As I've mentioned a number of times elsewhere in this blog, I come from Massachusetts, one of the original thirteen colonies who declared independence on July 4, 1776, and I'm proud of that heritage. Unfortunately, as I look about at the actions, and inaction, of the federal government today; as we suffer from more and more foreign influence on the governance of what was once a world-leading independent democracy, noted for its continuing efforts to live up to ideals espoused in both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, I wonder if we as citizens have slipped so far, have become so self-centered and spoiled, that we would be capable today of doing what our founders did more than 200 years ago. I fear the answer is no.
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| a new dawn for America Again?
Photo by J. Harrington
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We as a people have let ourselves become too divided. We focus more these days on our differences than our shared inalienable rights to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Too many of us seem to have forgotten, or do not want to recognize, that it was not individuals, acting alone and independently, that secured our freedom from the English Crown and Parliament. It took almost all of us, acting together, putting aside for the most part our less significant differences, to throw off a yoke of tyranny. Are we about to succumb to a new tyrant, as our right to vote is suppressed and our ability to chose our legislative representatives is gerrymandered by those whose prime concern is their own self-interest and maintenance of a standard of living most of their constituents don't enjoy. That smacks distressingly of royalty rather than public service.
Over this weekend, I ask those of you who read this to take some time and make a commitment to read, between now and election day, our Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States, as provided by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Then as you vote by mail or in person, cast your vote for those who you truly believe best represent the ideals for which this country once stood. If enough of us do that, often enough and over a long enough period of time, we may be able to regain the respect of other world leaders and, more importantly, once again earn a level of deserved self-respect. Politicians whose highest qualification is pandering to our basest instincts should be banned and shunned. The premise of a representative democracy is that we choose those who represent us. For the most part these days, I'm ashamed of and shamed by those who claim to represent me on the world and national stage. I keep hoping for evidence that "we're better than this."
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.
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