An emotional message to the masses delivered straight from the heart.

By Chris Peeks September 05, 2023

When I first read about Oliver Anthony's hit single that elevated him to not only the newest music phenom but also made him a symbol for working-class people all over the world, I thought this "ought to be good." Little did I know that soon, I would hear lyrics that would touch me like none other. I got cold chills listening. The twang in his voice pulled me in like a fish on a line. Each course continued to hit home, but what stood out was him. You could hear the frustration in his voice and the pain with each breath. This song came from the heart.

"The Rich Men of Richmond" delivered a political message that shook the foundation of the working class. The far-left media immediately tried to portray this masterpiece as the right-wing white nationalist anthem. Of course, they would. What else could you expect from a pig other than a grunt?

The liberal media is a cancer on society. They seek to keep us divided on race issues, keeping them in power by ignoring the root cause of our problems. It is not race but a class struggle. The words he spoke in that song were not only color blind but they served as a unifier. White, Black, and Hispanic will relate to the sound of "I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day

Overtime hours for bullsh– pay."

Striking a nerve that brought my attention to the destruction of American wages. What happened? In the 1950's one check took care of a family of four. Now, that same family needs four checks just to skimp by, with both mom and dad working two jobs.

Republicans try to scare people with veiled threats of Marxism by warning them that the left wants to redistribute the wealth in this country. Too late. There already has been a redistribution of wealth. Instead of going from the top down, it has gone from the bottom up.

According to epi.org,, from 1979 to 2021, Wages for the top 1% and top 0.1% skyrocketed by 206.3% and 465.1%, respectively, while wages for the bottom 90% grew by just 28.7%. On an annualized basis, the bottom 90% of wages grew only 0.6% per year, compared with 2.7% and 4.2% annualized wage growth for the top 1% and the top 0.1%. You never get told these things.

"It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to

For people like me and people like you." Who is he talking about, "people like you?'' Many people would shy away from using this word, but I'll go ahead and call a spade a spade. He is talking to all members of the proletariat. Race does not matter when it comes to making a dollar. White folks, black folks, and brown folks are all struggling. Not only in America but across the world.

"Lord knows they all just wanna have total control

Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do." In this, he nails a very troubling rise in the militarization of the American police. Law enforcement officers are being turned into paramilitary units.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I am a back-the-blue guy, but what happened within the Brookside Police Department a few years ago is frightening. Fascism occupied this small town, with the government using the police force like Stormtroopers enforcing a taxation-by-citation scheme. Terrorizing the citizens with seizures and forfeitures, they drove around, grabbing property in armored vehicles with assault weapons in a town of 1200 people. But that is just one example.

 Who could forget the Buffalo Shoving incident a few years back when they pushed down a 75-year-old man? Recently, I watched a program about law enforcement using unmanned drones. I can go on and on about these encroachments. It all started during the Bush Administration with the Patriot Act, which was anything but in that it stripped Americans of civil liberties.

Anthony's song continues, "Cause your dollar ain’t sh– and it’s taxed to no end

‘Cause of Rich Men north of Richmond." The beauty in this music is how, in its simplicity, it says so much. The "Rich Men of Richmond," with shifts in monetary policy, national debt, growing trade deficits, and inflation, have caused the dollar to decline. Then throw all of their taxes on top of that, too! Grr, doesn't this make you mad?

"I wish politicians would look out for miners

And not just minors on an island somewhere." Wow, is he talking about Epstein? Oh my god, preach! What a message to bring awareness. Like a Pentecostal evangelist spreading the gospel, the emotion flows from his "old soul."

"Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat

And the obese milkin’ welfare

God, if you’re 5 foot 3 and you’re 300 pounds

Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds

Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground

‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down."

Here's where the left tries to make this a white nationalist song. But their attempt fails. This is another tactic of the elite. Play the middle class against low-income people, perceiving them as taking their tax dollars to pay for government subsidies. However, welfare abuse has been a problem in this country, and we had a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, who passed reform legislation in the 90s to alleviate some of the issues. Still, people will slip through the cracks and milk the government system. It happens. But we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We must keep these programs intact to help our needy. But this song also hits on something else that the "Rich Man of Richmond" always ignores.

We have almost 600,000 homeless in America. With nearly 33,000 of them Vietnam vets, This is a stain on the fabric of American society. Sorry, not sorry, but we have too many empty buildings to have anyone homeless, so this should not be an issue. The "Rich man of Richmond" figured out how to screw everything up. They could figure out how to fix this problem.

Wow, this lyrical masterpiece has been heard by everyone—an eye-opener. Across every continent, this song touched the masses. You could feel his pain. This could launch a world Revolution. In the. U.S. It's good that our Union settles things at the ballot box because the founders would have been shooting by now.

George Wallace once said there's not a dime worth of difference between the two political parties. I now know what he meant. The two parties are filled with wealthy elitist who only seek to fulfill their self-interest. They will always strive to keep us divided with ideology and do not want us to realize that this is not a black, white, gay, straight, conservative, liberal, Democrat, or Republican thing. This is about doing the right thing.

Workers of the world unite! Like the Peasants of old who stormed the castle with pitchforks, let's go to the polls in the next election and take the economic power from the ruling class. No, I'm not talking about communism. But when the 1% hold 33% of the nation's wealth, and the bottom 50% hold only 2.6%, we have a significant problem. And it's better when we all share in the economic prosperity.

Now, I'm not advocating taking all the billionaire's money, but it can be spread around a little better. We should not have an issue where one man is worth $200 billion while 11% of our country lives below the poverty line. I seek an America where the 70-year-old grandmother living off $1,100 a month doesn't have to worry about whether she will have enough to eat at the end of that month.

No, I don't have all the answers to these problems. But I'll tell you who does. Our government officials. They must develop solutions quickly or throw the bums out next time we vote. We must show them that we are still a government of, by, and for the people. Come the next election, join me as we, the people, go to the polls and regain the power. The power that has always been ours. Take back America before there's nothing left to take.

Chris Peeks

Reporter and Columnist

Alabama Political Contributor