Whatever you think Johnny Cash was, he was something better.
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He was full of humor and he was a good guy. He was very emotional—very, very, very sincere. He was very religious. And had lots of skeletons in the closet. He didn’t like Johnny Cash. He didn’t like him at all. He fought that damn drug problem all his life. It was just one stage of withdrawal or another. And then he got into that pain period, the last eight or 10 years of his life. He broke his jaw in a surgery and he had a bone that was actually broken in two and would rub against itself and his jaw. He went to pain centers to try to find ways to relieve it. He went to hypnotists and tried everything to try to get over this terrible pain. And he fought that. When he finally died, I thought, “You know, the poor son of a bitch is finally out of pain.” And he really hurt. That song that he did called “Hurt”, I think the success of that was due to the fact that he was in so much pain.
Let me put it to you this way: Whatever you think Johnny Cash was, he was something better. And you would really be pleasantly surprised if you knew him. He’s the real guy.
When you moved from Oklahoma, I imagine you felt a lot of grief towards the fact that the dustbowl issue played a big part in the reason your family left. In fact, you could even say that the financial recession we’re dealing with today has a lot in common with the dustbowl. Farmers rape the land without tilling the soil, and Wall Street investors took advantage of our financial system without much regulation. What are your thoughts there? I know you’ve never really been afraid to speak your mind when it comes to politics.
Let me give you what I think. I think that this country went into a depression in 1929 and I don’t think it’s ever recovered. We recovered to some degree in World War II because of the economy that the war created. But then following the war there was a continuation of the Depression. People didn’t make no money, people didn’t have anything, our standard of living was not really good. So, a lot of things happened after World War II because all the soldiers came home and had to get jobs. So, they contaminated the earth, they contaminated the rivers, they cut down all the trees and they sold all the cars. Now, everybody’s got a car, all the trees are cut down, all the rivers are contaminated to a degree that we have to agree upon among ourselves so that we can continue to live in an overpopulated state of confusion. And we have not come out of a recession or the depression that we were in in the ‘30s.
And you’re right about the soil; we’re doing the same things in different ways. So it all caught up with us. It caught up with us about 10 years ago. And we’ve been on a downhill slide. There hasn’t been a sincere president in office since Ronald Reagan. It’s not about Barack Obama, it’s about Barack Obama and George Bush and the other part of the regime. I think their hearts were in the right place, but I don’t think they have what it took to change anything. Ronald Reagan changed things. Things he did are still in place. If they weren’t still in place, we’d be totally gone. That’s where I’m at.
So do you believe that Obama and Bush have any political similarities?
I don’t see any similarities. We’re hanging a name on a condition. Both of them were in office during a world condition. We had the same condition the day (Obama) took office that George Bush had. It’s not about them but then after they take over and they start to make decisions and they drive the economy to an all-time low because of stupid moves… you know, somebody said, “You were for Barack Obama.” And I said, “I’ve been for every president that took office.” But then as they start to do things and the way they do things… you know, I don’t want to sound like Rush Limbaugh, but y’know, bowing to other kings and things of that nature, and the socialistic attitude and the decisions made since he’s been in office are not good. We’re whittling away at the Constitution.
Well in some ways the Constitution doesn’t hold up anymore. Some modifications should be made in the interest of achieving equal protection for all citizens.
In what respect? Name one.
Well, say you’re for employer-based healthcare. In that case, you also have to look at the changes in America’s production system. We don’t produce anywhere near as much as we used to. Instead, we import. The “traditional” 9-to-5 job is dying. So say you’re one of the many people who work contract positions or freelance. Doesn’t everyone deserve a fair shot at seeing a doctor without breaking the bank? Isn’t that something the government, as our “protector”, should provide?
So you’re for health care?
Yes.
You think these are good changes that he’s made? Do you agree with the health care package he’s passed?
I think Obama has placed a lot of band-aids around a bleeding issue and bent over backwards for too many paranoid Republicans when what he should have done was nipped it in the bud. Universal healthcare, the public option, etc. Even though that may have also been even less realistic for us. I also sort of recognize that Obama’s package was the best he was going to get under the circumstances. So, what are your views?
Well, you got mine. You already know where I’m coming from. I just think that it’s a great idea, being able to give everybody health care. I love that idea. But how are we going to pay for it? How are we going to do that?
Tax dollars.
We’ve taxed people; we’ve killed all of the inspiration for entrepreneurs to thrive on. We’re not the inventors anymore, like you said. We’re only the shippers in this country. We’re not growing anything, they’ve shut down the Silicon Valley… we were 60% of the world’s grocery store and they’ve shut it down for whatever reason. They’ve shipped all the water to all of the swimming pools down in Hollywood. That’s the bottom line. I don’t care what the reasons are for it, but they’re shipping the water on top of Mount Whitney down to Los Angeles. Is their swimming pool water worth more than feeding 60% of the world? I don’t think so. There’s a lot of things like that that are occurring simply because they can occur and because there’s money involved. And the bottom line is that that’s the root of all of it—money. How much money can we make and how many people can we screw? How much water can we steal?
That’s always been America’s goal, in my opinion. Our priorities are way out of whack.
Let me just say this: we’re right up to the bottom lip of taking all we can take as a society on this earth. We’re overpopulated in every area. Everybody’s got a car, nobody’s got any money, and everybody is at a standstill, looking at each other saying, “What do we do next?” Well, I’m going to tell you what, there’s not much to do and there’s going to be a great collapse. And Wall Street will be right in the middle of it.
