I Hear America Failing
Apologies to WALT WHITMAN
I hear America whining, the cringing carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one bitching his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter muttering his as he measures his slim stocks of plank or beam,
The mason swearing his as he makes ready for another day of slow work, or is laid off from work,
The boatman scrounging to hang on to what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand wishing he was on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker sitting staring as he sits on his bench, the hatter no longer in existence as he faded away,
The wood-cutter’s silent song, the ploughboy’s echoes from the past in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delirious swooning of the mother, or of the young wife out of work, or of the girl no longer sewing or washing,
Each bemoaning what belonged to him or her and to none else,
The day has past that belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, now often silly frat boys with sullen, dangerous ideas,
Shouting with open mouths their strong odious cries of victim-hood and oppression they have never felt.
What has happened to America? Is it gone for good, carried off by Socialists and “community organizers” with their own strong cries of racism, sexism, lookism, agism and all the other complaints they are inflicting on the mentally weakened, after years of brainwashing and creeping political correctness?
Mr. Reagan was right, a Free Republic is only a generation (or two) from failing.
A good time for review: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan