How it All Breaks Down

"Every Man a King" was written as a speech intended for a nationwide radio audience. Long loved to give speeches because he knew he was so good at it. He could persuade people much better in person than in writing. The fact that it was a radio broadcast affected the style of the speech. It was written in folksy terms, easy for the average listener to understand—no five-dollar words or unexplained ideas. When you read the speech as written, sentences run on and on and leave you wondering how the man could possibly get through some of them without his lungs imploding.

Long would speak in such a way that the sentences would have natural pauses where he could gather himself to continue to rant. Here, all those dense sentences with colons and semicolons are much shorter and choppier when delivered than they come across to readers. It's all in the delivery. Long wanted the listeners to feel that he was talking to them; look at all those phrases that include repeated uses of "you know" and "my friends."

Long lays out his arguments in plain English, then invites his listeners to join him in solving the problems.

Section 1: You Know What We're Talkin' About

Because NBC only gave him 30 minutes to speak, Long dives right in to laying out his argument about the central problem facing the country: wealth inequality. He claims it's an entirely manufactured problem, one that could be solved tomorrow if only the haves would share with the have-nots. He gets his listeners' attention by referring to the Declaration of Independence and the founding ideals of equality and happiness that it set out as inalienable rights. Then, in devastating contrast, he describes the reality of the American economy—a few men wealthy, the rest desperate. He circles back to the Declaration of Independence and asks: is this what they meant by equality? It's masterful.

Section 2: My Name is Huey Long, and God Endorses This Message

Long knew that if anything would resonate with his audiences, it would be appeals to the Bible. After discussing the intentions of the founders, he then begins enumerating on the religious basis of his ideas, drawing connections between biblical statements about debt erasure and the frankly disturbing levels of debt held by a great many of the poorest Americans. Moses, James, and Jesus all spoke about redistributing wealth every so often so everyone would get his due. The implication? If the Lord spoke to the people today, he'd be telling them to start a local Share Our Wealth Society.

Section 3: Share Our Wealth: Conveniently Implying that it Was Always Your Wealth

Long then gets into the meat of his argument with a neat little parable about 100 lunches on an island and how one guy shouldn't eat up all the lunches available to feed the whole island. It's a great way to bring the problem down to a relatable level before later in the speech going off citing statistics in the millions and billions. Alongside these simplifications of a vastly complicated issue are further biblical and historical supporting arguments, particularly with more references to the founding fathers and adding ancient Greek philosophy.

Long throws everything and the kitchen sink at his listeners and hopes something sticks, reminding them that everybody, and he means everybody, has agreed that wealth must be fairly shared and not be allowed to sit in the pockets of a handful of the uber-wealthy. So this is the end of the set-up sections; now it's on to the plan.

Section 4: Fight the Power

Long marches out his many criticisms of how both the Republican and Democratic establishment have handled, or rather mishandled, the current economic crisis. He adds some more rhetorical spice with a moving bit about how government is like a religion and how the people are made to suffer for the poor decisions of their government, all very melodramatic and hammed up to the max.

Now we get the first mention of the Share Our Wealth Society, along with its motto, "Every Man a King." It's the logical solution to the arguments he's been building throughout the speech. Long lays out some of the plans in the program so people get a basic idea of how the plan will address the problems he's been describing: limiting fortunes, a guaranteed old-age pension, a limited workweek, agricultural reforms. He doesn't go into great detail, but reassures everyone that they have it all worked out. He reiterates the motto, which must have sounded like heaven to people who felt more like serfs than kings.

Section V: We're All in This Together

Long then calls for listeners to join his movement, to start their own local chapters of the Share Our Wealth Society, and to write to him if they want any more clarification or Share Our Wealth buttons. He revs them up by saying that thousands of people are already meeting throughout the U.S. and he's getting flooded with emails. We mean letters. Long knew it was easier to jump on a bandwagon when it was already moving.

He finishes with the empowering statement that people can get themselves out of the terrible economic crisis by this kind of grass-roots action, because the rich guys are not going to give up their money voluntarily. (Except for the Mayo brothers, who are using their personal fortunes to cure diseases.) It's the people's government and they're the ones who need to get involved.

Long then signs off with a personal greeting to his family, reassuring them that he's well and hopes to be home soon. It's a genius move—giving listeners a peek into his personal life and getting them even more invested in helping him out.