Sitting This One Out

Today is American Independence Day, the day the people of my country celebrate the day we declared our independence from Great Britain and its monarchy, the day our Declaration of Independence was signed. 

If you take the time to read that sacred document, you'll find that it is essentially a laundry list of grievances against our soon-to-be former rulers across the ocean in London.

But within those grievances are these inspired words of Thomas Jefferson's which define for us what this nation is supposed to be about:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Of course those words wouldn't apply for all men until the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution in 1868 which abolished slavery in this country, and the 15th Amendment in 1870 which technically guaranteed the right to vote to all men regardless of their race.. And it wouldn't apply to half of the population until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 guaranteeing the right to vote for women.

Despite those milestones in democracy, freedom and equality, Americans have continued to struggle to make this a more democratic, free and equal society, but I think it can be reasonably argued that the general tendency for past 249 years, has been in the direction of democracy, freedom, and equality. 

That is until January 20th of this year when a new administration was sworn in and Elon Musk, at the time about to be a major player in that administration, stood behind a podium adorned with the official seal of the President of the United States, and gave a Nazi salute. Things have gone downhill since then. 

There are many things about this administration I could mention, none of them good. But it's actually easy to come up with one word that describes the overall driving force behind it.

Cruelty.

We've had many hiccups in our upward trajectory toward freedom, equality and democracy in the nearly 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence and perhaps this is merely one of them. But until it becomes apparent that the abject cruelty is an aberration rather than the new normal, I see no point in this day as being a day of celebration, but rather a day of mourning.

Here I'm quoting myself:

Today we celebrate the lofty ideals of our nation as we mourn the tragedies and lost opportunities. We celebrate our potential, our liberty, and our diversity spelled out in the nation's motto: e pluribus unum (out of many, one). But we long for what could have been, had we only paid heed to those ideals, had our selfishness, fear and hatred of our fellow human beings not gotten in the way.

Part of the tradition of the Fourth of July is playing music to commemorate the event. When we think of the holiday, the strains of John Phillip Sousa marches come to mind, as well as one of the worst songs by one of our greatest composers, God Bless America. Then there's the bombastic poem set to an old English drinking song which would become our national anthem, and a truly moving song, lyrics by Katherine Lee Bates set to music resembling a church hymn, America the Beautiful. 

For my money, the latter should really be our national anthem. The only problem is it doesn't work so well as the background to 20,000 drunken louts screaming before a hockey game so I guess we're stuck with the Star Spangled Banana, as my old band director called it.

Another candidate in my book for a good replacement to the SSB is a newer song written by another of our most important composers, Woodie Guthrie. You all know it I'm sure, here's the complete set of lyrics: 

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway;
I saw below me that golden valley;
This land was made for you and me.

I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding;
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Unfortunately This Land is Your Land also wouldn't pass the hockey game test.

But these songs, love them or hate them all are songs of celebration. Sad to say, another Woodie Guthrie song is far more appropriate to describe the way I feel about our country at the moment. 

Here it is, sung by the late, great Pete Seeger...

whom we unfortunately need now more than ever: