The Winner Takes It All

We went to an ABBA cover band concert in Colorado Springs tonight. It was a so so concert, the cover band was Swedish and while they supposedly had been performing around the U.S. for 20 some years, they're onstage patter was stiff at best, and the sound was echoing.  Too bad, I like ABBA's music even if it is a bit monotonous.

I was struck by the song "The Winner Takes It All" especially tonight.  It really is true, you know.  The winner does take it all, and write the history.  We've been watching the PBS Special Presentation of Latino Americans.  The Spaniards came into Texas and California and took the land away from the Indians.  Then the U.S. won the Mexican American War and despite the Treaty of Guadalupe, white Americans started pouring into Texas and California and soon they had taken away the lands owned by the Spanish and Indian families in those areas. 


While I really sympathize with the Latino plight, I don't condone the Americans' behavior in any way, I have to point out that the Californios and Tejanos did the same thing to the previous residents... the local Indian populations.  It's been true throughout man's history.  The victor takes it all, and writes the history so it looks like they were doing the previous owners a favor by taking away their holdings.  Europeans have been extremely good at this.  They "colonized" the Americas, Africa, India .... and of course the native population was really only there holding the land till the Europeans got there. The United States was just following a pattern of colonization and subjugation.   After all, they were the winner and "the winner takes it all."

I could become a communist in my old age, from each what he can to each what he needs.  But mankind doesn't work that way.  They are always looking to win, at the expense of anyone in their way.  I know that. So I'll just protect my little corner of the world and hope a new winner doesn't take over the United States - Colorado in particular and start appropriating the previous landowners' lands - including mine.