Jeffery and Daniel... Definitely good guys

I am writing the BLOG post this morning in a comfortable riverboat lounge listening to a cheese and wine lecture, sampling the cheeses and enjoying the wine. The four cheeses are regional non pasteurized (my favorite is Epoisse, a soft cheese with a particularly delicious rind) and the wine is merlot, also from the Cote du Rhone region. In the Latitude 52 degrees Lounge I am surrounded by 140 other Americans who can afford the experience... and talented Vantage staff like Daniel and Jeffrey.  

Now don't think for a minute that I am remorseful or sad or in any way sorry to be in this place having this international experience, but I confess that midway through this morning I looked out to the riverbank at a road crew of about a dozen men filling potholes.  You know the song which Arthur sings in the musical Camelot, “I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight,” came to my mind.  Of course, Arthur is the king, and he is wondering what ordinary people, poor people, the peasants might be thinking about him in his high castle on his wedding night.  It’s funny, clever, and meant to entertain us. For me it is a political statement.

ARTHUR:

I know what my people are thinking tonight,

As home through the shadows they wander.

Ev'ryone smiling in secret delight,

They stare at the castle and ponder.

Whenever the wind blows this way,

You can almost hear ev'ryone say:

I wonder what the king is doing tonight?

What merriment is the king pursuing tonight?

The candles at the court, they never burned as bright.

I wonder what the king is up to tonight?

While I enjoy the results of my good fortune at having been able to retire with more-than-adequate income, I am concerned about shrinking of the middle class and the widening income gap between the most affluent and the poorest Americans, a gap which clearly contradicts the idea of e pluribus unum, the phrase on the Seal of the United States. For a few weeks I will be traveling in the company of Americans who can afford a holiday cruising on a luxurious Rhone Riverboat. Most of us are retired from careers that were open to us because we managed to get university educations. Most of us identify ourselves as members of the substantial American middle class that developed after World War II.  We got our start when the middle financial class was widening… ironically, in a period when heavier taxes were levied on corporations and on individual citizens with higher than average personal incomes than our legislators are willing to consider today.

From the cool distance of France I am remembering last week’s attempt by Elizabeth Warren to get a vote in the senate on a bill that would have narrowed the spigot that is funneling big bucks into big banks from the student loan program… a program that would have helped millions of Americans afford a college education without having to be in debt until their old age paying off their college loans… and it would have reduced interest on student loan debt of those who are paying much higher interest to banks than banks are paying on deposits.  Senator Warren’s bill was blocked by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans who consistently vote against bills that would guarantee working families sick days and equal pay for equal work… the same crew in the Senate who always vote to hand out billions of tax dollars in corporate bailouts… the same senators who vote to deny workers the right to form unions. Don't they know about e pluribus unum, all for one and one for all?

Plant that produces chemicals on the Rhone River

The city of Vienne on the Rhone with its Roman ruins.

The Temple below was built in 200 B.C.

 Above is Vienne's city hall, and below is the Cathedral that was begun in 1000 A.D. and finished 500  

years later... begun with Roman... finished with Gothic architecture.

The Rhone is a lifeline for the South of France.