A Cross of Oil

By some fluke, I started thinking about parallels between William Jennings Bryan's populism as expressed in the famed "Cross of Gold" speech from the 1896 Democratic Convention and the current situation with oil. Not that I really remembered much about the circumstances except that it was classic populism. Turns, out, the speech was given on 112 days ago today, July 9th. Frickin spooky, eh?

Anyhow, there were some parallels. Seems the heartland was hurting after 23 years of deflation and regular guys couldn't service debt because the dollar was on a gold standard, so they were advocating for "bimetallism," letting dollars be backed by silver too and thereby expanding M2 or M3 or whatever we'd call it today. And the Wall St interests were not down with this plan, as they'd end up with silver instead of gold, which was all you could used for foreign trade.

So Bryan broke out some rhetorical strategies which remain popular amongst politicians of all parties when playing demagogue:

We say to you that you have made the definition of a business man too limited in its application. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer; the attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis; the merchant at the cross-roads store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York; the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day—who begins in the spring and toils all summer—and who by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the country creates wealth, is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the board of trade and bets upon the price of grain; the miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth, or climb two thousand feet upon the cliffs, and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade are as much business men as the few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money of the world. We come to speak of this broader class of business men.

Ah, my friends, we say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic coast, but the hardy pioneers who have braved all the dangers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blossom as the rose—the pioneers away out there [pointing to the West], who rear their children near to Nature's heart, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the birds—out there where they have erected schoolhouses for the education of their young, churches where they praise their Creator, and cemeteries where rest the ashes of their dead—these people, we say, are as deserving of the consideration of our party as any people in this country. It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors. Our war is not a war of conquest; we are fighting in the defence of our homes, our families, and posterity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been scorned; we have entreated, and our entreaties have been disregarded; we have begged, and they have mocked when our calamity came. We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We defy them!

...(the punchline) Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

Before long, somebody's going to actually break this toolkit out to talk about a cross of oil, which won't let the working man drive his F150 to the 7-11 for Marlboros and a 64oz Slurpee. John Edwards would already be there if he were still in business.