The Christians were an English band in the late 80s. They had a Top 40 song in the UK called Hooverville (They Promised Us The World)...
Oh Hooverville, and they promised us the world,
In Hooverville, said the streets that were paved with silver and gold,
Oh Hooverville, yes they promised us the world,in Hooverville,
And as fools we believed every last word they said,
I believed every last word you said.
'Hooverville' was the name given to shanty towns, set up in the Great Depression, named after the Republican President of the time. Hooverville was as low as a man could go. Even Central Park in New York had one.
And now the tents are back. Welcome to Dubyaville.
More below the fold.
Once again, the greed-is-good philosophy sends the United States to the brink of collapse. So I want everyone here to do something for me.
Go to your local library, or bookstore, and get a copy of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes Of Wrath". It was set in the Great Depression, and tells the story of a prairie farm family and how big business throws them out of their home, and how businessmen take advantage of the downturn when they live in a California they can't afford to live in. How it turns proud working families into little more than working animals, fighting for slave wages.
I want you to get that book, and I want you to read every last word. From the proud homestead to the final scene where Roshasharn breast feeds a starving man, still trying to show hope in humanity after her own experience of giving birth to a stillborn child.
I would say we can't allow it to happen again.
But that would be bolting the stable door after the horse has left. Seattle, Washington has one now. Athens, Georgia. The outskirts of Reno, Nevada. Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. Fresno has a few tent cities.
New encampments have appeared, or existing ones grown, in San Diego, California, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Columbus, Ohio.
I wonder how many people there voted for Bush; people now thinking "yes they promised us the world in Dubyaville. And as fools we believed every last word they said. I believed every last word you said..."