As the political primaries pick up steam and more and more “My fellow American” speeches are issued, we see common themes being expressed by candidates of all parties and all persuasions. The political themes appear to be jobs, health care, food production and the economy. Those who have followed John Wesley’s career realize there is nothing new about those issues.
There was great unemployment and hunger throughout England as 1772 drew to an end. Wesley wrote a long letter to the editor of one of the papers stating that: “many excellent things have been lately published concerning the present scarcity of provisions; and many causes have been assigned for it, by men of experience and reflection. I ask, first, why are thousands of people starving, perishing for want, in every part of the nation? The fact I know; I have seen it with my eyes, in every corner of the country, and why do we have no work?  Why are thousands and thousands of people throughout England utterly destitute of employment? Because the persons that used to employ them can no longer do so.” 
Wesley continues asking questions about the scarcity of food. “But why is food so dear? Primarily because such immense quantities of corn are continually consumed by distilling.”  The production of alcohol took the grain that might otherwise be used to produce food.  
Wesley continued to ask a train of questions and give answers as to why the cost of living was so high and why provisions were so scarce.  He asks, “Why are beef and mutton so costly?” To each question he has a considered answer. “Because of the high demand for horses, the farmers in the northern counties, who used to breed sheep, cows and oxen, now breed horses. The cost of producing food has been raised by the increase in rents by the gentlemen landowners. And on top of that the enormous taxes which are levied on every conceivable thing. Taxes are so high because of the national debt. Today the interest alone on the national debt is 125% of what the entire debt was just seventy years ago,” Wesley proclaimed.
We hear this lament from Wesley in no uncertain terms. We will hear it many times between now and election day in November. It’s a different country, a different time, but the same political themes. 
In the next issue, we will see how Wesley’s solutions compare to those of today’s candidates.