Rich Men North of Richmond

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He says he sits right on the center. The lyrics seem to talk about alienation, low wages, a dead-end job, and out of touch politicians. Similar themes have appeared in songs for decades and decades.

TBH the song sounded a bit like Born in the USA.

Except that song was written by a rich man from north of Richmond and it doesn’t have neo-Confederate Bircher lyrics.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A “hero of the far right” blames his problems on heavyset women (because of course no men are 5’ 3” in the heroic sub-Richmond) on welfare and anyone is supposed to take this seriously? Really OP?

Angry white dude is misogynist, news at 11

It's because those are mostly the women who want to go out with him.

Where did he say anything about women in his song?

How many men are 5’3”?

Enough. About 10%.

Not in America. But sure let’s say it’s 10% You think he’s writing about men?

He is writing about obese people using their food stamps to purchase junk food that makes them more obese. Do you not get that? Do you not understand that he is slamming government programs that actually encourages this by putting few restrictions on the kind of food they can purchase?

He says nothing about change to government programs. He talks about obese people on food stamps.

How many of his ardent fans absolutely hated Michelle Obama’s efforts to make school lunches healthier? Bloomberg’s suggestion to tax sodas?

not sure his “ardent fans” would have been that focused on Bloomberg’s position on soft drinks. That’d more of an inside DC obsession.

New York.

But my broader point is, when there have been efforts to make taxpayer funding focus on healthy food, conservatives mocked it, resisted it, and hated it. Trump even rolled back the draconian provision that…required children be served fruits and vegetables.

So no, I don’t buy that now he’s just so upset about taxpayer dollars buying fudge rounds when he was telling to support taxpayer dollars buying pizza rolls.

When someone comes out with a song about worker and workplace protections, genuine tax relief for families, and sure even tackling making sure the poor have adequate access to healthy food, I hope there’s a thread about it— I can get behind it!

NYC but cheered on by DC policy people. He doesn’t seem to see the world through a center-left policy prism that revolves around government. I know that’s hard to imagine … but maybe just try?

Right— he seems to be mad at government for not mandating taxpayer dollars fund fruits and vegetables. Except
his supporters were also mad about…mandating taxpayer dollars fund fruits and vegetables.

Nope. Fruits and vegetables do not appear anywhere in his lyrics.

He’s worked up about his tax dollars and fudge rolls. Either he doesn’t believe in poor people having food assistance (good conservative position) or he thinks government should only fund nutritious food, which is Michelle Obamas position from 2014 that all the republicans hated. Pick a lane.

That’s your dichotomy, not his.

Just a basic familiarity with the political history beyond the Trump years show this as just the same old inconsistency.

huh?

If you remember or read about the Reagan years, you know there was “welfare queens” people were all worked up about— they did not exist.

Is you remember or read about the Obama years you know there was a concerted effort to target childhood obesity and make taxpayer dollars fund nutritious food for school children— two efforts which were vehemently opposed by republicans.

So some guy showing up and saying oh my god people are obese and tax dollars fund unhealthy food and pretending he’s original or that this isn’t something done deliberately by republicans is…either very misinformed, poorly read, or a hypocrite.

You remember a president named William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton? He signed a welfare reform bill supported by, among other groups, the DLC. I’m still not sure what nutritious school lunches have to do with it. If you read and/or listen to the lyrics, he’s pointing to a country that tolerates the unhoused not having anything to eat, while simultaneously paying for a food product called “fudge rounds” that is available for an allegedly obese individual. But that individual is not a school child.

Why write a song about homelessness when he clearly knows nothing about it? Has he researched the successful efforts Democrats have made to allow TANF funds to be used on fresh produce? Does he know what a food dessert is and whose policies create them?

The policies that create food deserts are massive shoplifting and/or looting which make it impossible for a grocery to survive.

People are shoplifting because everything is so expensive right now. Housing is astronomical. Food is astronomical. They just cut SNAP benefits when housing costs are so high. Shoplifting is wrong but so is cutting SNAP and here we are.

That is NOT why people are shoplifting. People are shoplifting because they know they can get away with it in many blue cities with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. They know they won't be charged or prosecuted for thefts under a given amount. There are no consequences for these criminals. They are reselling the goods they steal because..... THEY ARE CRIMINALS.

People who steal perishable food aren’t the same as smash and grab at Nordstrom. Nordstrom folks are organized crime. I realize nuance is very hard for folks right now.

Few would take issue with those who genuinely needed to steal food to feed their families. But people are tired of watching bands of teenagers and young adults ransack high-end stores at random, just because they can get away with it. These looters should be rounded up and imprisoned, or taken down on the spot.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

❤️ Truth

As a fan of music that sounds like this, my other problem with this song is that unless you like the politics, this isn't a very good song. You don't need to like his politics to like Johnny Cash (I first heard him in a conservative house), you don't need to like his politics to like Jason Isbell, even if there's a lot of politics in both. This doesn't feel like it's got much going for it, unless you're already primed to like the message.

This is 100% true. You could only like this song if you like anything that purports to be country, or are so enamored by the lyrics that you can look past the obvious lack of musical talent.

There are some talented contemporary country artists out there, but this ain't it, baby.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It’s “scary” because he’s been brainwashed into thinking that taxes and government what’s hurting him. The LACK of government programs FOR HIM is what’s hurting him. The people who avoid taxes, such as industrial farm conglomerates aided and abetted by bought and paid for congressmen are what’s hurting him.

And the welfare dig sounds like a dog whistle to me.

You are part of the problem, frankly. He doesn't need nor does he want government programs. He wants to be left alone by the government. As do many of us.
He is complaining about the WAY our tax dollars are being spent. No accountability for welfare. Our youth are dying from fentanyl and little to no effort to stop the drugs from coming to our country. Our hard earned money going to foreign countries in the BILLIONS, if not TRILLIONS, and we have people here who have no homes and no food.

He's not been "brainwashed" at all. He has lived it. He has seen the waste of tax money. He speaks for millions.

Less than 1% of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, and he is literally complaining about people who use SNAP to buy food.

Yeah. Those highly nutritious foods like fudge rounds and chips and soda.

"A 2016 report from the USDA found that sweetened beverages, like soda, are the most commonly purchased items by SNAP recipients across the U.S."

soda is cheaper than milk. It didn't use to be that way, but it is today.

And, water is cheaper than soda. So, the taxpayers foot the bill for these very unhealthy food choices, then they foot the bill for the medical help they need to deal with the results of poor nutrition. Yay!

not disputing that, but let's be honest... a lot of people, both rich and poor, don't want to just survive on water. You really think poor people shouldn't be able to drink soda if they wanted to?

And I'm not so sure water is cheaper than water. You can get a 99cent 2 liter soda bottle. A gallon of water can be like $2. And that really depends on the store and where you live.

You don't need to go to a store for water. It comes right out of your kitchen faucet.

other faucets too. and heck, the government even cleans it fer ya!

Not very well! Just ask Flint.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A “hero of the far right” blames his problems on heavyset women (because of course no men are 5’ 3” in the heroic sub-Richmond) on welfare and anyone is supposed to take this seriously? Really OP?

Angry white dude is misogynist, news at 11

It's because those are mostly the women who want to go out with him.

Where did he say anything about women in his song?

How many men are 5’3”?

Enough. About 10%.

Not in America. But sure let’s say it’s 10% You think he’s writing about men?

He is writing about obese people using their food stamps to purchase junk food that makes them more obese. Do you not get that? Do you not understand that he is slamming government programs that actually encourages this by putting few restrictions on the kind of food they can purchase?

He says nothing about change to government programs. He talks about obese people on food stamps.

How many of his ardent fans absolutely hated Michelle Obama’s efforts to make school lunches healthier? Bloomberg’s suggestion to tax sodas?

not sure his “ardent fans” would have been that focused on Bloomberg’s position on soft drinks. That’d more of an inside DC obsession.

New York.

But my broader point is, when there have been efforts to make taxpayer funding focus on healthy food, conservatives mocked it, resisted it, and hated it. Trump even rolled back the draconian provision that…required children be served fruits and vegetables.

So no, I don’t buy that now he’s just so upset about taxpayer dollars buying fudge rounds when he was telling to support taxpayer dollars buying pizza rolls.

When someone comes out with a song about worker and workplace protections, genuine tax relief for families, and sure even tackling making sure the poor have adequate access to healthy food, I hope there’s a thread about it— I can get behind it!

NYC but cheered on by DC policy people. He doesn’t seem to see the world through a center-left policy prism that revolves around government. I know that’s hard to imagine … but maybe just try?

Right— he seems to be mad at government for not mandating taxpayer dollars fund fruits and vegetables. Except
his supporters were also mad about…mandating taxpayer dollars fund fruits and vegetables.

Nope. Fruits and vegetables do not appear anywhere in his lyrics.

He’s worked up about his tax dollars and fudge rolls. Either he doesn’t believe in poor people having food assistance (good conservative position) or he thinks government should only fund nutritious food, which is Michelle Obamas position from 2014 that all the republicans hated. Pick a lane.

That’s your dichotomy, not his.

Just a basic familiarity with the political history beyond the Trump years show this as just the same old inconsistency.

huh?

If you remember or read about the Reagan years, you know there was “welfare queens” people were all worked up about— they did not exist.

Is you remember or read about the Obama years you know there was a concerted effort to target childhood obesity and make taxpayer dollars fund nutritious food for school children— two efforts which were vehemently opposed by republicans.

So some guy showing up and saying oh my god people are obese and tax dollars fund unhealthy food and pretending he’s original or that this isn’t something done deliberately by republicans is…either very misinformed, poorly read, or a hypocrite.

You remember a president named William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton? He signed a welfare reform bill supported by, among other groups, the DLC. I’m still not sure what nutritious school lunches have to do with it. If you read and/or listen to the lyrics, he’s pointing to a country that tolerates the unhoused not having anything to eat, while simultaneously paying for a food product called “fudge rounds” that is available for an allegedly obese individual. But that individual is not a school child.

Why write a song about homelessness when he clearly knows nothing about it? Has he researched the successful efforts Democrats have made to allow TANF funds to be used on fresh produce? Does he know what a food dessert is and whose policies create them?

The policies that create food deserts are massive shoplifting and/or looting which make it impossible for a grocery to survive.

People are shoplifting because everything is so expensive right now. Housing is astronomical. Food is astronomical. They just cut SNAP benefits when housing costs are so high. Shoplifting is wrong but so is cutting SNAP and here we are.

That is NOT why people are shoplifting. People are shoplifting because they know they can get away with it in many blue cities with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. They know they won't be charged or prosecuted for thefts under a given amount. There are no consequences for these criminals. They are reselling the goods they steal because..... THEY ARE CRIMINALS.

People who steal perishable food aren’t the same as smash and grab at Nordstrom. Nordstrom folks are organized crime. I realize nuance is very hard for folks right now.

People that I have seen on videos stealing all the expensive steaks aren't doing it to feed their family or to stock the end of the summer church cookout. These are perishable. They're doing it to resell. GMAB.

[Anonymous]

I only read the first page of the thread. If people read the song lyrics without judgement, that would go a long long way to a better democracy. When executive pay is THREE TO FOUR HUNDRED times* the average worker pay (so not even the manual laborer pay), revolution is coming and it will be ugly. Inequality (not insanity) is the source of Trump’s rise to power. We should not forget the Great Depression was also the precursor to nazism in Europe.

*https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2021/

[Anonymous]

It is now #1 on iTunes.
Good for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is now #1 on iTunes.
Good for him.

+1 Y'all cain't take away mah freedom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love the song and love the singer, Oliver Anthony.

I don't know why you think this is "scary." He is expressing what many middle and lower class people are thinking and feeling.

Here are the lyrics:
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away

It's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the obese milkin' welfare

Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

Lord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay

If you feel this way, then why do you keep electing them? It’s seriously stupid. You think Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump give a rat’s a$$ abt your poor ass? They really don’t. THey exploited you to get rich but you worship them anyway.

So beta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is now #1 on iTunes.
Good for him.

Lol shows who uses iTunes.

OlD PeOpLe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is now #1 on iTunes.
Good for him.

I didn't even know iTunes still existed

- 33yo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love the song and love the singer, Oliver Anthony.

I don't know why you think this is "scary." He is expressing what many middle and lower class people are thinking and feeling.

Here are the lyrics:
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away

It's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the obese milkin' welfare

Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

Lord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay

If you feel this way, then why do you keep electing them? It’s seriously stupid. You think Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump give a rat’s a$$ abt your poor ass? They really don’t. THey exploited you to get rich but you worship them anyway.

So beta.

Exactly

But they are too brainwashed to understand this

Trump hates poor people. He only says he "loves" them to get elected

[Anonymous]

Communism, meet country music. Ciuntry music, meet communism. Think y'all can get along?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I always laugh at these “uprisings”

People will vote republican to help lower taxes, etc.

Those tax decreases are not helping the avg person, they are helping the DCUM crowd, myself included. This song preaches about how hard life is for the middle class (which is true) but what is the solution? Lower taxes? That will further the income inequality.

Most blue collar workers should be voting democratic as they are actually trying to stick it to the “rich men”.

That's not true. And the "rich men" Oliver is referring to is the politicians.
Like Biden, for example. He's been a politician his whole life. His wife a teacher. And, yet, his net worth is around $9 million.

And Trump is not a rich man???

OP here- to be sure, there were more than a few Trump shirts in the crowd but most of these people- if you talk to them- hate him too. They are begging for another person to vote for. It just happens that Trump is as close to what they want and available. The main thing these people are tired of is being told they are the problem when for the most part they follow the rules and go to work every morning. They arent doing anything other than raising families, going to church and keeping their nose to the grindstone.

Please explain who, specifically, is telling "these people" that "they are the problem"?

Well, you could start with the majority of people on this forum.

All the black 14 year olds in SE carjacking and shooting people are the actual victims, right? It's systemic racism that made them do it. They have no role or agency in any of it. And Joe blow who voted for Trump is a vile fascist, right?

It seriously cracks me up when republicans try to point to Biden as a ‘rich man’. You realize he was the poorest person in the US senate for nearly his entire tenure there. I can guarantee you he is the poorest president in recent history. You are so uninformed, it’s pathetic.

Also, so FIng dumb to talk about shooting in SE DC. That’s not affecting you, you dumba$$. It’s really not. You know what is way more likely to affect you: (1) your own damn gun you own being used against you on purpose or accidentally and (2) a mass shooting at your kid’s school by some incel you or your friends raised.

Open your eyes…you really don’t get the actual risk to YOUR life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love the song and love the singer, Oliver Anthony.

I don't know why you think this is "scary." He is expressing what many middle and lower class people are thinking and feeling.

Here are the lyrics:
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away

It's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the obese milkin' welfare

Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

Lord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
These rich men north of Richmond
Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
And they don't think you know, but I know that you do
'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end
'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay

The scary part is that the song shows that the wealthy class has once again succeeded in getting the masses to fight amongst themselves:

"And the obese milkin' welfare
Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds"

This song paints the world as the "hard blue collar worker" verses "the overweight person using food stamps." As if that is where the majority of taxes are going. As if these same people are not as downtrodden as the "working man" lamented in the song. Guess who taught them that falsehood? The Republican "rich men North of Richmond," who themselves are not paying taxes, but are taking the tax dollars and making a profit, while using their $power$ to make sure the singer's audience gets bullsh!t pay forever. And yet, they will vote to keep those dudes in power. Why?

And the song clearly has a Vote Republican anti-tax bent, which ensures that these folks will end up voting for "the [Republican] rich men North of Richmond." As if the 'rich men North of Richmond' were actually paying their fair share of taxes: hint: if they were, the middle class wouldn't have to pay so much to keep our defense system running. What the song doesn't do is convey that Democrats, wealthy or not, want to tax the rich, not the poor, but have to talk about taxes to make it happen. Republicans talk about cutting taxes, but mean only for the wealthy aka "the rich men North of Richmond," which increases the burden on the working class; but they leave that out of their slogans and lies, and so the cycle repeats itself.

The Democratic elites want to live in enclaves like Chevy Chase, send their kids to private schools and Ivies (just think of the Bidens pushing all their relatives into Penn and Yale), have nothing to do with MC or poor people, and suggest they get a pass as long as Elizabeth Warren periodically Tweets about forgiving college debt and breaking up Wells Fargo. But meanwhile inflation is insane, housing is expensive, crime is rampant, and our public schools are falling apart yet obsessed with defending their right to have smutty books in their libraries.

Of course it’s a mess, and it’s the outrage and despair of this song that resonates, even if it is trash musically and the lyrics aren’t exactly coherent.

Where does Glenn Youngkin send his kids? The local public schools? Guess again.

Where did Trump’s kids go to college? the local community college? Guess again.