(Editor’s note: Commentary by Jenny N. Phillips.)
We have forgotten – and we are blind to the reminders.
As we lose our country’s direction, its guiding light and its past, we flounder toward its complete destruction. There are some who care, but caring hasn’t reached those in charge – especially the President, half of the Congress, blind followers, some state governors, and the multi-billionaires who treasurer trips to Mar-a-Lago, and stock market tips.
How can those who have forgotten to believe in the USA, its foundation & its promise – perhaps its time for a reminder.
As Elmer Homes Davis said “This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave” and so we search for bravery. There are a few standing up – but they are drowned out by the clutter/confusion and damage of those who think they are making America Great.
Let’s remember when America was Great…when Benjamin Franklin said, “Where Liberty dwells, there is my country.” When John F. Kennedy said, “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” and when Willie Nelson said, “American to me is freedom”, and even Jimi Hendrix said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
Those in power today cannot hear the landmarks around us that speak…the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired and your poor, your huddle masses yearning to be free’…or the Liberty Bell that rings to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”.
It seems regular folks outside the administration are rising up, making signs, chanting slogans that no one in power can read or hear. President Trump is deaf to their chants and reads only Executive Orders he signs. Congress members are frightened, they sit waiting to be caught in a trap they are already in. They fear losing their seat so they sit to keep them. There is nothing to “fear but fear itself” as FDR said in 1933. There are brave souls who are speaking up, but the powerful do not hear.
There is a deep rumbling across the land, which may turn into a Tsunami. Hopefully it comes before our beloved country has democracy as only a memory.
We are no longer the envy of the world.