But not a protest song. Unless. You see ... they got this thing called empathy and I've been feeling a lot of it lately. Especially for family and friends struggling in this economy, and especially so for folks up in Detroit where my Dad's people are from. That's where decades of bad management by auto industry execs and city government, coupled with a policy of off-shoring labor to get around unions has created a wasteland of a once proud town.
Which leaves bittersweet memories for my immigrant grandfather who worked the Chrysler factories for over 40 years. And worse, it leaves a joke of a devastated economy for younger generations like my cousins to limp along beside while trying to support their families. One such cousin has been out of work in the housing industry for almost a year now even though he was previously an award winning high achiever. Why don't they leave you ask? Family, basically. For all the things Detroit doesn't have anymore, one thing it's always had is a strong tradition and respect for family, especially amongst those descended from European immigrants.So they trudge along, doing the best that they can, while companies like GM continue to make baffling decisions, like the one they made when they decided to discontinue the Pontiac line of cars. To my way of thinking, that was a short-sighted, bone-headed move. Pontiac has given us some great, inspiring cars like the Trans Am, the Firebird, the Bonneville and, my personal favorite, the GTO. These were cars that for prior generations symbolized cool and speed and excitement. We even made movies that centered around them:
The point is, Pontiac was the one part of GM that seemed to employ people with some imagination and fire. They made their share of crappy decisions along the way just like rest of the industry, but at least they did it with style. They gave us something to get fired up about while the rest of the industry, especially GM, was putting out cars like the Buick (fill in the blank ... they all sucked) and the Ford Tempo.
So when GM blew out the star in the Pontiac dart I threw up my hands in disgust, so to speak ... What's that? Don't know what the star in the Pontiac dart is/was? You actually do, you just didn't realize it. Take a look:
Looks like an arrowhead, yes (harkening back to the American Indian Chief Pontiac), but was referred to by many as the Pontiac dart. And from what I remember, the little cross inside the dart is supposed to depict a star, maybe even the North Star, but I'm not sure. What matters for my sordid purposes is that when GM discontinued Pontiac they blew out the star in the dart and made the world a little less bright for all of us.
So yes, I protest. I protest for all the guys who dreamed of driving a muscle car with the girl of their dreams cozied up next to them. And I protest for my cousins and the devastated landscape they struggle to keep calling home.
PLIGHT OF THE PONTIAC
21,000 hourly jobs
Still protecting the management slobs
With the cash they took from me
Unemployment at 15 percent
Union bennies don’t make a dent
In the stuff us blue folks need
Take me back to the Fabulous Fifties
Bonnie hardtop fit my need for speed, luscious speed
When GM blew out the star
In the fine red
The people were next in the line of fire
Now they’re closing my old high school
Board of Ed looked like a bunch of fools
Last night on my TV
Say we got to be the windmill state
How they’re gonna drop the jobless rate
In a land of oil beats me
When our pride died? I don’t really know
But I had plenty driving my GTO, she could go
There’s rebellion in the air
Politicians better damn well care
‘Bout the land between the lakes
UAW is on the attack
Gonna bring back Chief Pontiac
If we don’t get our fair shake
Still remember the wind cutting through my hair
Grandpa driving his Chieftain without a care, not a care
Coming to you from the land of Honda, Nissan and Toyota, the country that used cheap labor, quality control and our own big managment arrogance to beat us at our own game, I remain faithfully yours and thank you for sharing in my rant and reading my blog.
