The Rich Men North of Richmond can't understand how poor life is for many of us

There’s a line between being clueless and just having contempt for people who aren’t as well off. Legacy journalists crossed that line long ago. They gave up trying to understand the lives of ordinary Americans who are devastated by globalism, regulation, taxes and Big Government.

The new song by country artist Oliver Anthony draws that line somewhere near Washington, D.C. The song, "Rich Men North of Richmond," is about hardship that has become commonplace for working people in the United States. He sings how, "Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground/ 'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down."

The song didn’t just strike a chord with Americans. It went straight to the heart of many problems in the Land of the Somewhat Free. The emotional words and soulful vocals catapulted the unknown performer to No. 1 on the Apple single charts. Two other songs of his are at No. 2 and No. 3. A fourth takes No. 9. 

BLUE-COLLAR POLITICAL ANTHEM 'RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND' BUMPS JASON ALDEAN SONG OUT OF TOP SPOT ON CHART

Here’s how the hit song begins:

"I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
Overtime hours for bullsh-t pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away

It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is"

The legacy press can’t even comprehend it. Journalists abandoned ordinary workers and ordinary voters to promote leftist-approved victim groups. There was a time when journalism was a working-class profession. Reporters understood how hard life was for blue-collar men and women. They knew the sounds of broken hearts and empty stomachs.

Now reporters stare at those people like they are visiting a zoo, amazed they even exist.

That’s been much of the reaction to the song. Either that, or outright hate. Variety decided to question the credentials of Anthony, whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, because it couldn’t question the honesty of the song itself. "Is viral sensation Oliver Anthony too good to be true? Too ‘right’ to be true? Or an authentic working-class hero, which is something to be?"

Mashable was equally confused: "Who is Oliver Anthony and what's the deal with 'Rich Men North of Richmond?'" The AV Club had a similar curiosity, asking, "‘What is ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ and why is it suddenly everywhere?" Of course, that piece also had to pretend it was somehow about "the Confederacy."

No, folks, Richmond is only about 100 miles from D.C. But the gap might as well be light years away. That’s not history. It’s geography. Take a class, preferably not in a public school.

The New York Daily News resorted to the traditional tactic and declared it simply a "right-wing ‘anthem.’" The Independent slammed the song as "‘offensive’ and ‘fatphobic,’" by quoting random Twitter accounts. Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone whined that "right-wing influencers" were "losing their minds."

Journalism-ing.

And the New Yorker made a leap big enough to jump the Grand Canyon, tying the song to, "reactionary nostalgia that pines for the days of sundown towns." 

They don’t get it. Look at the words:

"Livin’ in the new world

With an old soul

These rich men north of Richmond

Lord knows they all just wanna have total control

Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do

And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do

‘Cause your dollar ain’t sh-t and it’s taxed to no end

‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond"

"Rich Men" sounds just like Woody Guthrie wrote it, but when he was alive, the left at least pretended to care about ordinary people. Not anymore. And certainly, the press doesn’t either.

Journalists can’t imagine why anyone would complain about President Joe Biden’s economy. But Anthony blasts that economic reality, singing, "I’ve been selling my soul, working all day/ Overtime hours for bullsh** pay." 

My dad worked two jobs when I was young – hard, long days and nights, putting out fires full-time and driving a cab in his other waking hours. As difficult as it was then, it’s worse now. Those "rich men" Anthony sings about have shipped manufacturing jobs overseas, hollowing out rural America.

What Anthony is singing about now is Bidenomics, even if he doesn’t use the cute marketing term. The press has pretended that’s a success despite epic inflation that forces families to struggle just to buy food. 

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Journalists sell Bidenomics like they are selling any other product. Nearly 80% of all CNN comments about Bidenomics were positive – almost 4-to-1 over the negative, according to a Media Research Center study.

The Washington Post was no different, pretending that declining inflation solves the financial crises of ordinary Americans. "As inflation falls, GOP may have to rethink attacks on Biden economy," wrote Post economics reporter Jeff Stein. The PR hacks on "Morning Joe" brought on former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina to tell the world, "I love Biden economics." 

I’m pretty sure he’s not struggling to pay his bills. 

The press turned a blind eye to all the downside for working-class citizens. They didn’t care when American jobs went away, unless those jobs were their own. They didn’t care when nearly 1 million Americans died from opioid overdoses. Because it didn’t hit their neighborhoods. 

That was in flyover country. And the legacy press only pays attention to flyover country when they bash it or use it to attack people they hate – like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former President Donald Trump.

FILE – Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the annual Feenstra Family Picnic at the Dean Family Classic Car Museum in Sioux Center, Iowa, on Saturday, May 13, 2023.  (Rebecca S. Gratz for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

So, journalists refuse to understand "Rich Men North of Richmond" because they can’t handle the truth. They fear realizing that they are press agents for those very same rich men who don’t give a damn about ordinary Americans. Those are the men who ship our jobs and our technology to genocidal China and wonder why people do much of their shopping at the places with "dollar" in their name like Dollar Tree or Dollar General.

And the press is upset that someone like Anthony didn’t just realize how bad things are. He let his singing do his talking: "Lord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten to/ For people like me and people like you."

The rich men north of Richmond are scared people noticed and so are their friends in the press. 

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Dan Gainor is a freelance opinion editor for Fox News Digital.