Patriotism

Woody Guthrie wrote a song that we all know from the time we're little kids:

This land is your land,

This land is my land,

From California to the New York Island,

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters,

This land was made for you and me.

Last night during the fireworks display at our local fairgrounds they included a country music rendition of that song.  Sandwiched between a tough-guy, revenge fantasy about 9-11 and a countrified version of God Bless America.  I was overwhelmed with irony, because Woody hated God Bless America, in fact, legend has it that This Land is Your Land, is actually written as a counter point to that song.  As you might know, Woody was not exactly what you might call an elitist, he was a man who believed that his music was a tool to advance the cause of human rights and particularly the rights of workers.  He was a bit of a communist, but not in the Soviet sort of way, in the John Steinbeck, Tom Joad sort of way.

This song that we teach our kids as a patriotic anthem is sort of like Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.  It is a challenge to our triumphant imperial patriotism and a call to something better.  We mostly learn the first three verses, but if you're at all familiar with Mr. Guthrie beyond learning the kindergarten version of the song, you have probably heard this verse:

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me

A sign was painted, said, "Private Property,"

But on the other side, it didn't say nothing.

That side was made for you and me.

Here's the thing, Woody loved this country and it's people enough to spend his time out on the road, learning stories and writing songs that lifted up the people.  He also had not a lot of good things to say about the establishment, he talked a lot about the people in the unemployment lines.  He traveled among the migrant laborers, the "Okies" of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and the other people of this nation who were displaced by industrialization and ecological disaster.

I want my patriotism be a lot more Woody Guthrie and a lot less Irving Berlin.  I don't bear any ill will towards people who get stirred by God Bless America, but I believe that the ideals of our country are so much better and higher than simply claiming a blessing and then acting like we've never even read the Scriptures where God pretty clearly cares about the last and the least of these.