Leslie Griffith writes: "On this Independence weekend, the words of singer-songwriter Bob Seger echo in my thoughts as pivotal moments in American history flood my mind. Flash points ignored until finally forced to deny my own denial."

A supporter at a Sarah Palin/Tea Party rally, Boston Commons, Mass., 04/14/10. (photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Fourth of July, 2011 - Running Against the Wind

By Leslie Griffith, Reader Supported News

03 July 11

Reader Supported News | Perspective

"I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."

n this Independence weekend, the words of singer-songwriter Bob Seger echo in my thoughts as pivotal moments in American history flood my mind. Flash points ignored until finally forced to deny my own denial.

Juxtaposed with the lyrics of Bob Seger, the poetry of Carl Sandburg pushes through a tsunami of thoughts. Both Seger and Sandburg issued warnings against disillusionment. Some might say the two don't deserve to share the same page … and sure, that argument can be made. It's probably more appropriate to quote Jefferson, Adams and Madison on this Fourth of July weekend. Lofty quotes such as, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." That's Jefferson, of course. But today, on this anniversary of our much celebrated Independence, it is Seger and Sandburg whose words are speaking to me.

As the small town parades begin, the batons twirl, the sparklers swirl, and the red, white and blue fireworks fill the sky; these two voices somehow balance me. Yes, that balance is on a very precarious tightrope hanging over a netless expanse. A tightrope representing what has been sold to us as the "new normal."

Enter Bob Seger:
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

We live in a nation born of a small group of revolutionaries determined not be slaves to any monarch. They were "young and strong and running against the wind." But, they were also building a nation on lies. While vowing to be no man's slave, America was built on the backs of the enslaved. And that is where the hypocrisy began … at the very beginning … and the hypocrisy lives on today.

Despite it all, we swore the good times "never would end." But, we know now what we didn't know then.

Could the founders have ever imagined the handful of unpatriotic monarchs currently ruling our lives and lining their gilded pockets with our money? With money accumulated from schemes that decimated the nation? And 235 years after the signing of a Constitution declaring all men equal and all religious beliefs tolerable, we must acknowledge that wondrous dream is still deferred. So, on this Fourth of July weekend, let's heed Carl Sandburg's advice and not pretend to be too "happy, happy" about it all.

Carl Sandburg asks in "Snatch of Sliphorn Jazz":
Are you happy? It's the only
way to be, kid.
Yes, be happy, it's a good nice
way to be.
But not happy-happy, kid, don't
be too doubled-up doggone happy.
It's the doubled-up doggone happy-
happy people ... bust hard ... they
do bust hard ... when they bust.
Be happy, kid, go to it, but not too
doggone happy.

This Independence weekend an estimated 16 million American children are reportedly living in poverty. Millions of middle class families are living in cars and boxes and homeless shelters. They will be on my mind.

The merchants of war and weapons and death will be on my mind. The Gold Star Families will be on my mind. The relentless Faux News encouraging today's "fair and balanced" quality of life will be on my mind. Unchecked propaganda to keep the war machine intact threatens to drown hope like long-ignored levees. Racism and partisanship and corrupt, corporate-owned politicians destroy America while stuffing already bulging pockets. Politicians sell us a bill of goods, rather than preserving the Bill of Rights. And those same unpatriotic corporations will try to make you feel good by "sponsoring" the Fourth of July fireworks you'll most likely take the kids to see this weekend.

Independence in 1776 meant rebellion against paying taxes to Britain - taxes that did not enhance America, but filled the coffers of the monarchy. Does this sound familiar?

On this Independence Day weekend, true independence once again means "running against the wind." It means demanding health, education and housing for everyone who works hard. If not, those who are swept along in the red, white and blue euphoria this weekend, determined to be oh so "happy, happy," will, as Carl Sandburg cautioned, "eventually, bust hard."

Leslie Griffith has been a television anchor, foreign correspondent and an investigative reporter in newspaper, radio and television for over 25 years. Among her many achievements are two Edward R Murrow Awards, nine Emmies, 37 Emmy Nominations, a National Emmy nomination for writing, and more than a dozen other awards for journalism. She is currently working on a documentary, giving speeches on "Reforming the Media," and writing for many on-line publications, as well as writing a book called "Shut Up and Read." She hopes the book, her speeches, and her articles on the media will help remind the nation that journalism was once about public service ... not profit. To contact Leslie, go to lesliegriffithproductions.com.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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+28 # Peacedragon 2011-07-03 13:54

Yes, we have to keep on keeping on, and remember that we have some very good people on our side.

+32 # Noah 2011-07-03 18:53

We do have good people on our side, but they need to organize. With the attacks on the middle class, unions, any concept of a decent living wage, climbing unemployment and disillusionment with the "American Dream", we need hope now more than ever. Hope and jobs and somehting to rally behind. Personally I have been speaking with people that are looking to simply move to another country, feeling this cycle is unbreakable. I hope not. I know many of us take our freedoms for granted,and perhaps that is why they have been chiseled away so effectively. There is currently a larger desparity in wealth than in feudal times, think on that. Castles and peasants. Ayn Rand would argue the justice of it but I sure don't see it.

"Because if you think your free, you can't escape".

+9 # J.Lindsley 2011-07-04 02:37

Quoting

We do have good people on our side, but they need to organize. With the attacks on the middle class, unions, any concept of a decent living wage, climbing unemployment and disillusionment with the "American Dream", we need hope now more than ever. Hope and jobs and somehting to rally behind. Personally I have been speaking with people that are looking to simply move to another country, feeling this cycle is unbreakable. I hope not. I know many of us take our freedoms for granted,and perhaps that is why they have been chiseled away so effectively. There is currently a larger desparity in wealth than in feudal times, think on that. Castles and peasants. Ayn Rand would argue the justice of it but I sure don't see it.

"Because if you think your free, you can't escape".

And Ayn Rand and The TEa Bag Party and Bernanke and the whole Fed and financial system bought into to it and THEN SOLD IT TO US IN OUR CURABLE IGNORANCE.
You do have a choice.
Make it by Nov 2012.

+16 # angelfish 2011-07-03 21:08

Bravo, Ms. Griffith! No one could have said it any better! The "Fatted worm" has been feeding on us and DESTROYING whatever good we once had, with their sheer cannibalism of the middle class and poor, unemployed and disenfranchised (who they keep trying to disenfranchise even FURTHER)! Too, too many of us have already "busted hard", and are continuing to bust, as America burns while the ReTHUGs fiddle! Unwilling to compromise or WORK to try and salvage this Country, they do what they do best, that is, SIT on their hands, refusing to work with this President! I have NEVER in my 40+ years of voting seen a Congress so Partisan! Smug, Self-aggrandizing, disdainful of America's Agony, they SIT on their hands and watch it Fail. They are ALMOST gleeful, because, poor sods, they think Obama will be blamed. Guess what? They couldn't be more wrong! This President has practically BECOME a Republican, acquiescing to their EVERY demand only to have them rePudiate their OWN agenda whenever HE embraces it!!!? They are like Lucy snatching the Ball away from Charlie Brown every time he tries to kick it! They are a Disgrace to the Nation and should be brought up on charges of Treason and attempting to undermine and over-throw our Government! They are a Sorrow, a Pity and a Stain on this Country that will NOT be washed away any time soon! A POX on ALL of them!

+12 # jon 2011-07-03 22:08

Karl Rove wins. We have been divided and conquered.

It really began in earnest when Reagan did away with the fairness in broadcasting act, enabling the Republican owned propaganda machines: AM radio, and F-news.

And the final stroke, our last great hope turns out to be another corporatist in a succession of corporatists.

If there is any reason to be hopeful that we aren't doomed to an increasingly fascistic state, I would like to hear it!

+14 # Rick Levy 2011-07-03 22:13

The progressive movement can also use another part of "Running Against The Wind" about President Obama:

"Years went slowly past.
Found myself alone,
Surrounded by strangers
I thought were my friends"

+6 # leslie griffith 2011-07-04 06:34

Oh so sad and so true. Let's get organized.

+13 # Not Confused 2011-07-03 22:38

Yes we were founded on a lie and yet they did dream of freedom, owners and slaves alike. But the worst is when things go backwards and when you were brought up to believe in righteousness. And then they got so good at lying and buying off good people or putting in their lackeys, we have hardly a chance for freedom. Perhaps George Orwell could be a symbol for the Left because what he said would happen has.

+9 # lobdillj 2011-07-04 02:59

This Op-Ed is right on the mark. Perhaps, as Noah says, we do have good people on our side, but we have no leader. Obama is compromised. The two party system is now actually a one party farce. See also Paul Craig Roberts' piece today on Op-Ed News (Observations on the Day). It's not just those who are "happy, happy" who will "bust hard". We ALL will bust hard. That's what makes me so damned mad. We don't even have the freedom to determine our own fate.

+14 # Realist 2011-07-04 03:23

The way to recover our government is to make all TV stations give a specific amount of equal time to all candidates for national office. If any candidate buys more time, the selling organization must provide equal free time to all the other candidates. That will remove the need for a lot of money, and our candidates will not be beholden to large donors.

+9 # rf 2011-07-04 05:27

We are back to the 20's when our only tool was the strike...the illegal, wildcat strike...backed with broken legs if people crossed the line. Watch out for the Pinkertons (Blackwater, Haliburton).

+6 # BishopAndrew 2011-07-04 06:31

Beloved Friends,

The Declaration began America's first civil war. About a third of the white colonial population was supportive , a third against it and loyal to the Crown, and a third that saw the opportunity to make money. Remember the bloodiest battles of the War of Independence were fought between American Loyalists and Patriots. At the time of the Treaty of Paris and until 1865 the newly made American flag flew over slavery and the continuing destruction of Native Nation's sovereignty. Many historians believe the document like the Constitution that would follow is an economic declaration of the protection of wealth and by wealth and for wealth. Whether this is true or not for many of us believe that like the Magna Carter it would become a document of freedom. Without the Bill of Rights which is based on that marvelous British work the Declaration would be meaningless and hypocritical. Remember the Fourth celebrates the Beginning of the search for equality. It is not about sales and profit but liberty.
Sincerely,
Bishop Andrew Gentry

+3 # WilliamLawsonCulver 2011-07-04 08:40

True: This is a day for celebrating our witness to the World that all of us are created Equal, and therefore our actions together need to support that idea!
We add the equal idea to the fairness idea of Magna Carta..and I just hung out our flag! Happy Fourth..now let us continue working toward these goals, rather than spending our blood and money on foreign wars and profit-making "health" insurance companies!!

+2 # Tawanda 2011-07-04 09:40

Excellent piece Leslie, you captured our nation to a tee. Why don't you run for public office? America might be able to use your brand of patriotism: your both a realist and hopeful at the same time. Thank you for your efforts.

+2 # pixel 2011-07-04 09:58

We need more Leslie Griffiths to tell it like it is. Thanks for your brilliant and poetic analysis of what is going on in the U.S. and how far we've strayed from the intent of the Constitution. George Washington would be turning over in his grave, though he was speaking to white men; the rest of us don't count, and at least that's becoming obvious to anyone with a functioning brain. Keep sending us your comments to savor.

+2 # Jerilyn Bowen 2011-07-04 11:06

Lincoln was able to bring the country together around freeing the slaves by framing it as a second American revolution. As I recall, in the Gettysburg address he belatedly galvanized support for this cause at a critical juncture in the Civil War by making the Union cause an extension of the Revolutionary War in terms of human rights. This was a brilliant move that only someone of deep intellect, political courage, and poetic rhetorical skill could have conceived and pulled off...so fortunate we didn't have a Bushy president, or even a Clintonesque or Obamarly one. The latter tend to let the other side frame the issues and then tap dance around them, trying to be all things to all people and compromising away the farm if need be. Lincoln was good at that too, but upon dire occasion he had the wit & strategic genius to make his case to the people by framing the issues in his own terms. The way I see it, not doing this is the major failing of present day Dems, that and lack of backbone. Not to mention lack of real commitment to basic human values.

+5 # Jerilyn Bowen 2011-07-04 11:07

Postscript - On the Bicentennial in 1976, I was among a bunch of activists in Philadelphia who publicly issued a Declaration of Interdependence . Since then, this idea has surfaced in other places and is I feel more than ever relevant & needed. Wouldn't it be great to start a national movement to observe July 4th as a celebration of our interdependence with one another, all peoples, all creatures, and Mother Earth herself?

+2 # wfalco 2011-07-05 05:52

"Against the wind" is so appropriate in these strange days of apathy, alienation, and disillusionment .
It may take a little courage but change without a voice will never occur. But the voice must reach the masses. A rallying cry is necessary to awaken the sleepy masses whose new opiate is mass entertainment.
"The rich must pay their fair share of taxes, like the rest of us." Or..."keep your corporate hands off my Medicare."

The words of Kurt Vonnegut are always close to my heart-
" I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

+1 # artful 2011-07-05 06:19

Thanks for this article. You articulate how many of us feel in this poor benighted country, torn asunder by the right wing Lords of the Manor and their idiotic serfs.

+2 # carol schmidt 2011-07-05 06:36

Boy, are you on with this editorial! Faux News is the right name for this horrible station which tells lies all the time.

This country is in an awful state right now and if the republican congress gets its way, we will become a third world country within a very short period of time. Of course, this will not affect those with lots of income, however. Thank you again for this article.

Carol Schmidt

0 # Navigator 2011-07-05 15:39

I call this planet "School # 9", where history repeats itself ad infinitum, ad nauseum. This is where our Souls learn about Duality, Good/Bad, Boy/Girl, etc. Only the costumes change. When you master why you incarnated here....again....make application to School # 10. See ya there...

0 # Libertysghost 2011-07-07 07:12

If I could be any fictional character it would be Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come from "A Christmas Carol". Then I would gather together all of the people who consistently vote for these right-wing/Tea Bagger blowhards and take them on a little journey to this utopian, corporate owned, theocratically ruled future that they and their so-call representatives envision for our country. I wonder if given the real opportunity to see what that future would truly look like if there wouldn't an epidemic change in attitude among the "conservative" base. But unfortunately that's just my fantasy and until we actually do get to that future (and it is indeed the nightmare that most of us believe it will be) they'll continue to commit political/economic suicide and drag the rest of to hell (most of us kicking and screaming)right beside them.

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