No one will every know whether Grant Wood is spoofing. Did he mean that dour pair in American Gothic to somehow epitomize rural people, Iowans, wholesome farm folk? Did he intend to suggest by their owly-ness that farming relieves people of any sense of humor? Am I being mocked by the shape of that single silly window?
Is it a joke?--I'm not sure, and I don't think anyone is. And then there's that pitchfork. In an earlier sketch he used a rake, which means the pitchfork wasn't just something convenient; it's there because he wanted it there. Is he suggesting that the old sourpuss is a kind of Satan?
Whatever Grant Wood was after, with this sadly joyless pair and the "pretentious" (his word) farm house behind them, he created an image we Iowans have had to live with since he introduced American Gothic in 1930. No single image so vividly characterizes the people of "the Tall Corn State" than American Gothic, Grant Wood's masterwork, one of the most recognizable images in the world, right up there with the Mona Lisa or Night Watch.
Sen. Charles Grassley, who has represented the state in the U.S. Senate since the end of the Blackhawk War, has a little too much hair, perhaps, but a face Grant Wood could have used if he hadn't used his dentist. For much of his career, Grassley was a thoughtful middle-of-the-road-er, a fiscal conservative who didn't care if the spendthrifts he spotted were Republican or Democrat. He was an equal-opportunity critic, and Iowa loved him for it.
Alas, in his dotage--and he's there, I think--he's pitched his tent with the political conservatives. Occasional glimpses of the old maverick emerge (he criticized Trump for something not long ago), but otherwise, sadly, he on board with the Tea Party.
If you don't believe me, you haven't been watching the news. Yesterday, the clip of his offhand remark to the Des Moines Register was on just about every news program, save Fox. What the Register asked him was why he voted for the repeal of the Estate Tax, an action which would alleviate the tax burdens on only the slightest percentage of folks across country--to be specific, about 65 landowners, among them the very, very rich, or so said the Register.
Grassley began to answer by saying the decision was based on philosophy, and, from that point on, just dug himself a hole from which he hasn't yet escaped. He contrasted two kinds of people, both of whom make, he said, 100 thousand or so. One of them lives the high life, spends it all; the other invests in his business, tries to build something good for his heirs, etc. What he is suggesting is simple: why not tax the high life and let community betterment go?
Grassley went on to say something he wished he hadn't, I'm sure: "I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it's on booze or women or movies."
Just for reference, read that again--"booze or women or movies." He said that. He really did.
And with that goofy line from the '30s, our senior senator comes off as H. L. Mencken's quintessential Puritan, the sorehead who angrily harbors the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere is having a good time. His silly comment makes Charles Grassley the bibbed sourpuss wielding the pitchfork in American Gothic.
And, alas, because Grassley is from Iowa, he took all of us Iowans in there with him. Woe and woe and woe--I'm still there too in that famous portrait by Grant Wood, who, right now, somewhere, has to be chuckling, just like everyone else.
3 comments:
Skip the class envy... you have never been hired by a poor person... Dordt got plenty of donations from the rich guys... Sound like you are biting the hands that fed you... You should want everyone to be rich...
The great good old days have come again for middle America! Politicians and pastors in tailcoats standing up against all ungodly enablers of the male libido -- female temptresses, demon liquor, and Hollywood's dirty picture shows that celebrate both.
You should be proud! Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan -- they have returned power to your true moral elites -- godly and manly men who rightly understand that most of their underemployed troglodyte constituents are two hairs short of a baboon and require the goad and lash, not tax breaks. If a rich old farmer wants to pass on his land and savings to his family to liquidate as they see fit, why should the government steal it away for some crack-addled wastoid welfare queens and their public school-attending spawn in burned out river towns? Hoarding capital rather than circulating it is virtue. Don't they teach this in Econ 101 or Sunday School anymore?
Finally the PC demons have been expelled, albeit by your unseemly groper-in-chief, but he is a Samson Agonistes here to pull this corrupt pagan temple down around your ears where the last bits can be flushed down the toilet. I for one find it deeply refreshing that Senator Ghastly is speaking with as much moral candor as your other great Iowan nationalist who happens to be white, US Representative Steve King. We will have Purity at last! We will call a spade a spade and objectify women because they are in fact objects with fewer rights than corporations. Booze, women, and movies ... they just flow together as naturally as original sin.
Forward, into yon medieval fields of opportunity! Unity through mutual suspicion and surveillance! Your prizes you liberate, and your vertical monopolists acquire your rights.
Reminds me of an old Punjabi proverb that goes something like this. The lust for land, gold and women are the heart of all evil. It sounds much better in Punjabi. As the Punjabs (provinces in both India and Pakistan) rapidly urbanize, the line loses some of its relavance, but in the breadbasket of South Asia, it still works.
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