The ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Are the Baddies

There’s been a profound societal change, and the once-fringe fascist far left is now a dominating political force — they are the wealthy pseudo-elites of Washington, and after decades of tyrannical abuse, the backlash is here.

In recent weeks, two cultural works have emerged from two disparate sources, essentially saying the same thing: Two weeks ago, David Brooks of the ever-erudite The New York Times penned “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?” in which he admitted the obvious (at least to everyone on the pro-freedom right). Then, Oliver Anthony exploded onto the scene with his “Ballad for the Real Forgotten Man” or, “Rich Men North of Richmond”. The song is a rhetorical broadside against unlimited government, the surveillance state, and the baddies of the self-styled political aristocracy that:

Just wanna have total control,

Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do,

What is interesting is that both are saying the same thing, one inadvertently, that we have a festering far-left controlling class that enriches itself at the expense of everyone else — as is the case with the top tier of every collectivist movement. While they profess to all manner of bovine soil enhancement in favor of equality or equity or whatever the buzzword is at the moment — like every other collectivist movement.

If you want to punish yourself by reading the screed from Mr. Brooks, you’ll find he admits that the upper crust of the far left always looks out for itself. In his commentary on the third set of Trump indictments, he predictably positions himself and his fellow socialists as the national heroes of his melodrama, bravely fighting the “monster” that is Trump and the forces of Trumpism:

In this story we anti-Trumpers are the good guys, the forces of progress and enlightenment. The Trumpers are reactionary bigots and authoritarians.

Surely we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge how humble and understated Mr. Brooks is with his approbation for the extreme left side of the political spectrum on which he falls. And of course, as is also typical of the “forces of progress and enlightenment,” he and his comrades never actually prove what the blazes they are talking about when they blithely toss off such accusations. They’re probably spending too many hours running around being the “good guy” to worry about such trivialities like candor and reputability.

The second work, one grounded in reality instead of theater, was Anthony’s ballad for the everyday American. The reaction to the song has been a cultural phenomenon, and so naturally, everyone on the pro-freedom right expected the anti-liberty left to lose it — but many of the usual suspects of the national socialist media maintained radio silence.

The ballad was also the latest in a series of cultural earthquakes, one after another, that we weren’t supposed to notice. (At least, those of us of the great unwashed.)

The Bud Light boycott wasn’t supposed to go anywhere; the men behind the curtain took a calculated risk, pushing the constant perversion of our basic values and our culture. They knew that a few activists would get upset, but they rolled the devil dice believing the din would quickly fade — it didn’t. Target learned that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall — sales tumbled, and the corporation is still reeling, having just reported its first sales decline in six years. They attacked Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town” with the universal smear when they’ve got nothing else: racism. Then, Sound of Freedom came out and the far left decided that they could thread the needle and attack the pro-freedom crowds — and diminish the gravity of child-trafficking — because of the way people are watching the movie. Yes, you read that correctly; from Vox:

Multiple left-wing critics have spent parts of their reviews of the film itself denigrating the way its fans are watching it….

Then the cultural supernova “Rich Men North of Richmond” came along and now the backlash shows that the fascist far-left is the party of the politically rich and well-connected — the controlling class. It has become the anthem for the rest of us and leftists don’t like it because it illustrates, in musical form, what they have become (but refuse to admit).

But aside from a few media sources in the music business that were almost obligated to comment on the song, the rest were strangely silent; the usual cancel culture pile-on doesn’t seem to be taking place. Some alleged conspiracies — which isn’t much of a surprise coming from the party of projection — fell flat. The other thing is that with few exceptions, they’re trying to avoid the issues (taxation, inflation, money printing, surveillance) that would implicate the politically wealthy far left.

For some reason, the few attacks are coming from the national socialist media sources of the U.K. One outlet highlighted the “fatphobic” criticism; another claims that an off-grid farmer in Virginia “punches down” so it’s “no surprise the right wing loves it.” They aren’t as familiar with the term “punch down” as much as they should be; the same holds for their use of “snobbery” to describe Rich Men North of Richmond’s message.

Still, others simply complain that it’s simply “terrible” while another went for the unique angle of listing out ten “conservative anthems” better than Anthony’s composition; among them was “Beat It” by Michael Jackson; seriously?

Leftists can’t seem to figure out the best line of attack, so they’re trying the ‘throw everything against the wall and hope something sticks’ approach — much akin to President Trump’s persecution. This is a cultural minefield for the left, and recent losses are exposing severe deficits, so they have to come up with something because Anthony’s song highlights what they are desperate to keep hidden. Inadvertently, this was made obvious by another piece which called the authenticity of the song into question by analogizing it to the 2009 film The Blind Side; negative rumors about the family that inspired the movie are currently swirling. Insinuating the meteoric rise was an opportunistic stunt, the article’s author writes that the song “is being hailed as the new anthem of the working class” — this alone should cause everyone to stop and think.

The left used to profess to be the party of counterculture.

The left used to profess to be the party of the working class.

The left used to profess to be the party for free speech and liberty — they were “liberal.”

Anti-liberty leftists were clearly lying when they professed all those things. It was all a ruse to attain power, and that is why they cannot abide a naked exposé of their dirty deeds.

The national socialist media is now attacking these counterculture phenomena, free speech, liberty, and the working class itself; and, they’ve always been lying about being liberal, progressive, or democratic for that matter.

This April, Axios ran a piece titled, “Dramatic realignment swings working-class districts toward GOP” and Sasha Stone commented on the news with her commentary, “The Democrats are Paper Tigers”; she noted:

They [Democrats] are haemorrhaging working-class voters, especially among groups they believe belong to them, like those in the Black and Hispanic communities.

So, you have a small cadre of the collectivist “leadership” that are politically wealthy and only look out for themselves — they are the baddies, or the “Rich Men North of Richmond.” It’s time for the rest of the country to recognize the enemy and reject the left.

D Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, the director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a long-time contributor to conservative websites.  Find him on Substack.