Chris Jepson: What the walls scream

One of my favorite lines of fiction comes from D. H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” It goes, “Even the house whispered there must be more money.” I knew a gentleman from the early 1980s who got himself in a drug-related pinch (or two) and was being consumed with legal fees. His relatives were required to periodically assist with infusions of cash. A literate crowd they were, and “The walls screamed there must be more money” became the constant refrain of the familial Greek chorus of this, shall we say, tragedy, laughingly uttered (a perverse lot they were) at the slightest new provocation.

Fortunately, enough money was thrown at the problem and through the miracle of American jurisprudence (sell the jewels, hock the farm, mortgage your soul but always secure the best legal counsel available) justice was, indeed, secured. This is a story with a happy ending. Lessons were learned. Hubris acknowledged. Humility (such as it ever was) rediscovered. The value of work over “easy money” again the norm.

Today, America finds itself much as my gentleman from the ‘80s found himself — strung out on drugs (borrowed money), hearing things at the door (Chinese creditors/Euro meltdown), seeing things at the window (Islamic terrorists), without a clear path to redemption (fiscal solvency/ “full” employment) and tragically beholden to the vagaries of uncontrollable forces (Republican Tea Party-Norquistian idiocy/tyranny).

Sadly, I do not see a happy resolution for America. If we lived in the best of all possible worlds, everyone would always, without fail, provide for herself. Each of us would die responsibly in his sleep after living a healthy, productive life. Our children would all be of Lake Wobegon quality with education accessible, affordable and exceptional. Our infrastructure and public health the best in the West. Our leaders would be effective, honest and democratic. Our legal system universally fair and inherently just. Our military rarely employed and never for imperialist objectives. We’d joyfully anticipate the future because we wisely invest our resources today for a better tomorrow. “Ah, but your reach should exceed …”

I hear Ron Paul libertarians as well as Tea Party Republicans repeatedly mouth the No Tax platitudes. They weep for the deregulation of the markets, to unleash — don’t-cha know — the plentiful bounty of capitalism. If only, they wail, if only we returned to traditional values and embraced the pioneer spirit that had men and women walking across America beside Conestoga wagons, if only we again became a nation of “rugged individualists,” all would be fine and good.

If only, if only America was once again a nation of 9,638,453 (1820 Census) and the North American continent lay before us, virtually empty and just over the next hill virginal wilderness where nature — pure and simple — efficiently and unsentimentally separates the human chaff from the human wheat.

But no longer are we a nation of nine million “rugged individualists,” we are a nation of 310 million and 10 percent of our population is incapable, unable or ill-prepared to “completely” take care of itself. I ask Republicans, how specifically would you deal with the 30 million Americans (and growing) who today require government assistance (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps or housing assistance, etc.) to survive?

House Congressional Republicans recommend that we generously feed the military (much like the French create Foie Gras?) yet toss America’s “weak” to the curb. What’s that I hear the walls scream? Besides the cries of the impoverished?

Jepson is a 24-year resident of Florida. He’s fiscally conservative, socially liberal, likes art and embraces diversity of opinion. Reach him at [email protected]