As of this writing, a musical phenomenon is sweeping the country. Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” has 20 million or more views in its first 10 days on YouTube.
How did this happen? While the song is topping the musical charts this week, ultimately it’s not about the music. It’s about the message. Something in Anthony’s lyrics are striking a chord with millions of Americans across the political spectrum.
There’s a big divide in America, and it’s not often talked about. It’s not the divide between Democrats and Republicans, or between white Americans and black Americans. It’s the divide between the haves and the have-nots. Anthony’s song speaks to the millions of Americans who feel unheard by a perceived authoritarian class they feel is more interested in serving themselves than their constituents.
A lot of working-class Americans are worried about losing their jobs. Rural America is getting hollowed out, and the days of quiet, small-town life for so many are falling by the wayside. When one of us (Wilk) was driving through the “American Heartland” as a commercial truck driver, he saw small towns boarded up and empty because the factories that used to be at their heart closed down.
This worry isn’t always easy for white-collar folks to understand. One of us (Julian) is a professional author. He might be fired tomorrow, but his job’s not going to get shipped to Mexico. There’s a daily uncertainty that working-class folks experience that the laptop class can struggle to get.
Even when jobs don’t get outsourced, there’s a sense that the good-paying work that our grandparents had (where you could raise a family on a single income) aren’t available to us anymore. Anthony gets at this frustration with lines like, “I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day / Overtime hours for bull**** pay.”
Then there’s another frustration that Anthony’s tapped into: a lot of working-class Americans don’t think Washington is out to protect their interests. If you work 60 hours a week, in almost any blue-collar role, it can be hard to see yourself in Joe Biden or Donald Trump, or nearly any current politician. It can be even harder to believe that the average politician has your back.
This isn’t specific to any one political party. It’s not about any one politician, or any one group of people. This is about millions of Americans who don’t feel like their voices are heard.
Or as Anthony puts it, the rich men north of Richmond:
“Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do / And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do.”
Do you want to be heard? What better way than to join a movement dedicated to making sure that ALL Americans are heard?
Wilk is a part of leading an initiative in Braver Angels that does just that. We the People’s Project isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. It isn’t about black Americans or white Americans.
It’s about creating a place where the working-class folks who are often spoken of but seldom spoken to get their time at the podium. It’s about recapturing the fundamental promise of this great nation, as captured by Abraham Lincoln: “That a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
So make your voice heard.
