Thank you. I apologize likewise.

BA & MM,

Shame on you both.

Any Christian who is foolish enough to believe that the post that heads this exchange of comments is some kind of innocent foray into Christian hymnody is just being a dupe of its author’s purpose.

And all this time I thought it was a song simply asking God to guide and bless this country. The lyrics certainly support that interpretation. Bu how terribly silly of me. Nice to have others clear away my delusion—and call me “foolish” and “a dupe” in the process.

I come from a family of Vietnamese immigrants who escaped the communist plague after Ho Chi Minh’s government took everything we had. In America, through hard work, faith, and the kindness of (white male) strangers, my family has been able to thrive and flourish. But when we wish to show gratitude to the country that has given us so much, perhaps by saluting the flag or singing “God Bless America”, now we’re told we can’t without being “dupes” of the nationalist mentality.

The obligation is not removed on the basis that one suspects that he posses a superior aesthetic sensibility.

The obligation is not removed in the case that one imagines an alternate future (or present) in which consequences do not flow from inhabiting an actual nation state.

The obligation is not obviated on the basis of anti-religious fervor.

The obligation is not eliminated because of fear, hysteria, or cowardice.

The obligation is a positive one. It must meet the tests of human decency, principles of natural law, and reasonableness. But it is inherent, it remains despite all desire to expunge it.

Ridicule does not eliminate it. Disdain does not make it go away.

For some it may seem as a cliff before them. But the only actual choice is to either accept the burden and the challenge to scale it, or to wither away in place into only the empty shell of a morally cognizant and free human being.

Where’s that “tolerance” you’re always talking about?

God bless America!

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I’ve roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there
And that sign said – no tress passin’
But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office – I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.