At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
~Abraham Lincoln, Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838
tonight two great ships will pull back to their ports
depleted of everything that shoots flames and reports
and in the morning the shells will wash up on the shore
and the mighty of earth will have no other recourse
but to shiver and shake and make shit in their shorts
because we have been told "men if you've been assured
there's a way to live the values your forefathers gave you"
prepare to be told "that shits gay dude"
but i guess that what they say is true
and there is no race more human,
no one throws it away like they do
the things i used to love i have come to reject
the things i used to hate i have learned to accept
and the worst of the three you now have to expect
satan ain't hard to see you without craning your neck
he'll be seventy-some inches tall
he'll be chugging a beer and he'll be grabbing his balls
he's a remote explosive waiting for someone to call
he's just eighteen for now but hes going to murder us all
solidarity's gonna give a little less than it'll take
is there a girl at this college who hasn't been raped?
is there a boy in this town that's not exploding with hate?
is there a human alive ain't looked themselves in the face without winking
or saying what they mean without drinking,
who will believe in something without thinking
what if somebody doesn't approve?
is there a soul on this earth that isn't too frightened to prove?
i think of all the people who got a hold of yr brain when it was nothing but a piece of puddy
though try as you may but you will always be a tourist (oh buddy)
and half the time i open my mouth to speak it's to repeat something that i've heard on tv
and i've destroyed everything that wouldn't make me more like bruce springsteen
so i'm going back to new jersey i do believe they've had enough of me
so when i leave boston my tail is between my legs
and deep cups of patience have been drunk to the dregs
and now i'm heading west on 84 again
and i'm as much of an asshole as i've ever been
and there is still nothing about myself i respect
still haven't done anything i did not later regret
my hand and a napkin when i'm looking for sex
and that's no one to talk to when feeling depressed
and so now when i drink i'm going to drink to excess
and when i smoke i will smoke gaping holes in my chest
and when i scream i will scream until i'm gasping for breath
and when i get sick i will stay sick for the rest
of my days peddling hate at the back of a chevy express
each one will fly in the face of your idea of success
and if this be thy will then fuckin' pass me the cup
and i'm sorry dad, no i'm not making this up!
but my enemy has your name on my lips
as i go to sleep and i know what little i've known of peace
yes, i've done to you what you've done to me
and i'd be nothing without you my darling, please don't ever leave.
please don't ever leave
please don't ever leave
please don't ever leave
~Titus Andronicus, The Battle of Hampton Roads
The second album from New Jersey band Titus Andronicus, The Monitor, is my current frontrunner for album of the year 2010. Using the Civil War as its starting place, The Monitor examines how that conflict shapes conflicts between Americans to this day.
What Lincoln said in 1838 remains as true today as it has been since the beginning - it is only ourselves who Americans have to fear. We can live together in relative harmony and peace, or we can destroy this great experiment called the United States.
What we have here doesn't exist anywhere else I have been. What continues to set us apart is our plurality. We are not one. We are not possessed of shared values, or shared culture, or shared religion, or shared politics. We have never been.
We have managed to remain united, more or less, despite this due to our shared belief in the value of that plurality - that our freedom to be a collection of states, of cities, of enclaves, is bound by little more than our shared belief that it isn't all that important that we are unlike, but that what unites us is our freedom to be unlike.
In practice, this has always been messy. But it has nearly always worked. It has been what sets us apart and keeps us vital.
When it becomes us against them, one thing is always certain: they are winning.