Chapter Seventy-Four ANTHEM [ a song, country blues ]      "Flow on, river of time       Wash away the pain and heal my mind...     We were bold in our innocence, brave wild and free     We had our own rhyme and reason of how things were to be     We wanted our freedom and shot way past the moon     Now we still sing our anthem but our heart's out of tune     We rode Ezekiel’s wheel---Elijah’s chariot through the fire     From sea to shining sea we filled up our heart's desire     We plowed fields of plenty under freedom’s great rainbow     Oh, why did you leave me, where did you ever go?     America, America, our greed lies exposed     Inner cities are wasteland, the heartland is foreclosed     Is the great harvest ending?--These cruel winds of change blow     Oh America, America, we'll reap what we sow     We rode Ezekiel’s wheel---Elijah’s chariot through the fire     From sea to shining sea we filled up our heart’s desire     We plowed fields of plenty under freedom’s great rainbow     Oh why did you leave me, where did you ever go?     Is the great harvest ending?--These cruel winds of change blow     America, why did you leave me, where did you ever go?      ...Flow on, river of time         Carry me away         And leave it all far behind         Flow on river of time" ¹ Farm Aid      American Liver Foundation DEDICATED TO:  The late Frank Johnson, a true one-horse 113-acre family farmer of Jasper, Alabama who, by working long hard hours from before sunrise to after sundown on both his farm and in the coal mines until the age of seventy-eight and, although apparently never having attended any classroom of education learning, managed to feed and clothe his family of nine through the lean years of the Great Depression and ended up one of the most respected men in his community, serving as municipal court bailiff until his untimely death at age ninety-five---untimely because he probably would have survived several more years if it had not been for his great distrust of the medical profession and thus, his refusal to be operated on for a severe hernia condition.  Also dedicated to Farm Aid founders John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and their large extended family of friends of the American Family Farmer * ** . . .and to Wynonna and Naomi Judd; "love can build a bridge". Credits: 1. From "River Of Time" by Naomi Judd and John Jarvis; River Of Time, The Judds (1989). *FootNote:  There are far too many people among us today who do not seem to understand what “America” is.  America is not an anthem or a parade or a flag or an idea or a constitutional document.  America is We The People of multiplex diversity plowing together toward the common good of us all. . .  Or at least, that is what America is supposed to be. **FootNote:  Over the course of several years, Congress has been steadily ignoring the plight of the American family farmer, awarding subsidies to large corporate farms that already earn huge profits while small family farms receive little or nothing at all.  Rather than re-writing legislation to help balance large corporate welfare inequity back toward helping the family farmer who truly needs assistance and in spite of severe drought in the past couple of years that has only worsened an already dire small-farm situation, elected officials bought off by large corporate farming lobby interests have instead, added fuel to the corporation tax-dollar all-consuming fire at the expense of the family farmer and us all.  Which has only served to convince the American family farmer and the rest of us commoners that it is most unfair to insinuate that these Benedict Arnold representatives for corporate "pigs at the trough" must have pig manure for brains---unfair, that is, to the typical family farmer pig.             'Click Here' To Purchase This Book 'Click Here to eMail the Author Copyright © August 20th, 2003 by Richard Aberdeen. No part of this material may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher and signed by the author.  Inquiries: Freedom Tracks Records or requested via eMail.  Essays entitled Revolution and Revolution - Side B are open copyright and may be reproduced as often as one likes.