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"Over the Rainbow"
By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 2 of 4 page(s)
-- the Cowardly Lion is silver advocate William Jennings Bryan, best remembered for his 1896 Democratic National Convention "Cross of Gold" speech in which he railed against banker-controlled gold-backed money;
-- the Munchkins are Eastern "little people" who didn't understand how banking wizards control money, the economy and government - much like how ignorant most people are today;
-- the Wicked Witches rule the East and West where Populists had little influence; the Good Witches control the North and South corresponding to agrarian regions of the country;
-- the Wicked Witch of the West refers to Republican imperialists who captured the Philippines (the Yellow Winkies representing all the enslaved), slaughtered six hundred thousand or more people, then occupied and controlled the country;
-- the Winged Monkeys represent Native Americans - slaughtered, displaced, and put under authoritarian rule;
-- the Hammerheads were hard-headed men who perpetuated regional differences between North and South;
-- the Wizard of Oz holds real power as the wizard of the gold ounce, oz being the abbreviation of ounce;
-- Oz is also where the wicked witches and banking wizards operate;
-- the Emerald City is Washington;
-- the Yellow Brick Road refers to a gold one (or gold standard) leading to Oz, home of the wicked banking Witches;
-- Dorothy's magic silver slippers represented the silver standard and Populists' goal of replacing gold with bimetallism; they were Ruby Red in the film to highlight the new Technicolor technology; by clicking her heels three times and repeating "There's no place like home," Dorothy's instantly transported to Kansas; after awakening, however, she discovers her slippers fell off, symbolizing the demise of silver coinage as a form of currency; and
-- she and her friends' march on Oz recreated businessman/populist Jacob Coxey's Army 1894 march on Washington to demand jobs and the return to debt and interest-free Greenbacks.
Like the early 20th century Populists, Brown explained that "Dorothy and her troop discovered that they had the power to solve their own problems and achieve their own dreams." The Wizard of Oz embodies "the American dream (and) national spirit" potential to realize it.
At the end of Baum's tale, the Witches are exposed as crude fakes and vanquished. Hope springs eternal as a result. The Tin Man actually has a heart. The Cowardly Lion finds courage. The Tin Woodman is emboldened by a bimetallic tool, a gold ax with a silver blade, and the Scarecrow learns he's intelligent, not stupid. When the Wizard disappears in his hot air balloon, he becomes leader of Oz. The Tin Woodsman rules the West, representing the Populist dream of empowered farmers and workers, and the Lion protects smaller beasts in "a grand old forest."
Thereafter, farm interests achieved national prominence, industrialism moved West, and Bryan commanded only a number of lesser politicians, far short of his hoped for goal.
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