Fear & Loathing Before the Apocalypse

Fear & Loathing Before the Apocalypse

The Man in Black could sing a story song better than anyone. As Bob Dylan sings, “some people say (he’s) got the blood of the land in his voice.”
I’ve been celebrating Cash lately: he is one of the artists who’re etched onto the Great American Songbook. His lyrics and the subject of the stories he tells that were written by others still resonate, four and in some cases five decades after they were recorded.
“I Walk the Line” may be the best simple love song ever; and “Ring of Fire” burns with June Carter Cash’s passion.
“Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” and “City of New Orleans” capture times and places in America, much like Walt Whitman did in poetry.
This country has been a fertile muse; this land that’s your land and my land. Too often we take for granted how free we are to disagree that we fail to see how petty we may have been.
The America I know today is bigger and better than ever, but because of its largesse, we’re a bitch to manage.
Any government or creation we concoct to serve the needs of our 300-plus million populous is going to be a monstrous, messy and in some ways wasteful. But sometimes collectives are needed and no one ought to die in these United States for lack of health care.
We remain as awesome country, full of people with diverse opinions, passions and extraordinary talents.
From the days of Melville and Hawthorne and the flowering of New England, then on to Twain, Poe and Whitman and then Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Wolfe, with people like Scott Joplin, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams and Ledbelly thrown in for good measure, the American story is worth telling.
I’m but a loyal scrivener of the times. I’m a manic chronicler of the Shenango Valley at the turn of the 21st century and what the people are about now.
Today seemed to be one where the powers-that-be collectively caught their breath and plotted their next moves.
The debates of the last year-and-a-half have divided the country. It’ll be interested to see if that means outrage voiced at the ballot box.
It’s also coincidental that crunch time for healthcare reform came in the midst of March Madness, when much of the nation is tuned into college basketball and studying bracketology instead of serious issues.
When folks wake up from their hoop dreams, they’re going to find out if what passed was meaningful reform or just another failed government initiative we wasted a lot of hot air and bruised feelings over.
For everyone’s sake let’s hope it’s been worth it.