The Underlying Issues....

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2006)

In US History class, the most boring and particularly monotonous portion of the curriculum was the section spent on the incorrigible populists, who were clearly quote vexed about something in particular pertaining to the government, but I couldn't find anyone to explain it to me. The best reply that I got was: "Go watch the Wizard of Oz!" and then the door was slammed in my face as my high school librarian shut me out in a fit of pique. So I did, and I wound up more confused then I was in the first place. Finally, I received deliverance: the Wizard of Oz is a allegory for the populists, who wanted free coinage of silver so that they wouldn't have to be sent to debtor's prison. They, most farmers, are represented by the scarecrow; the tin man is for industrial workers, Toto represents abolitionists, while Dorothy herself symbolizes traditional American values. The reluctant hero of the populists, William Jennings Bryan, is portrayed by the cowardly lion; his nemesis, William Mckinely, is depicted by none other than the Wicked Witch of the West, who is, for some reason, greener than Kermit the Frog. While there are many other cross-references, including the "yellow brick road" (gold standard) and even the word "Oz" (as in ounces of gold), but I don't have the time or the patience to outline them all...