Article: Under the Hammer

It was the only place where this man had ever worked, and in his fifties it was hard, if not impossible, for him to start again as anything but a Wal-Mart greeter. You can auction off the equipment to the highest bidder and you can convert the building to some purpose de jour, but what of the people? The building only housed the equipment, the equipment only processed the materials, but the engines, the cotton or the tires or the automobiles were built by people. They were built by the people who stayed late or came in early and worked the weekends, because they cared about doing a good job.

So as I read the "Go Industry" brochure and about how many dryer machines and line blenders were up for auction, I began to think about how many people had stood at those machines. People not unlike Elmer, who stood at the machines year after year trying to take care of their children and paying their taxes only to be swept out the door, treated no better than dirt. That was his reward for caring that was his reward for doing a good job and here is a question worth asking, how many Elmer's are there out here?

Even more, I think about a government in which both political parties advocate and pursue Free Trade deals in the name of the holy campaign contribution. I think about a government that wants to jam a rectal thermometer the size of an oak tree up my ass while it tells me that this is for my own good. Angry? Damn right I'm angry! Angry enough to think that there must be some other way operate a government. It would seem a government which would so carelessly put us under the hammer should it self go under the giblet.

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