Readers: some of the dialogue in this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020). Entries addressing events in the The future assume there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution. More about the Revenge Revolution, a list of earlier revolutions and the author, Entry #1.

Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether in the next few years, a revolution in the US is still possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US.  Most recent sense check, ENTRY #387.  

Some of the entries are part of a series.  Several series are available as easy-to-read booklets for download:

Prelude to the current series of entries: I’ve concluded Trump is a lunatic and the administration filled with lapdogs save a couple of people at CDC.  Instead of wasting time commenting on actions by Trump, I thought it more productive to begin discussing what happens in the US once the coronavirus is more under control.  #378 began the series. At this point not sure how many entries.  Comments and suggestions welcome.

ENTRY #391: At the end of Entry #390 I wrote the next entry would be a discussion about actions to affect climate change.  Wait one more entry.

I decided to change the topic because of two events.  One was this past week’s reality show claiming to be the Republican National Convention.  The reality show pointed out just how far the country has regressed from its core principles, especially the Republican Party.  Ethics?  Why bother?  Respect for others?  Why bother?  Self-respect?  Why bother?  Duty, honor, country?  What’s that?  If I’m not the center of whatever is occurring, then I’m not interested.

Maybe more telling, at least for me, about how far the country has strayed, was the second event that occurred this past week.  While walking back from the coffee shop, I finished a podcast and decided to finish the walk listening to some music.

The song that first played I’d heard many times before but not recently.  For some reason, this time I paid more attention to the words and less to the music.  By the end of the song I was really sad and asked myself, “What have we done to this country?  What can we do to return to the country to what it once was?”

The song was Neil Diamond’s “America.”  Below are the words.  Read them carefully and as you do, think about the America being described in the song – written in the mid-1980’s – and compare that America to the America of today.

With Trump we have a president and administration with policies that are the polar opposite of the America described in the song.  If Trump and supporters want to make America great again, they should start by studying the words of “America.”

“America” by Neil Diamond

Far
We’ve been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream

On the boats and on the planes
They’re coming to America
Never looking back again
They’re coming to America

Home, don’t it seem so far away
Oh, we’re traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm

Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we’ll say our grace
Freedom’s light burning warm
Freedom’s light burning warm

Everywhere around the world
They’re coming to America
Every time that flag’s unfurled
They’re coming to America

Got a dream to take them there
They’re coming to America
Got a dream they’ve come to share
They’re coming to America

They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
They’re coming to America
Today, today, today, today, today

My country ’tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
Today

Do yourself a favor, go back and read the words again, slowly.  Then ask yourself, “How far have we as a country strayed from our core principles?”  Now ask yourself, “What am I and what are we going to do to make America the country described in the song ‘America’?”

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