“O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain…”
~ Katharine Lee Bates, America The Beautiful (1893)
Have you read the poem or thought about the words in America The Beautiful? We learned them in school. We sing them or hear them sung in moments of national pride. Consider this stanza:
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
They liberty in law. It is not a random phrase meant to fit a rhyming scheme. It is a celebration of our difference, the foundational guarantee that separated us from kings and opened the path to equality for all people, regardless of race or religion or gender or sexual orientation. Our liberty is a function of the law applied equally to all.
Think about what it meant when John Roberts, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, elevated the president above the law. It is not a mistake that we are now struggling to maintain our grip on our liberty. It is not an accident that our right to vote or the freedom of the press is under attack.
Liberty means “the quality or state of being free, including the freedom to live, act, and express oneself without unnecessary or oppressive control by an authority.” ~ Merriam Webster Dictionary
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
This not a lyric celebrating mass deportation or the ruin of our alliances. It is not a rousing cry of division. It is the opposite. It is a prayer for innate good that inspires brotherhood – friendship, loyalty, support – as a defining characteristic of the diverse people and leaders of the land.
Think about the ugly divisive rhetoric pouring out of the White House and amplified by the fox. Then consider these famous words:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand” ~ Abraham Lincoln
We watched the maga dairy farmer weep. She is in danger of losing her farm. Her work crew has been deported or gone into hiding. She has no help and can’t afford to pay potential employees a living wage. I indulged in a predictable rant and Kerri was generous enough to listen throughout. Here’s the nutshell: She voted for it. She cheered and waved a sign that read “Mass Deportation”. Why is she surprised?
I’ll never understand why working people EVER vote for a republican. For the majority of my lifetime, the Grand Ole Party has exploited working people, demonized immigrants and the poor using vile stereotypes. It is a strategy meant to divide people in order to move the nation’s wealth to the upper 1%. It is not a mystery that the majority of Americans can no longer afford to live. Leo Tolstoy‘s words perfectly capture my belief about republicans:
“I sit on a man’s back choking him and making him carry me, and yet
assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his
load by all means possible… except by getting off his back.”
America The Beautiful. It is penned with words – and beliefs – like Grace and Freedom and Nobleness and Brotherhood and Mercy, inspired from the moment a poet – a woman – stood atop Pikes Peak and glimpsed our nation’s potential. An aspirational poem for a diverse nation, written by a social reformer, and made into a song for all people – all people – to sing.
Think about the words – really think about the message carried by those words – and carry those words with you when you step into the voting booth next month.
(the largest voting block in the USA are people who do not vote. Please help people find their way to the polls. Help them to protect their rights, to ensure their liberty through law)
read Kerri’s blogpost about GLOWING PLUMES
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