Wednesday, June 18, 2025
We are all standing on stolen land
We are all standing on stolen land: The arc of human history on our planet has been one of conquest, columnist Rod Miller opines.
Wyoming worker exodus threatens economic decline, business council says
Wyoming worker exodus threatens economic decline, business council says: The state agency proposes "major" reforms to a business loan program, and a broader discussion on Wyoming's economic future.
Monday, June 18, 1945. The death of Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.
Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. was killed by Japanese artillery on Okinawa. He was 58 years old, making him one of the older U.S. Generals of the Second World War.
The artillery projectile was of the flat shooting rifle type, and the projectile had actually ricocheted off of a coral reef, and then hit Buckner.
Prior to World War Two, Buckner had principally been involved in the education and training of troops. He had seen overseas duty, however, in the Philippines in 1908.
His father, the senior Simon Bolivar Buckner, had been an American Army officer during the Mexican War, and a Confederate general during the Civil war.
Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki informed the Japanese Supreme Council of Emperor Hirohito's intention to seek peace with the Allies as soon as possible.
The USS Bonefish was sunk in Toyama Bay.
The Chinese Army took Wenchow.
The Soviets put sixteen officers of the Polish Home Army on trial for fighting the Soviets.
William Joyce, Lord Haw Haw, was put on trial for treason.
The British Army began demobilizing.
Last edition:
Thursday, June 18, 1925. Death of Robert La Follette.
"Battling Bob" La Follette, Socialist Senator from Wisconsin, died at age 70. He'd been ill since 1923.
The German Reichsgericht, struck down a law confiscating of all the demesne lands of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to widespread public dissatisfaction.
Last edition:
Wednesday, June 17, 1925. The Geneva Protocol.
Labels: 1920s, 1925, Cartoons, children, It was because of World War One, law, Marriage, Soviet-Afghan War, The relationship between men and women, Vietnam War, Weapons
Monday, June 18, 1900. The Taku Forts surrender.
The Taku Forts surrendered after a sixteen hour bombardment by ships of the Eight Nation Alliance. Chinse casualties were very heavy. One Russian ship was sunk in the engagement. Four Chinese destroyers were captured, and recommissioned in Western navies.
Last edition:
Sunday, June 17, 1900. Invading China, drafting Roosevelt.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 3. The peace didn't break out on day one edition.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.
Herodotus.
May 12, 2025
Turkey v. The Kurds.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PPK, announced that it will disband and disarm after forty years of conflict.
May 26, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Trump posted the following yesterday:
I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not “Trump’s,” I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.
More and more it's impossible not simply regard Trump as stupid.
June 1, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine pulled off a sort of scaled down Pearl Harbor, or Battle of Taranto, or perhaps attack on Port Arthur today/yesterday by mounting a major drone attack on Russia air assets inside of Russia itself.
The drones were smuggled into Russia and launched from cabin launchers in what will go down as one of the most successful clandestine internal actions of all time. At least 40 Russian aircraft were destroyed on the ground.
June 3, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine's security service, the SBU, struck the Crimean Bridge with underwater explosives, damaging the structure.
June 8, 2025
US Civil Unrest
Donald Trump has federalized some units of the California National Guard and ordered them to Los Angeles in response to violent immigration protests there.
A President federalizing a Guard unit ab initio like this is very unusual.
June 9, 2025
US Civil Unrest
Absolutely nuts:
Press Release | June 9, 2025
USNORTHCOM statement on additional military personnel in the Los Angeles Area
U.S. Northern Command Public Affairs
PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – U.S. Northern Command has activated the Marine infantry battalion that was placed in an alert status over the weekend. Approximately 700 Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division will seamlessly integrate with the Title 10 forces under Task Force 51 who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area.
The activation of the Marines is intended to provide Task Force 51 with adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency.
Task Force 51 is U.S. Army North’s Contingency Command Post, which provides a rapidly deployable capability to partner with civil authorities and DoD entities in response to a Homeland Defense and Homeland Security Operations. It is commanded by Maj. Gen. Scott M. Sherman.
Task Force 51 is comprised of approximately 2,100 National Guard soldiers in a Title 10 status and 700 active-duty Marines. Task Force 51 forces have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force.
June 10, 2025
US Civil Unrest
Trump is doubling the size of the California National Guard deployment to Los Angeles.
June 11, 2025
US Civil Unrest
Californian National Guardsmen found their role expanded to protecting immigration agents as they made arrests in Los Angeles.
My guess is that this is going to be a long deployment, or that the Courts will find the this use illegal rapidly.
The deployment of military forces to California is costing the US $134,000,000.
Wyoming's Congressman predictably came down on the side of Donald Trump:
Hageman Blasts Newsom For Putting ‘Rioters Over The Side Of Law And Order’
Texas, not the United States, has deployed the Texas Army National Guard to Austin in advance of anticipated ICE raids there.
June 13, 2025
Israel v. Iran
Israel launched what are being termed "massive" air attacks against Iran's nuclear program and military command structure. Initial reports are that the raid were highly successful.
US Civil Unrest
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled the Trump's direct Guard deployment was illegal, violating the Tenth Amendment and exceeding Trump’s statutory authority. An appeals court stayed enforcement of the order upon review.
cont:
Israel v. Iran
The Israeli attack expanded today to nuclear installations. Operation Rising Lion also took out a number of senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps figures.
Iran is presently attempting to retaliate with missles.
June 14, 2025
US Civil Unrest
The Governor of Missouri activated his state's National Guard in advance of today's protests.
June 17, 2025
Israel v. Iran
"Sky trackers"?
"Stuff"?
Cont:
Apparently Trump has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender".
That's not going to happen, and the demand is insane.
Related Threads:
Misusing the National Guard.
Last Edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 2. The world is not a development opportunity edition.
The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Second Edition.
Trump at a college commencement on May 1, 2015. Probably a copyrighted photograph, but posted here under fair use to show Trump's bizarre character.
Barry R McCaffrey@mccaffreyr3 19hTrump to rename Veterans Day as ‘Victory Day for World War I’ - POLITICO — This is nuts.
He's clearly nuts. But not just nuts, he's stupid, and mean.
There's an entire selection of recent news interviews recently where King Donny is rambling and incoherent, but here's another example of his oddity. Trump is going to rename Victory In Europe Day to “Victory in World War II Day” even though it VE Day really was only a victory in Europe.
The war raged on against Japan after VE Day.
And for a complete collection of ramblings, etc.:
The man is demented.
Of course, added to this pathetic scene, Trump posted a photo of himself dressed like the Pope last week.
This brought immediate condemnation, but it also broke "oh, it's just a joke". First of all, for a dignified office, sophomoric jokes should be out of the question. The man occupying the position that is routinely cited, probably inaccurately now, as the most powerful in the world, should not be acting like a 7th grader. But he does so all the time.
Assuming it is a joke. Quite a few things that Trump does that are not taken seriously turn out to actually be his real views.
I dare say that this sort of conduct by any other President in the past would have resulted in the invocation of the 25th Amendment by now. It's not here, as those backing Trump need him for their agenda. National Conservatism and Project 2025 depend on him. His loyal base apparently has no problem with his antics, and those running the show depend on those people. That probably explains why J. D. Vance is not President yet, as nobody can be sure of who, if anyone, supports him.
This will get worse.
May 5, 2025
Two gems this morning.
A tariff on foreign movies, and this:
Alcatraz is a National Park now. When it was open it was plagued with battling the elements.
May 5, 2025
Keith Olbermann@KeithOlbermann7hSomething that is underscored every time an actual world leader goes to the White House: Donald Trump is wildly and increasingly insane.
May 8, 2025
Reporter: We are seeing the ports here in the US—the traffic has really slowed and thousands of dock workers and truck drivers are worried about their jobs”.
Trump: “That’s good, it means we lose less money”.
May 15, 2025
This is the guy running my administration. His name is Stephen Miller... We need a building like this back home.
Trump in Abu Dubai
We have costs are way down. Groceries. We have a term grocery. It’s an old term, but it means basically what you’re buying, food. It’s a pretty accurate term but it's an old fashioned sound.
Trump again.
March 16, 2025
Oh yeah. . . thats a comment by a "stable genius". . .
May 19, 2025
Really losing it.
May 26, 2025
Trump posted the following yesterday:
I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop. This is a War that would never have started if I were President. This is Zelenskyy’s, Putin’s, and Biden’s War, not “Trump’s,” I am only helping to put out the big and ugly fires, that have been started through Gross Incompetence and Hatred.
More and more it's impossible not simply regard Trump as stupid.
June 4, 2025
Truly, this author nails the current situation:
The media has indulged in a lot of conveniently after-the-fact handwringing over Biden’s age and how Democrats dealt with it. The reality is that Biden was old but governed normally. Trump governs erratically because he’s unglued. That’s the true cover-up, one the media is enabling when they seem more concerned with the mental condition of a former president than the escalating madness of the current one.
Stephen Robinson, Public Notice.
June 5, 2025
You know, Ukraine had the most beautiful turrets. They call them turrets. The little towers. Beautiful towers. The most beautiful in the world. They're all now laying on their side.
Donald Trump.
cont:
Eggs have come down 400 percent. Everybody has eggs now. They have eggs for breakfast again.
Donald Trump.
June 17, 2025
"Sky trackers"?
"Stuff"?
Related threads:
Last tragic edition:
Map shows iconic Wyoming landscapes could be developed under GOP budget, land sale plan
Map shows iconic Wyoming landscapes could be developed under GOP budget, land sale plan
I'll say it again, anyone voting for this will never get my vote for anything in the future. If everyone in my state's Congressional representation votes for it, I'll never vote for any Republican for anything again.
Sunday, June 17, 1945. Taking Kuishi Ridge.
The last Japanese defensive line was broken on Kuishi Ridge, Okinawa. The US 7th Division completed the capture of Hills 153 and 115.
"Tec Sgt. Hiroshi Mukaye, Los Angeles, Cal., Japanese Interpreter for the 32nd Infantry Regiment, and S/Sgt. Ralph M. Saito, Ewa, Hawaii, interpreter for the 24th Corps, question this Japanese sailor brought in by the 32nd Infantry Regiment. 17 June. 1945. 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive." This photograph is remarkable in that S.Sgt Santo has his rank drawn onto his fatigue cap in the same approximate size that later black subdued rank insignia would have it. He also has his rank printed on the lapels of his fatigue shirt, which would anticipate the practice of the 1960s, although not in that location.
The 37th Infantry Division captured Naguilian on Luzon.
Last edition:
Wednesday, June 17, 1925. The Geneva Protocol.
The Geneva Protocol, officially the "Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare", was signed in Switzerland by representatives of Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom United States Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Greece, British India, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Siam, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Arguably US use of CS gas in Vietnam violated the treaty. The USSR violated it with lethal gas in Afghanistan.
The first National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C.
The competition was won by 11-year-old Frank Neuhauser of Kentucky, who became a patent lawyer in his adulthood.
A sad Flapper Fanny went to print.
Last edition:
Monday, June 15, 1925. Flying out.
June 17, 1775. The Battle of Bunker Hill.
The British took Bunker HIll in Massachusetts in the first really notable largescale battle of the American Revolution.
While they prevailed, they took twice the casualties of the defending American forces.
250 Years Ago Today: The Bloodiest Day of the Revolutionary War
Related threads:
Saturday, April 4, 1925. Recalling Lexington and Concord.
Labels: 1770s, 1775, 1920s, 1925, Adolf Hitler, American Revolution, Art, Easter, German SS, Mail, Post Office, The Battle of Lexington and Concord, Weimar Germany
Last edition:
Thursday, March 30, 1775. King George III gave Royal Assent to the New England Restraining Act, which provided. . .
Monday, June 16, 2025
Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 92nd Edition. Immigration. How did we get into this mess?
Our Nation’s ICE Officers have shown incredible strength, determination, and courage as they facilitate a very important mission, the largest Mass Deportation Operation of Illegal Aliens in History. Every day, the Brave Men and Women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment, and even threats from Radical Democrat Politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our Mandate to the American People. ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.
In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside. These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens. These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them. That is why they believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports — And that is why I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role. You don’t hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!
I want our Brave ICE Officers to know that REAL Americans are cheering you on every day. The American People want our Cities, Schools, and Communities to be SAFE and FREE from Illegal Alien Crime, Conflict, and Chaos. That’s why I have directed my entire Administration to put every resource possible behind this effort, and reverse the tide of Mass Destruction Migration that has turned once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia. Our Federal Government will continue to be focused on the REMIGRATION of Aliens to the places from where they came, and preventing the admission of ANYONE who undermines the domestic tranquility of the United States.
To ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department, you have my unwavering support. Now go, GET THE JOB DONE! DJT
Trump on "Truth Social".
Over the last few days soldiers of the California National Guard have been backing up ICE in immigration raids in Los Angeles. The Marine Corps is as well. The Marines, we now are told, have actually performed an arrest. There are somewhere between 11.0 million to 18.6 million illegal immigrants, mostly, but not exclusively, from Central America in the country. During his run for a second term, Donald Trump basically promised to deport them all, but he's really not been much more successful than President Obama was on the same topic.
Of that number, probably about 1.6 million came in during the Biden Administration, not all of them as Republicans seemingly like to suggest.
Lots of reasons are given for this situation, most of which are devoid of historical analysis, and therefore, inaccurate. We'll take a more indepth view here.
As noted, most illegal immigrants into the US are from Central America. At one time, "illegal alien" almost always tended to mean an illegal entrant who was Mexican, but that never really reflected the entire situation. As late as the 1980s, the second largest group of illegal entrant into the US were Irish, something almost uniformly ignored. Indeed, illegal aliens in the US come from all over the globe. Nonetheless, the big problem is a Central American one.
When you conquer a foreign people and arbitrarily draw a map of convenience for yourself on what you are keeping, you create a problem.
That may sound like a non sequitur, but we need to start there.
The United States fought Mexico from 1845 to 1848, wi th most of the last part of that period being an occupation of the country. The Mexican War is more complicated than its generally considered to be, and I'll not go into the origins of the war. Suffice it to say, however, that a result of the war, the principal result in fact, was that the US acquired 55% of Mexico.
Now, that 55% is a bit deceptive in that the US did not acquire 55% of the Mexican population. In 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed by Mexican representatives chosen by hte US to sign it, the overwhelming majority of Mexicans lived south of the Rio Grande. There were, however, Spanish speaking populations north of the river, with most of them living in Texas, which Mexico had not regarded as properly lost, New Mexico, and California. Mexican populations, however, stretched all the way up into Spanish speaking settlements in Colorado as well.
Depending upon where they lived, many of those Hispanic populations were distinct with distinct histories, which also set them apart from the population of Mexico, although that population is more diverse then imagined. The closer you got to the Rio Grande, however, the more "Mexican", the population was.
The border was extremely fluid, although real, and would be for decades thereafter. People crossed back and forth over it fairly readily for various reasons. To the extent there was control of the border, on the US side it was by the US Army, and on the Mexican side, the Mexican Army, both of which occasionally crossed the border in pursuit of Native Americans.
It was the Mexican Revolution that really began to change things.
Mexican refugees crossing into the United States in 1915.
The Mexican Revolution saw an increased rate of border crossing as various groups of displaced people picked up and fled into the US. The US was a haven for combatant leaders and politicians from all sides of the war itself, which remained the case for decades. Villa famously attacked Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, but he also had taken refuge in the US prior to that.
The Revolution caused the US to really patrol the border in earnest for the first time, with the National Guard serving on the border up until early 1917, while the U.S. Army crossed the border in pursuit of Villa. In the popular imagination the war ended in 1920 when Obregón sworn in as President after having rebelled against Carranza, but that simply isn't true. Villa was assassinated in 1923 and Plutarco Elías Calles came into power as a radical anti Catholic in 1924, which resulted in heavy repression of CAtholicism even though over 80% of the population was Catholic. This sparked the actual last major rebellion against the government in the form of the Cristero War, which lasted until 1929.
As with earlier phases of the Revolution, the Cristero War caused refugee populations to migrate to the US. Indeed, the Cristero's weren't even the first religious refugees of the war, as Mormon populations had in some instances migrated out of Mexico earlier. As that had an ethnic component to it, the Mormons were mostly Americans culturally or in fact, we should note that migrant Japanese populations in Mexico were in some instances evacuated by the U.S. Army during the Punitive Expedition.
There were concerns about the large number of migrants even then, with it interestingly being the case that some of the existing Hispanic populations were amongst those concerned, which has tended to be the case more recently as well. Colorado passed the first law in the US banning marijuana as Hispanics native to the state associated it with Mexican refugees, with whom they did not wish to be confused or associated.
These various events caused the Border Patrol to be created in 1924. By that time, the really hot period of the Mexican Revolution was over, and the Cristero War had not yet begun, so the early Border Patrol entered the story at a time that is quite different from the present.
Indeed, while the Cristero War saw an influx of migrants, its end came with the arrival of the Great Depression, during which illegal immigration was not a major problem.
But that brings us to why this Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist is being published first here, rather than on Lex Anteinternet where they normally are.
Let's take a look at pre World War Two agriculture. . . and economics. . . and marriage. Well, let's take a look at the US before World War Two.
It's easy to say, "it's was a different country", but it wasn't. It was much different, however.
Ironically, lots of rank and file Trump supporters look back to that era, or the one that came immediately after it in the 1950s, as a Golden Age they'd wish to return to. And to some extent, now without good reason. . . although they themselves would largely choose to keep the moral laxity of the post 1960s, as long as it applied to men and women. What they seemingly want, sort of, is the economy of the 1950s with the personal morality of the high Playboy era. Or maybe they want the 60s themselves, but without the drugs and Vietnam, but with good paying industrial jobs, no fault divorce, and Fran Gerard.1
The pre World War Two world, indeed, the pre 1980 world, was much less corporate than it is now. While there were chain stores of one kind or another, Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, Woolworths, etc. much of retail was very local.
From Safeway's website.
Agriculture in much of the country was of the classic "family farm" type. Ranching definitely was. Outside of the South, remote owners of farms and ranches was extremely unusual. The South stood out as an exception due to historical reasons, as there was a tremendous amount of sharecropping in that region, but the owners of the land were still local. Hobby agriculture was a thing, but it wasn't a major thing.
Economics were almost much thinner. The middle class was much poorer than it is today and large portions of it lived very near the poverty line. The reverse is true today. Much of the middle class slips into the upper class periodically, and drops back out of it, without realizing it. They don't consider themselves "rich", but they periodically, statistically, are.
Indeed, while its disturbing to many, including frankly distributist, the modern American economy has had the effect of making Americans as a whole extremely wealthy. Americans like to note that the average wage hasn't rising in years, but because average prices have effectively dropped, in comparison to inflation, their spending power has continually grown.
Not that everything has been perfect, by any means. As often noted, it's impossible for families, for the most part, to get by on a single income, which cuts against what I just stated.
Popular traditionalist meme with some truth to it, but it requires more thought than this. Also, this pertains more to the 50s and 60s, than it does to eras before it.
Considering that, however, we need to start off with noting that what people imagine as "traditional" really means the 1950s, in this sense, with the "1950s" really being the years from about 1955 to 1965, that is from the end of the Korean War to the beginning of largescale troop deployments in Vietnam. The "American Graffiti" era, in other words, which is set in the early 1960s, ot the 1950s as sometimes imagined. The economy really was exceptional then for a wide variety of reasons. Europe and Asia's economies had been flattened by the Second World War. China's economy, which was not a major player in the world in any event, was removed from the international scene by its fall to Communism. The US was really on the only major industrial power in the world that didn't suffer two decades of economic recovery due to the war. Technological advances of the 30s and 40s came inot the American market on a largescale due to the end of the Great Depression. American education advanced enormously due to the GI Bill.
Before 1940, however, families got by on one income due to home economics, to a large degree. That is, people lived in smaller houses, they had one car, they didn't go on extended vacations, they didn't buy "home entertainment centers", and so on. We've dealt with it extensively, but unmarried women and men living in the communities they grew up in, lived with their parents. It was unusual for an unmarried man to own a home. Men and women basically went from their families home and economic care right into marriage, as a rule.
If they got married.
We haven't dealt with that much either. By and large, most people in American society got married. But there were entire classes of people that did not. One we've dealt with before is Catholic Priests. As we've noted, the Priesthood, and religious orders, were two ways in which Catholic men and women could have what amounted to a middle class existence without getting married.2
Other professions of that era had the same feature, however. Enlisted soldiers in the services were largely unmarried. They were not paid well, particularly in the lower grades, although that was somewhat made up for by the government providing housing, food and clothing. If they were married, it was usually only after they'd climbed in rank, which in the pre World War Two Army took an extremely long time. Junior officers were rarely married either, although more senior ones normally were.
And agricultural workers, those who worked for wages, were often unmarried. Working cowboys almost never were. Their jobs just didn't pay enough for them to marry.
Cowhands are a particularly interesting example. The end of the open range meant that ranches became more established and were normally family outfits. But the sons of those who were not to inherit the ranch, as well as some men who were just attracted to an outdoor life, provided a pool of men who became cowboys working for wages. There was more of a need for cowboys at the time than there is now, as machinery had not made inroads into agriculture like it has since. There are lot of things a person could point to in the case of farming, which became much more mechanized in the 1950s, but this is also true of ranching, which had not yet seen the introduction of the 4x4 truck. Cowhands were expected to provide their own equipment, but the ranch provided everything else for them.3 Even on farms, there were lifelong farm workers who were just that, unmarried men who spent their lives working on a farm they did not own.
That's where things circle back into the story of immigrants and agriculture.
Prior to World War Two, temporary agricultural labor was usually local. Farms tended to be small in comparison to the giant ones that exist now, and the labor was often made up of the extended families of the farmers. There was temporary labor, including Hispanic labor from Mexico near the border, but its need didn't exist to the extent it later did. As noted, people lived closer to poverty, which meant that they endured those conditions more readily, by necessity. The world was simply smaller too. People didn't consider it odd to send teenagers, or even children, into the fields during the summer months.
World War Two removed thousands of those people from their pre war lives, including their prewar economic existences. Men who had been sent all around the country, and overseas, didn't tend to return to agricultural work involving remaining single, and they didn't have to either, given the post war economy. Women who had worked in fields prior to the war worked in factories during it, and had grown used to a new life. They had no interest in returning to the pre war lifestyle either, and they also didn't have to.
Somebody had to do the work.
During the war, Mexican labor was brought in to do it under the Bracero program. And to some degree, the situation it created, has been with us ever since. Yeoman's Fourth Law of History at work.
So now what?
Well, in order to really reduce the number of immigrant farm workers, legal and illegal, at work in American fields, you'd need to create a situation in which Americans would do the work. That won't happen in the current farm economy, however.
After the Second World War the US went to a "cheap food" policy, and we've had it ever since. We note this as one thing you could do is pay Americans the necessary rate to work in the fields, but that would be grossly in excess of what immigrant laborers are now getting paid. That raises all kinds of moral issues, but one practical issue is that if we are going to address this, just like the topic of imported foreign products, the time to do it was decades ago, not now. Indeed, in the case of immigrant farm labor, the time to address it would ideally have been 1945.
In other words, it'd cause a huge spike in food prices.
Another thing you could do would be to try to address industrialization of agriculture. When farms were smaller and there was less of a need for extra labor. That could be done by making the remote corporate ownership of farms illegal, although that would frankly not address all of the problem by any means.
Any way it is looked at, it would mean that Americans would pay more at the grocery store, and the question there is whether or not they're willing to do it for a major societal shift. Hardcore National Conservatives are banking on Americans being able to be forced into this.
Trump?
Richard Ortiz is a migrant worker in Nipomo, California where famous photographer Dorothea Lange took a photograph of the Migrant Mother, Florence Owens Thompson in the 1930s
I somehow doubt it. But who knows.
Suffice it to say, in much of this, basic morality seems to have gone right out the window.
Footnotes
1. This is not how National Conservatives see things, however, which is one of the ironies of the Trump movement. National Conservatives have a definite Benedict Option worldview and the libertine nature of the post 1960s American culture doesn't fit into that at all. Immigrants frankly don't much either.
2. I'm not suggesting that people's callings were not real. Indeed, because of economic conditions, and society norms, particularly regarding the conduct of young women and men, callings were easier to hear. I would note, however, that the economic realities of the era probably at least influenced the thinking of some people.
3. Good descriptions of this can be found in Louise Turk's book Sheep! and Doug Crowe's book A Growing Season, all of which discuss this in the context of cowboys. A good description of it in a novel can be found in Horseman, Pass By, by McMurtry.
Last edition:
Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 7 and Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 91st Edition. Reality is hard.
Labels: Donald Trump, Economics, Immigration, law, Nostalgia, Populism, Taxes, The Second Trump Administration
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