All men may have been created equal, but in the early 1930s, that's where it ended.
In Long's time, the Great Depression had devastated the American economy and left millions of people jobless and hungry. Plenty of rich folks lost their fortunes, too, but wealth became concentrated in the hands of a few super-wealthy men who owned obscene amounts of property and assets and who wielded the political power to preserve their wealth. This had been going on for decades in Louisiana, even before the Depression; the rich men ruled the state and paid very little attention to the problems plaguing the poor Louisianans who made up most of the population.
Enter Huey Long, who made their cause his cause. At its heart, Long's "Every Man a King" speech was fundamentally centered on class inequality as the prevailing issue facing America. He addresses inequality from a number of perspectives in his speech, but the primary modes are as a matter of scripture, history, and common sense. And according to Huey, there's a simple and obvious answer: tax those rich guys heavily, distribute the rest to the struggling poor, problem solved. People wouldn't be exactly equal, but at least no one would starve and everyone would have equal opportunities for education. And decent health.
What a radical idea.
Questions About Inequality
- How is Long's program as described in the speech different from socialism or communism?
- Would Long's Share Our Wealth plan have been as popular without a Great Depression?
- What made Long's approach to dealing with income inequality so radical?
- Were Long's statistics on wealth inequality convincing?
Chew on This
Long made a strong case for wealth inequality being a recipe for total ruin of the country.
The speech was so filled with exaggeration that it was easy for the rich to ignore it.