This election seems to mark the end of the old America, the one from way back in the 20th century, the one whose citizens had those quaint ideas of personal responsibility and limited government, as well as the patriotic notion of one doing what one could for one's country.
Now, we're mostly victims, or noble "helpers" of victims, or activists (God how I've come to hate that word, "activist"...it means somebody who is working hard to get the government to intervene or regulate even more). And most of us are takers, not givers. Our government is a gargantuan monstrosity. And we want the government to do more and more for us. Gimme, gimme, gimme.
We're blind to the consequences of these foolish ideas. Our debt is as large as the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Our China Express card and all the others in our expensive wallet are maxed out. The mortgage on our country is under water. And we just reelected the guy who put over a third of that bill on our cards in the last four years. But we don't seem to care. Apparently the money doesn't matter. And it doesn't seem to matter that our children will have to pay the price. One way or another.
It's over and I'm blue. So I'm playing some blues. It seems fitting.
Here's R. L. Burnside's "Death Bell Blues." This title says it all.
I saw this next guy, John Jackson, in '72 or '73 in Chattanooga when I attended a meeting of college English teachers. He played in a small room with only about 30 people in attendance. He was unbelievable. I bought his LP vinyl which I treasure to this day. He sings what I suppose is best labeled country blues. Whatever. It's blues. And it's good. The first one has an interesting and perhaps appropriate title, "That will Never Happen No More." The last one is "Red River Blues."
Goin' to bed now. Hope tomorrow is a better day.
UPDATE, November 7, 2012:
I'm feeling a little better this morning. Hope you are too. I'm adding one more song to this post to reflect my mood change. Hank Snow was a great picker. And he could do blues. Yeah, I know. He was a white guy. And country. But we get the blues too.
"I Don't Hurt Anymore" is one of his biggest hits. You still may be hurting, but you'll eventually get to the place Hank sings about.
I agree, the America we knew is gone. Sadly.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I'm not even sure we can get it back. It may be too late. But one thing's for sure. TN is more conservative than ever. We now have a supermajority in the state legislature. I hope we don't squander that.
DeleteAh, R.L.! "It's bad, you know..." Thanks for the John Jackson, he's new to me and he's danged good.
ReplyDeleteThe sun came up this morning, so I guess it's not as bad as I thought when I went to bed last night. But lemmee quote R.L. again...
The sun did come up this morning, as you say, and I too feel some better. I even added a Hank Snow update song to reflect that. Still it's a bitter pill to swallow to realize that we just reelected one of the all time worst presidents in history in terms of economic and foreign policy performance. Is that an alarm clock I hear or R.L.'s bell ringing?
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