Mitt Romney Quotes Lesbian Poet Concerned About Income Inequality On The Stump

[demmiblue]

Source: Think Progress

Mitt Romney regularly incorporates lyrics from “America the Beautiful” into his stump speeches. Little does he probably realize that the hymn was written by a progressive feminist lesbian who composed it to critique country’s greed, excess, and growing economic inequality. The original third-verse lyrics Katharine Lee Bates wrote in 1894 were as follows:

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

She later rewrote the stanza, toning down the rhetoric but maintaining that wealth was not what made America great:

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

Read more:http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/01/06/399714/mitt-romney-quotes-lesbian-poet-concerned-about-income-inequality-on-the-stump/

[treestar]

1. Sound of right wing heads exploding

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. her beautiful words

sound cheap and crass coming out of his mouth

[earthside]

3. The National Hymn

I have always thought that this song ought to be designated as the official 'National Hymn of the United States of America'.

Repealing the 'Star Spangled Banner' as the national anthem would be politically impossible, but we could certainly have a national hymn that could be played and sung as an official alternative.

The 'Star Spangled Banner' in my opinion is too militaristic and, frankly, too difficult to play and sing. Besides, while the words were written by an American, the music is an old English drinking tune (the enemy at the time Key wrote the lyrics) ... what's up with that?