Merle Haggard - America First

[ClassWarfare2008]

Run time: 02:41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR_V7tR2Cww   Posted on YouTube: May 11, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 28, 2007 By DU Member: ClassWarfare2008 Views on DU: 797

 
This goes out to all of those who think all country music these days is cheesy Bush loving crap (though sadly, much of it is.)

God bless Merle and Willie Nelson for keeping it real. And as it says at the end of this video, God bless Johnny Cash.

[madeline_con]

1. Not bad...

and that's from someone who finds very little country tolerable.

I didn't know ole Merle was still cranking out tunes. :shrug:

[Darth_Ole]

2. I'm sorry, but this is pretty stupid...

His lyric about getting out of Iraq is spot on, but the rest is ridiculous... Why America first? I'm a citizen of the planet... People put suffering on a grading scale, but there is no shortage of food in the world, only a shortage of political courage and awareness... The mess in New Orleans post-Katrina is what daily life is like in some countries...

If you want a good case study of how helping other countries wound up helping us in the long run, read about Norman Borlaug's work in India during the Green Revolution.

Besides, Merle Haggard has bugged me ever since I heard his tune "The Fightin' Side of Me"

[IndyOp]

6. The lyrics communicate to the folks Merle sings too - he is more sophisticated

in his understanding of what is going on, but he is reflecting in his lyrics what he hears from his audience and what his audience will understand. Once they get unstuck from their pro-Bush, pro-war insanity then we can move them closer to understanding interdependency among all nations and all peoples.

[PDJane]

3. Sigh...........

I'm going to point out that "America First" got the rest of us into the same mess as the US...and it's not helping.

[fasttense]

4. I like it.

If the US had been concentrating on fixing the US, we wouldn't have been bombing and invading Iraq. If our own people came first, then we wouldn't have signed half completed trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the others. If we would look out for the poor and middle class in our country, we would have less money to fight imaginary wars and would be more compassionate about the rest of the world.

Besides I saw old Merle in concert about ... well, let's just say I saw him when his wrinkles, didn't have wrinkles. Glad to hear he's still around.

[Frances]

5. I think you get the point of the song

Both the US and Iraq would have been better off if the US had spent money on our bridges and roads. Now our infrastructure is falling apart and Iraq's is getting blown up. And the US is paying for those blown up bridges with IOUs from China.