The "Missing" Fourth Stanza:
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n - rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto--"In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
He sang so passionately, and the people all around him felt so inspired it made me tear up! I'm sad to say that I feel only nostalgia now for the days when I was patriotic. I guess that is an unacknowledged loss in my heart...
I mean no offense to anyone who is patriotic, I just mean I have a different feeling now.
Brian
That image of robotic kneejerk patriotism was a bit alarming and disconcerting to me when I saw it. Such patriotism and nationalism is what gears folks up to go to war against their brothers on this planet. It is one of the most insidious and hideous personality control mechanisms to ever be conceived of and utilized.
I can't help it, it was down right scary watching it... made me think of the movie, the stepford wives... Hopefully we are evolving now in a way that sees far past such emotional manipulation. It is paramount to preparing one's self to kill another in honor of one's fanatic love for a football or baseball team....
He sure did have a great voice though!!!
Brian and Chris,
I also had very ambivalent feelings about that video. Yes, like you Brian, the "old patriotic" emotion welled up in me as I watched that, but at the same time, I realized like you Chris that this is all the trappings of belicose warmongering. If you read the stanza, it itself is all about the praise of conquering and victoriously dominating the opposition, "might is right", and all of the old machiavelian garbage with the seal of "God" attached to make it sound high and proper.
This was after all, a Tea Party gathering and no matter what they were when they started, the Powers That Be have owned them and are using them for their own purpose.
It seems to be working too as most people who watch that video are going to say, My how wonderful and good and religeous.
This is why I posted this in the first place, as an expample of how the dark is using distraction to cunningly gain their goals.
I've done a lot of crying for my country lately - it seems like so many have forgotten that we were once a peace loving nation that stood for power to the people. I think it's ok to love a principle or group of principles and when a country is meant to stand for those principles then love of country is a good thing. So I love the America that stands for these priciples but there is nothing but a shadow left to love now, hence the tears. You have to wonder how many of these tea party people would vote for our peace loving founding fathers if any of them were running for office today.
Military glory--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy...
~Abraham Lincoln
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
~Abraham Lincoln
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
~Abraham Lincoln
All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.
~Benjamin Franklin
A highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when single; and a nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang.
~Benjamin Franklin
About the quote: Speaking to Benjamin Vaughan, 14 March 1785.
When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?
~Benjamin Franklin
There never was a good war or a bad peace.
~Benjamin Franklin
Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~Benjamin Franklin
Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later.
~Benjamin Franklin
I hope....that mankind will at length, as they call themselves responsible creatures, have the reason and sense enough to settle their differences without cutting throats...
~Benjamin Franklin
The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to.
~Thomas Jefferson
Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.
~Thomas Jefferson
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
~Thomas Jefferson
Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars, with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other.
~Thomas Jefferson
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.
~Thomas Jefferson
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
~Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
~Thomas Jefferson
Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.
~Thomas Jefferson
The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.
~Thomas Jefferson
They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people.
~Thomas Jefferson
About the quote: From a letter to president Monroe, 1823.
If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.
~Thomas Jefferson
About the quote: in a letter to William Short, 28 July 1791. What happened to this??? How did this change????
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
~Thomas Jefferson
To preserve our independence...We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.
~Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.
~Thomas Jefferson
Conquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government.
~Thomas Jefferson
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.
~Thomas Jefferson
War...is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.
~Thomas Jefferson
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate power of the society but the people themselves.
~Thomas Jefferson
About the quote: Originally in a letter to William C. Jarvis, 1820. Can be found in volume of "Writings" (New York, NY: Library of America) p.493
This I hope will be the age of experiments in government, and that their basis will be founded in principles of honesty, not of mere force.
~Thomas Jefferson
About the quote: in a letter to John Adams, 1796.
I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.
~Thomas Jefferson
A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.
~Thomas Jefferson
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.
~Thomas Jefferson
I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.
~Thomas Jefferson
We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest.
~Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.
~Thomas Jefferson
That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true...
~Thomas Paine
He that is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.
~Thomas Paine
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
~Thomas Paine
An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.
~Thomas Paine
War is the gambling table of governments, and citizens the dupes of the game.
~Thomas Paine How true!!!
Peace, which costs nothing, is attended with with infinitely more advantage than any victory with all its expence.
~Thomas Paine
Thanks, Wendy.
I love each and every one of these quotes!
I also had mixed emotions about the video, and hesitated to post a comment out of consideration for the folks that somehow took pride or found something more meaningful in it than I did. I never understood the idea of a just war, or a war to create peace, or a Great War. The concept falls apart even further when you consider the fact that most often, wars are fought for commercial or corporate interests, and not for ideals at all. I wonder how many people would enlist in the military if they were really told why they were fighting. ("We'll be going to Iraq so that we can control their oil", "You'll be giving your life in Afghanistan so that we can get their opium, and keep everyone thinking we're actually fighting some kind of "war on terror", and who knows what else") Not so patriotic, or high minded at that point, eh? I don't blame our guys in the military. I believe they're being lied to, and perhaps if they wake up to the lies, it's too late for them to change course. That makes me quite sad.
I recently saw a picture of all the Supreme Court Justices gathered in their robes for a formal picture. Doctored into the picture, someone added a bunch of corporate logos all over their robes, like Nascar drivers. It was so true, but so sad. I guess, for some stupid reason, I believed that the Supreme Court justices were beyond corruption, and really there to watch after the people, and the laws of the land. (Kathy rolls over to the sound of her alarm clock, and realizes that she can't hit snooze forever...)
k
I love the fact that what he is singing about, and what he truly believes in, is a very beautiful ideal. I think that on the surface we all want to believe in liberty, honor, integrity and a national feeling of brotherhood in the face of all adversity. The problem is that it is being undermined and hijacked by those who wish to profit from such feelings and ideals. It sadly reminds me of immediately after 911 when everyone became so fiercely patriotic - all the flag waving, random violence, freedom fries?!, etc. I remember hearing about a few innocent muslims being attacked at a football game in New Mexico, I think, and I had the sinking suspicion that something was very wrong. At the time I had no idea that our government was responsible but I remember feeling outraged at such blind patriotism that would harm anyone, where's the dignity and honor in harming anyone no matter what the cause? While viewing the rising fervor the "eye for an eye" words of Jesus continually rang through my mind, words as alive and meaningful now (as are all other beautiful words of wise mystics who've ever lived) as ever, maybe even more so.
I heard Alex Jones on Coast to Coast the other night saying that the Bilderberg meeting was focused mainly on war with Iran (that Bin Laden is now in Iran [didn't the "German Guy" say that Bin Laden is CIA?]), that this would be taking place within the next year. Let's all beware of future false-flag terrorism and do our best to get the word out before it's too late. If we've learned anything from 911 it's that these people are capable of anything and will stop at nothing.
Love all the Franklin and Jefferson quotations Wendy. Here's one more from yet another of that era:
"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." James Madison
Francis
This is why I like what the Zeitgeist movement is doing. They've focused on exposing the primary cause of this corruption, and the emotional manipulation of our best and most noble instincts, the monetary system which works most effectively, in its goal of accumulating those symbols of wealth we call money, by creating in us desire for things, and scarcity (or quick obsolescence) of those things at the same time.
Of course, we the peasants... oh, sorry... consumers, are never explicitly told that. Instead we are, from childhood on, indoctrinated to believe that "this-is-just-the-way-it-is", "The invisible hand of the free marketplace is at work", "survival-of-the-fittest", "you-too-can-become-a-millionaire", and so forth.
Our present social structure is been based on a pile of lies, over lies, on top of more lies. Those fine expressions of humanity, reflecting our best emotions and ideals, are considered quaint and naive by those who see themselves as "masters of the world". Good for us peasants but not for themselves.
However, Nature is making it more difficult to maintain the lie hidden. As the financial, social, ecological, and political collapse keeps marching on, we the "peasants" are waking up to realize "we ain't go to work in Maggy's farm no more" and reclaim our energy to use for good purpose.
Pass the word... that is our job.
Namaste.
Those are some really cool videos, Bob!
Much gratitude for that post!
With Love,
Mary
Stephen Decatur is credited with the saying "My country, right or wrong." But Carl Schurz, a German immigrant who later became a U.S. Senator, amended the statement to read: "My country right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
Few people quote Schurz's version. Conventional wisdom says you can't criticize America and still be a patriot, but that's exactly what our Founding Fathers intended us to do: to study our important documents so we could take corrective action when our nation was deviating from them. Don't let anyone take away your right to honor the idealism for which the flag stands or pervert its meaning.
Peace and blessings,
Burt
Brother Burt, Hurrah for what you have posted and Welcome to the Gathering spot. It is good, very good to have you as a brother and a fellow spirit traveling together.
Berry
Hi Bob-
Love your message!!! Is this a new version of Zeitgeist that came out? I haven't seen this one before. Thanks so much, that was a wonderful and thoughtful compilation.
Wendy
P.S. I just clicked on the links for pile of lies, over lies and more lies - also great stuff.