Almost everyone is familiar (or is that FARMiliar) with Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.”  But few are knowledgeable about the story behind the image.  In the artist’s self-commentary about his most famous work, Wood never talks about why the couple in the original (actually his sister Nan and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby) appear to be so unhappy.  Maybe it is the place and time, Eldon, Iowa in 1930.  And these farmers are still waiting for Herbert Hoover’s promise of a “chicken in every pot.”  Perhaps, as Nan Wood Graham later confessed, she was somewhat embarrassed to be portrayed as being married to someone twice her age.  Or, as the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported, Iowa farmers did not appreciate being depicted as “pinched, grim-faced, puritanical Bible-thumpers.”

Now a digital photograph rather than oil on beaver wood,  choice of medium is not the only difference between my remake which I call “American Gothic 2019” and Wood’s original.  The first thing you notice is the present day farmer in front of the Dibble House (the structure Wood sketched as the background for his rendition) is smiling despite the fact her rural enterprise has fallen on hard times.  This is due largely to Chinese retaliation for Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on imported goods.  As they say in Japan, “SOYanara.”  But unlike her ancestors in Wood’s painting, she is not the least bit worried about where she will get funds to cover her family’s next meal.  After all, she cast a ballot for Donald Trump in 2016 because he warned her and other farm belt voters America was being bankrupted by immigrants and freeloaders who lived off the public dole.  And she has now been rewarded by the beneficiary of that vote by her ability to seek asylum as the latest immigrant to settle in the welfare state.

Twice since imposing tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump has authorized payments to mitigate the impact of his trade war, first for $16 billion and then a second installment of $19 billion dollars.  While at the same time, the proposed FY2020 federal budget includes a $17 billion reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or as most people know it, food stamps.  Upon releasing the Department of Agriculture figures for the coming year, Secretary Sonny Perdue, defended the cuts.

With our national debt soaring to over $22 trillion, we can no longer kick the can down the road. The time to act is now and USDA will actively do its part in reducing federal spending. We are stewards of other people’s money and must be diligent in spending it more carefully than we would our own when it comes to delivering our programs.

Except when Donald Trump authorizes policies and expenditures to mitigate hits to the economy, especially in states on which his election and potential re-election depend.

So the next time a Republican candidate for any office includes a picture of an inner-city (read African American) SNAP recipient in their campaign material or television spot or when they refer to “welfare queens” at fundraisers when they believe they are not being recorded, just remember the image in “American Gothic 2019.”  And remind them the newest path to becoming “welfare state royalty” is the Trump-induced, precipitous drop in the price of “silver queen” hybrid corn.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP