Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen: Without a Cent (March 1894)
printed by Edouard Kleinmann

" … patriotically doing Without!"

The first day of spring started suitably moist. The tail end of a week-long Pacific front left the street leading toward The Center of the Universe puddled and glistening. The cats, lately too familiar with that damp back fur feeling, hesitated before departing outside to make their morning rounds. I've tried to preserve their sense of rhythm through the long and isolating winter where outside so often seemed too unpromising for them to spend much time out there. I hovered close as if they might return the favor, for I also needed my time regulated. My world started disintegrating as the NextWorld began kicking in, though even my anticipation of it served to start closing me in. I anticipated shortages. As a proud veteran of the pandemic, I'd excelled at doing Without. I hunkered down and proudly made do, timing my off-hours excursions to avoid crowded venues. We didn't go out for supper. We avoided movies. We became willing homebodies, feeling we contributed to the common good via small sacrifices. While some protested the need for such compromises, we reveled in them. We thought mask mandates were common sense, and people complaining about them seemed self-destructively stupid.

The crazies have taken over now. They seem to govern exclusively by deleting things. They withhold critical services. They cut without first measuring and routinely delete before understanding. They've erected a vast negative space as if it was necessarily superior to the prior positives. Is my heart supposed to grow fonder because of these absences? Our representatives perform like amateur actors, complaining about how unappreciative their audiences seem and feeling persecuted when people rightfully complain about the pain they're inflicting. I feel as if I missed some essential training, for I cannot comprehend the philosophy their actions seem to be espousing. I cannot see the purpose of cutting essential services. The new Secretary of Health and Human Services announced that he'd decided not to fund the development of an MMR vaccine against bird flu. This act should effectively undermine the domestic poultry industry, an enthusiastic supporter of MAGA deregulation, by ensuring that an untreatable mutation will quickly emerge. The infection has already spread to cattle, cats, and a few unfortunate humans who unknowingly handled dead birds. I accept that I should not be buying chicken or eggs for now. It might also be wise for me to avoid beef.

I grew accustomed to doing Without and felt it was my contribution to civilization. I'm hoping you know who doesn't decide to punish us with a tariff on extra virgin olive oil, which would prove to be a grave hardship. Already, high tariffs on European wines threaten to undermine my culinary habits. The Withouts will be different this time. They will include domestic airline travel. That drive The Muse wanted to make up the Al-Can highway to Alaska no longer seems possible now that we've declared ourselves hostile neighbors. I'm losing my once-revered Washington Post subscription next week after subscribing for fifteen years after the paper announced that it would be switching from news to propaganda. The Muse wondered if we should scoot to the liquor store to stock up on Scottish single malt, but I declined the invitation. I've found a workable domestic single malt. Canned beer might soon be too expensive once the aluminum tariff kicks in. I'll be renewing my glass recycling subscription. I had been dreaming of a European excursion. A few weeks toodling around some center, visiting old friends, and living on baguettes. I guess that's gonna be out of the question, too, now that we're officially Ugly Americans again.

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies. For amber waves of grain that suddenly have no export market. The soft white wheat this valley grows in abundance used to be exported to the Far East because it's perfect for their noodles. In their wisdom, the MAGAs, which included most wheat farmers, have decided to chase those buyers to Australia and Brazil by imposing tariffs on themselves. Those former customers will not return quickly, if ever. And grain elevators that still hold too much of last year’s crop will not have space to hold another bumper crop later this year. The input costs have continued to expand while the commodity prices keep falling. Some say vulture capitalists are in cahoots with what now passes for a Department of Agriculture to produce cheap farmland for sale to somebody other than family operators. Absentee owners have been acquiring an alarming amount of our fertile county and installing professional managers and ever more machinery. I seldom see any actual farmhands anymore.

The Feds are by far the largest employer here and certainly the best-paying. Drastic cuts to essential services could gut this county's economy. Trim a quarter of the living wage jobs here, and we'll likely experience more affordable home prices, though there will be a severe shortage of qualified buyers. The schools, long a source of community pride, could collapse as well, as special needs programs lose essential funding. Ten percent of the students qualify as special needs and receive Federal funding set to disappear. Nearly half of our primary school system students speak Spanish as their first language. Many have been notably absent since the incumbent took office and started directing ICE agents to detain and incarcerate suspects without warrants and shipping them to unknown locations even when they've violated no law. A definite lawlessness has descended over our community and nation. People here are scared and furious.

I will continue chronicling my experiences. I still believe the incumbent is heading toward a spectacular fall. He will be impeached once he's finally breached some inviolable edge. His former supporters will be unable to continue endorsing him, and he will become poison. Then, we'll see some rats scurrying toward the exits. The incumbent's actions seem unprecedented. He's increasingly unpopular among those whose belief in him appeared unshakable. I remember when Goldwater visited Nixon in the White House to inform him that he would lose the impending impeachment vote. Nixon chose to resign rather than be expelled. I doubt that our incumbent will prove nearly that strategic. This upcoming quarter will see some history-making. I intend to be sitting on the sidelines, not eating popcorn because I can't really eat popcorn anymore, but watching with great interest. We will be poised on some precipice of greatness, patriotically doing Without!

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #NextWorld, #PureSchmaltz