Thursday, January 24, 2008

"Just Like Jesse James"

In one of those old Cher crooning songs, she sings that she will shoot him down in flames, "Just like Jesse James." Yes. You would have to find an old Cher cassette to get that track, but I did have one for the trip to Northfield this weekend. And---it brought back memories of the fate of Jesse James----and why each year in Northfield, Mn., they celebrate "The Defeat of Jesse James Days" as the centerpiece of their historic heritage. Yes. They have the bricks. They have the historic homes. They celebrate the Defeat of Jesse James.


In the old days, the banks were not insured. You lose your savings and it is curtains for your family. Jesse James had made quite a name for himself as a bank robber. He was feared nationwide.

On that fateful morning as word spread that Jesse was robbing the bank, each man went and got his gun. They waded in and made a celebrated accounting of themselves. The Jesse James Gang was over.

Singlehanded, no one of them could have managed it. Together they got the job done.

We need to get back to the old days, when folks considered it THEIR money in the bank, and when folks did not just buy insurance and some complicated legal bundle of securitization, but rather felt a stake in their finanical institutions.

It seems we have just a whole lot of Jesse James look alikes these days. And it is true with concealed carry, folks could just protect their banks like in the old days.