Every Man a King: Main Idea
Every Man a King: Main Idea
Firebrand populist Huey P. Long delivered a scathing criticism of capitalism in America and proposed a simple solution: just take all individual wealth above a certain limit (TBD) and use it to guarantee everyone a minimal income and social welfare benefits.
Uh…yeah.
Questions
- Why do you think Long leans so heavily upon biblical passages to frame and shore up his arguments?
- What connections does Long draw between the economic and political climate of his day and the ideals of the Founding Fathers?
- Where does Huey Long fall on the political spectrum based on this speech?
- Why does Long separate himself from both Hoover and Roosevelt?
Chew On This
Long's speech addressed the concerns of average working Americans when everyone else was ignoring them.
Long tapped into feelings of unfairness in the American economic and political system, but the true purpose of the speech was his own presidential aspirations.
Quotes
Quote #1
It is not the difficulty of the problem which we have; it is the fact that the rich people of this country—and by rich people I mean the super-rich—will not allow us to solve the problems, or rather the one little problem that is afflicting this country, because in order to cure all of our woes it is necessary to scale down the big fortunes, that we may scatter the wealth to be shared by all of the people. (3)
Long wastes no time diving right in. As he saw it, wealth inequality was the major problem facing America and it needed to be addressed in a swift and dramatic fashion. Then he got himself shot and the problem would go more or less completely unaddressed until the recession of 2008, when finally it…well, was more or less completely unaddressed.
Maybe next time.
Quote #2
But I wish to warn you now that nothing that has been done up to this date has taken one dime away from these big fortune-holders; they own just as much as they did, and probably a little bit more; they hold just as many of the debts of the common people as they ever held, and probably a little bit more; and unless we, my friends, are going to give the people of this country a fair shake of the dice, by which they will all get something out of the funds of this land, there is not a chance on the topside of this God's eternal earth by which we can rescue this country and rescue the people of this country. (66)
Long's saying that he's the only one actually doing anything about income inequality in America, and that without him, we're all done for. Both previous administrations had promised to address the issue and failed to do so. Politicians backing out of campaign promises due to political and economic pressure from entrenched interests? Color us shocked. There's an added bonus of Long's "royal we" of God's children, showing that he thinks of himself as no more or less than any other man in America. Other than his expensive suit. And political power. And vast, illicitly appropriated funds.
Quote #3
Every man a king, so there would be no such thing as a man or woman who did not have the necessities of life, who would not be dependent upon the whims and caprices and ipsi dixit of the financial barons for a living. (75)
If you wanted to distill this thirty-minute speech into less than fifty words, this would be the line you choose. Long wanted to satisfy a basic standard of living across America. Rather than the inconsistencies of the free market, every American could expect some guaranteed level of food, clothing, and other goods regardless of their income or savings. "A chicken in every pot," as Herbert Hoover said in 1928. How'd that work out?
Quote #4
Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more that $50,000,000. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50,000,000. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans that no man's fortune would be more than $10,000,000 or $15,000,000. (85-88)
How will Long accomplish this? What mechanism will be created to collect and redistribute all the money that is appropriated due to these limitations? How will the redistribution happen in real time? Who will see the proceeds and on what timetable? Don't bog Huey down with such trivial details; he's a big picture kind of guy. He's got the "vision thing."
Quote #5
God told you what the trouble was. The philosophers told you what the trouble was; and when you have a country where one man owns more than 100,000 people, or a million people, and when you have a country where there are four men, as in America, that have got more control over things than all the 120,000,000 people together, you know what the trouble is. (115-116)
And who can argue with God and the philosophers? That's some rhetoric right there.