“I love my country as it dies
In war and pain before my eyes
I walk the streets where disrespect has been
The sins of politics, the politics of sin
The heartlessness that darkens my soul” --Laura Nyro, 1970
In 1960, I was taught that America was good and bright and fair by my fourth grade teacher. I memorized the Preamble to the Constitution, Emma Lazarus’s poem on the Statue of Liberty, and the Gettysburg Address. In 1962, I waved as JFK rode by in his big black Lincoln Continental in San Diego, a military town. In 1963, my Lutheran catechism class connected the idea of goodness with country.
Today, every last shred of idealism with which I was inculcated is decimated.
N.B: See The Atlantic for the following: “All three branches of the federal government are now committed to the Trump agenda: the restoration of America’s traditional racial, religious, and gender hierarchies; the enrichment of party patrons; the unencumbered pursuit of corporate profit; the impoverishment and disenfranchisement of the rival party’s constituencies; and the protection of the president and his allies from prosecution by any means available.”
In war and pain before my eyes
I walk the streets where disrespect has been
The sins of politics, the politics of sin
The heartlessness that darkens my soul” --Laura Nyro, 1970
In 1960, I was taught that America was good and bright and fair by my fourth grade teacher. I memorized the Preamble to the Constitution, Emma Lazarus’s poem on the Statue of Liberty, and the Gettysburg Address. In 1962, I waved as JFK rode by in his big black Lincoln Continental in San Diego, a military town. In 1963, my Lutheran catechism class connected the idea of goodness with country.
Today, every last shred of idealism with which I was inculcated is decimated.
N.B: See The Atlantic for the following: “All three branches of the federal government are now committed to the Trump agenda: the restoration of America’s traditional racial, religious, and gender hierarchies; the enrichment of party patrons; the unencumbered pursuit of corporate profit; the impoverishment and disenfranchisement of the rival party’s constituencies; and the protection of the president and his allies from prosecution by any means available.”