America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves.  To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, “It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.”  It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor.  Every nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold.  No such tales are told by the American poor.  They mock themselves and glorify their betters.  The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking cruel question:  “If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?”  There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand- glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.

- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut in the voice of his alter ego, American spy/Nazi Propagandist Howard J. Campbell.

Slaughterhouse Five presents the unflinching truth about America written as satire disguised as Nazi propaganda.  This was probably the only way that Kurt Vonnegut could write about America in such unpatriotic terms, by satirically couching it as propaganda written by Nazis.  Kurt Vonnegut, as my readers know, is one of favorite writers and I refer to his writing often.  Just this year, I have read and re-read Mother Night, Breakfast of Champions, Timequake and Slaughterhouse Five.

I’ve often pondered about how humorless and literal the conservative right tends to be.  How would Glenn Beck and his rabid followers read this passage?  Should Slaughterhouse Five be published for the first time today, would the conservative right jump upon it as an example of liberal elitism, anti-American fluff, and clear evidence that the liberal left were in fact, Nazis.

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