"Given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian Nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers." --President Obama
Nicest thing any president has said since Jefferson.
Indeed, this Chief Executive expounds the true patriotism, rises up charged with its mystic fire just like the founders, a statesman. The Obama thing enables, empowers us to believe in America again. When this guy practices his right to deliver some free speech, it sounds like something set down on parchment with a pen calligraphic.
But freedom isn't always pretty. Forgive me if I smile, oh ye wildly indignant who try to shout down the new town meeting. Go ahead and have a big hissy fit, oh ye goaded and orchestrated via Internet or evening radio. Your primal scream therapy ought to be protected speech, helps persuade folks over to the liberal side, and entertains in any case.
Shawn and I have been talking about how a free society tends to get raucous, like the British House of Commons. She authorizes me to quote another eloquent American:
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
And the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
--Bob Dylan
SGTex
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