Singing Patriotic Songs
My chorus is doing some outreach concerts over the next few weeks. One of them is for the South High School alumni. This is an older group with a lot of veterans from WWII and Korea, and they requested some patriotic music. Our director pulled out the old war horses: God Bless America, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Shenandoah, America, the National Anthem, and God of Our Fathers. These are the songs that stirred America’s soul. But this time, as we practiced them tonight, it didn’t seem the same. Ronald Reagan’s Morning in America has turned into a nightmare. Here is a country where half of working Americans pay no income tax. Here is a country that saw 85,000 people go on Social Security Disability last month, while only creating 80,000 new jobs. Here is a country on the brink of a second recession after never really recovering from the last one. Here is a country where people are all but strip searched before boarding an airplane. Here is a country where government is now tryin