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Grins

(7,134 posts)
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 10:31 AM Oct 2020

Terrific quote I came across!!!!!

"Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun."
- Kurt Vonnegut from his book, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine", 1965.
God, I wish I could write like that. Especially that last sentence.

Any doubt who those "rapacious citizens" might be...?

* In the book, Rosewater is the fictional U.S. Senator Lister Ames Rosewater of Indiana who started a foundation so his descendants could avoid paying taxes on the family estate in Rosewater County.
25 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Terrific quote I came across!!!!! (Original Post) Grins Oct 2020 OP
That quote seemed exactly as dead on in 1965 as it does now. enough Oct 2020 #1
The tax rates Rosewater was avoiding. JHB Oct 2020 #7
Only for the rapacious. plimsoll Oct 2020 #15
Yes the wealthy got wealthier thus more powerful ... aggiesal Oct 2020 #8
thanks for this post today peacebuzzard Oct 2020 #2
My God....how did he know back then? young_at_heart Oct 2020 #3
A lot of authors knew back then, Sinclair Lewis being one of them Escurumbele Oct 2020 #6
I definitely will read this! young_at_heart Oct 2020 #13
One of my favorites of Kurt Vonnegut's books. I wish I could remember and quote japple Oct 2020 #4
One of my favourite writers, I have read many of his books and never get tired of his books Escurumbele Oct 2020 #5
Thank you, Kurt Vonnegut! cp Oct 2020 #9
Whoa! Did Vonnegut have a time traveling magnifying glass? ananda Oct 2020 #10
"... went bang in the noonday sun." calimary Oct 2020 #11
Another quote from that book: Show me to the money river. OMGWTF Oct 2020 #12
I've always liked Vonnegut. BobTheSubgenius Oct 2020 #14
Vonnegut taught at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop Sogo Oct 2020 #16
One of the many reasons mountain grammy Oct 2020 #17
American Feudalism. Marcuse Oct 2020 #18
Ironically inspirational. dchill Oct 2020 #19
"Bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited". I really wish I had written this. RussellCattle Oct 2020 #20
Kurt Vonnegut was always aware of the reality of the system that keeps good people down. Nitram Oct 2020 #22
An excellent reminder that the issues we face today have been with us for all our history. Nitram Oct 2020 #21
Vonnegut was a national treasure n/t TexasBushwhacker Oct 2020 #23
Let's make it fucking happen Blue Owl Oct 2020 #24
Vonnegut wasn't making it up. It was already true at the time, Dark n Stormy Knight Oct 2020 #25

JHB

(37,132 posts)
7. The tax rates Rosewater was avoiding.
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:22 AM
Oct 2020

Somehow, lowering those taxes had no effect on the zeal to dodge them.

Why one might even be lead to think that the objection wasn't about "high taxes" but about the very existence of taxes.

plimsoll

(1,664 posts)
15. Only for the rapacious.
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 12:06 PM
Oct 2020

The rest of us have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and haul their bloated eminences around too.

young_at_heart

(3,758 posts)
3. My God....how did he know back then?
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 10:54 AM
Oct 2020

55 years ago one brilliant author could see what was happening in this country!

Escurumbele

(3,340 posts)
6. A lot of authors knew back then, Sinclair Lewis being one of them
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:19 AM
Oct 2020

If you have a chance read "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis, written in 1926. He knew then that a buffoon like trump would become president, and many of his predictions have come true, hopefully not all of them will.

young_at_heart

(3,758 posts)
13. I definitely will read this!
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:53 AM
Oct 2020

An online independent British Canadian newspaper (thetyee.ca) has a great review of this book. Headline: "The Depression-Era Novel That Saw Trump Coming". Here's a snippet: "What Lewis doesn’t mention is that the American Founding Fathers saw them coming as well. They were the educated elite of the British colonies, familiar with the politics of ancient Rome and contemporary Europe."

japple

(9,773 posts)
4. One of my favorites of Kurt Vonnegut's books. I wish I could remember and quote
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:15 AM
Oct 2020

all the truthisms from his work. He was brilliant AND funny!

Escurumbele

(3,340 posts)
5. One of my favourite writers, I have read many of his books and never get tired of his books
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:17 AM
Oct 2020

"Cat's Cradle" I have read twice, a great essay on human stupidity.

I have not read the one you reference, I will need to get it.

Thank you

cp

(6,543 posts)
9. Thank you, Kurt Vonnegut!
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:24 AM
Oct 2020

Wrote a high-school paper on that book (longer ago than I care to tell you). Have loved his work all my life.
Thank you.

ananda

(28,783 posts)
10. Whoa! Did Vonnegut have a time traveling magnifying glass?
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 11:39 AM
Oct 2020

That was amazingly descriptive of us here today!

Sogo

(4,967 posts)
16. Vonnegut taught at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 12:14 PM
Oct 2020

in the 1960s, just a couple of years before I entered school there.

RussellCattle

(1,506 posts)
20. "Bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited". I really wish I had written this.
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 12:41 PM
Oct 2020

There are words in the English language that do not get used nearly enough in today's reality, and cupidity is one of them.

Dark n Stormy Knight

(9,760 posts)
25. Vonnegut wasn't making it up. It was already true at the time,
Wed Oct 21, 2020, 09:32 PM
Oct 2020

but every aspect of it is so blatant now thanks to the revelation of the hideous true colors Trump has inspired & enabled in his fellow RW charlatans, crooks & cultists.

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