What We Can Learn From Rich Men North of Richmond

Oliver Anthony performs “Rich Men North of Richmond”.

By now, most everyone attached to the political world has listened to or read about Oliver Anthony’s viral hit song, ‘Rich Men North of Richmond.’ Anthony complains about being “an old soul living in a new world”, where corporations exploit workers and keep wages low, and too many government benefits go to citizens he finds undeserving. 

The song is an interesting medley of complaints that are typically heard on the left (low wages, the soullessness of work) and those typically heard on the right (high taxes, overly generous social programs). In today’s political environment, where, increasingly, Republicans all believe the same set of things and Democrats all believe the opposite set of things, the mixture of right and left messages in Anthony’s song was strange and unfamiliar to some. In the days since Anthony’s overnight success, his public profile and appearances have continued to confound activists and pundits. His online profile links to wild, dangerous, right-wing conspiracy theories, causing the left to label him another right-wing zealot. But then he gave an interview in which he called America’s racial and ethnic diversity one of its critical national strengths, causing the right to call him a woke, left-wing plant. 

But mostly, conservative pundits decided to celebrate him, notwithstanding his slightly heterodox views, and progressive pundits decided to mock him. The political establishment needed to put his song, and the commotion it created, in a box. “Left” or “right”. “With us” or “against us”.

I saw it somewhat differently, and I think so did many people outside of the political establishment. For instance, probe the positive replies on social media to the song, and you won’t just find rural white conservatives, but urban young black men too. Anthony’s lyrics don’t add much color to what he considers this “new world” to be, but the viral reaction to the song suggests most people have a pretty good idea what he’s referencing. There is a growing spiritual emptiness in American life, in which profit matters more than character, virtual connection has replaced real connection, everything not nailed down has been turned into a commodity, and the personal meaning that comes from true economic agency has been stolen from millions of families. Meaning and positive identity is being erased from the lives of millions of Americans, and it’s caused an explosion of extremism, violence, and addiction.

What is frustrating, of course, is how Anthony carelessly and incorrectly labels boilerplate conservative complaints, like food stamps and taxes, as the culprits for his economic and spiritual malaise.  And it is likely that some of those cheering Anthony’s critique are angry at a “new world” where women and immigrants have more power. But the truth is, if Anthony and his friends are having trouble making ends meet, that’s because political and economic elites have deliberately created an economy that is rigged to incentivize low wages and high shareholder returns – not because some other poor people are getting nutritional assistance for themselves or their children. If life feels empty and devoid of meaning, that’s because forty years of neoliberal economic policies have purposely hollowed out the health of families and local institutions—not because Anthony and his neighbors pay a portion of their income in taxes. And of course, there is nothing to fear from gender equality or continued immigration. Expanding women’s rights and multiculturalism have actually made our country stronger and can stand side by side with reforms to create a more just economy and more meaningful existence for all of us.

The question then becomes: should Anthony’s misplaced blame be a reason to ridicule and dismiss him and his song’s enthusiasts outright, a route eagerly taken by many of his critics?  Why not instead view the reaction to his song as an opportunity to engage with his followers on the song’s critique of modern life and force a real conversation about whether it is the politics of the right or the left that are the best antidote to the social ills that Anthony laments (and through his own scapegoating, exposes)? Why not see the reaction to his song as a chance not to simply deepen the existing trenches between right and left, but instead engage in a conversion exercise in order to grow our coalition?

Right-wing commentator Sohrab Ahmari recently wrote an essay entitled, “I Was Wrong. The GOP Will Never Be The Party Of The Working Class.” He concedes that the Republican Party is hopelessly beholden to billionaire and corporate interests, and it will always use its power to further tilt the economic power balance away from working people and toward economic elites. This is, of course, an objective, verifiable truth. So instead of mocking Anthony and his followers, simply because they have a set of views that do not align totally with the mainstream left, why not engage in a fight for their votes, based upon the argument that it is actually the left, not the right, that offers real policies to address to the hellscape of our cold, efficiency-obsessed, virtue-barren “new world”?

It is the left, not the right, that supports a higher minimum wage for workers beaten down by relentless corporate profiteering. It is the left, not the right, that has policies to break up giant, soulless corporate monopolies and instead empower local economies and small businesses. It is the left, not the right, that supports public education, childcare subsidies, and tax breaks for the poor – the kind of help that makes families healthy and whole. The fact is these policies would help the white, conservative working-class men whom Anthony’s song mostly resonates with, but they would also help women, people of color, and every person who has been exploited by our current economic order.  So instead of shaming people who download Anthony’s song and empathize with his anger, wouldn’t we be better served by trying to win their support and their votes? Wouldn’t that end up serving both the economic and the social interests of the left? 

Maybe I am hopelessly naïve. Maybe too many on the right who responded to Rich Men North of Richmond are so stubbornly wedded to their anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-gun, or patriarchal views that they will not entertain overtures to join our coalition. I would never suggest that the left compromise our commitment to equality or justice for women, children, or LGBT individuals in order to expand our coalition because I know that these fights are existential. That’s not what I’m suggesting. At all. 

What I am proposing is that outreach is worth the try, even if the chances of success are far from certain. What I’m guessing is that some conservative voters who downloaded Anthony’s song, who might not agree with me on the question of a ban on assault weapons, might actually be more concerned with higher wages than access to AR-15s. And instead of dismissing or making fun of them, we should try to win them over.