Tondeleo: I apologise for the long lapse in posting. Due to the poor economy my travels have been limited. I finally made it back to the US to complete some assignments and I was able to spend some pleasant time off with Doc and Marilyn and some of their friends.
I made several hours of recordings and took reams of notes so I should be able to post regularly again. Also, I was given several vids of Doc and Marilyn and their friends playing music, so I should be able to post them on YouTube soon.
One thing that I’ve noticed is the very clear disappointment that Americans seem to have with their government and the economy. I had thought it was primarily a European phenomenon, but it is widespread in America as well.
A lot of Americans blame President Obama for it and also their Congress. From what I can read, all this didn’t begin with President Obama. A lot of what they are angry about was initiated under President Bush, and President Clinton before him.
I asked Doc why he and his friends feel that socialism (they call it “communism,” by the way) is getting the upper hand.
His answer was actually well thought out and surprised me. Here it is:
Doc: Well, Tondy, I know everybody wants to be happy and the government is s’posed to make sure everyone has the chance to be happy. We learnt that in school.
But not everybody is gonna be happy. For me, I want to work and make a few dollars. I want to play music and be left alone by the government. I just want to live my life.
Other folks don’t wanna work and want the government to take care of ‘em an’ pay all their bills. Well, I ain’t wantin that. And the government don’t really have any money, ‘cept what they take from the people, which is by taxes. So really it aint the government what is payin’ those peoples’ bills, it is me an the other folk what is workin’ that is payin’ for all that.
Tondeleo: I can see where that is a problem for you: You and your friends don’t seem to make very much money in the first place…
Doc: You’re right, Tondy, an’ it’s not only the people what’s on unemployment what we gotta help support but we got wars goin’ on what is also bein’ paid for by the common man. I heard that a bomb costs about 3 million dollars. I ain’t ever gonna see that much money in my life. An’ we are payin the salary of every soldier, every general, every contractor…
An’ we are payin’ for all the ships and jet planes an’ tanks
an’ all the fuel what they use! Now how we gonna do that? That’s somethin’ I’m mad about. There ain’t enough people workin to pay for all the wars and bombs and soldiers and their families. No wonder we’re outta money. I caint even pay for the fuel in my panel truck!
It ain’t the immigrants what’s makin America broke, it’s the wars, if you ask me.
Tondeleo: Well, that isn’t marxism, or socialism, or communism. That’s just part of living in a country with a huge military.
Doc: I don’t know about all those “isms.” An’ I gotta admit, we was trained from when we was kids to share with other kids. We had to share our clothes, our toys an’ all that.
But I learnt that some kids ain’t got no toys cause they broke their toys all up an’ now they want to take my toys so they can break them all up, too. And then they gonna holler for more toys to break. Well, they ain’t getting’ mine.
I gotta few nice guitars what I either made or bought cheap, an’ I ain’t givin’ ‘em to someone what broke his or tore it up. I would more likely give it to someone what took care of his own stuff.
In fact I done that a few times – give away guitars – to people what knew how to take care of ‘em but ain’t had one ‘cause maybe he just got outta jail or somethin; an’ he needed somethin’ to help him get started. But that’s it.
I’ll help ‘em get started but then it’s up to them. I found out this. When my stomach gets close enough to my spine, I’ll find a way to make some money so I can eat. That’s all I got to say about that.
