvania. There’s an element of racism there for sure, but also one of protest against a system that has failed/abandoned them. Basically, it’s become a symbol of rebellion for many, and also as an “anti-woke” symbol. I’d guess that if you mentioned racism to the people who fly these flags, they would deny it. Some maybe even voted for Obama.

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      1. While the flags may not be as prominent now, the sentiments still survive. My neighbor across the street proudly boasts a “Lions Not Sheep” decal on her vehicle and a “Trump was Right” sign on her front lawn. As I noted years ago, referring to a sign welcoming people to South Williamsport as you leave the Market Street Bridge and enter the borough, if many living here could get away with it, added to the bottom would be “if you’re not white, stay out.” My kids were well aware of the veiled racism as they remember the lack of ethnicity in their schools at the time.

        And just today, I was reading a comment on Next Door where people in this area were again saying if you can’t live on just one job, then get two or three, i.e., people on assistance are the problem. Obviously, it’s not corporate welfare, bloated military budgets, ineffectual politicians that fight term limits because they would have to work for a change, etc.

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        1. Yes, one full-time job should be enough to live a comfortable life. No one should have to get two or three jobs just to make ends meet.

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  3. Who really won the Civil War? Our nation practices Plantation Capitalism keeping the majority of the population as wage slaves as they sing in the fields, “We’re the Greatest Country in the World”

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    1. Oh, that’s a touchy comment! I posted something similar in response to a FB meme (that slavery was not really abolished given the cries against raising the minimum wage along with the use of free or close to free prison labor while allowing conditions similar to long “abolished” slavery) and was called out by one person (while most agreed) who said there is nothing remotely close to real slavery.

      Who won the Civil War? Great question.

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  5. The rich have used and abused the poor since the beginning of time. The poor have always been treated as less than. It’s that lack of concern that will be the downfall of society. Just as it was for the Mayans, Toltecs, Egyptians and the Romans. All those amazing civilizations brought down by the ineptitude and greed of the ruling class. I expect us to go the same way. I just hope I’m not still here to see it.

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