What do you think of this brief comment by Merle Haggard?

[Syrinx]

I've lived at the very end of what must have been a wonderful country.

http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/whativelearned0907

[Faux pas]

1. I think old Merle is singing my song. n/t

[Skittles]

2. I feel the same way

it is painful seeing America dissolve before my eyes

[Syrinx]

4. it's like something out of a sci-fi novel by William Gibson, or somebody

I've been a member of fan sites for my sports teams and stuff, but I've had it with that.

The majority of people are just totally clueless about what is going on. And when I try to clue them in, I'm accused of being a "liberal America hater" or worse.

It's depressing as hell.

Hi Skittles! :hi:

[Skittles]

5. howdy Syrinx!

it's just that, well, I don't really see any area where America is progressing - and in many we are simply sliding backwards.

[Syrinx]

6. the stuff that is happening in America is...

Precisely the same stuff that I was taught, and always assumed, couldn't happen in America.

I even believed that when I signed on here in 2002. I knew that Bush/Cheney had stolen the election. But I had no idea that the forces of evil could possibly achieve what they have now achieved. And most people have absolutely no awareness of this.

I have very little hope for this country. Wishes, yes. Hope, no. I've wanted to have a child before, but now I'm glad I don't. :(

[Skittles]

7. I hear you

a good example is, I never thought in my lifetime I would see PRAVDA but just check out the news media of today - I watched Good Night and Good Luck again yesterday and I wondered, whatever the f*** happened? It's like we have forgotten everything. And no one can tell me Iraq isn't another Vietnam - I am old enough to know better

[Syrinx]

8. I had a dream the other night; and I don't think it was far off the mark

I was in my hometown, here in Alabama. I was outside with a few friends. Suddenly, we were surrounded by mushroom clouds. It was obvious that we were under nuclear attack from someone. I ran inside, and yelled "Turn on CNN!" Someone did. And they were talking about Paris Hilton. Sigh. Sadly, it seemed pretty realistic.

[Skittles]

3. dup

[Bobbieo]

9. I'm 15 years older tha Merle and I feel just like he does about our country.

What ever it is, it is bigger than Bush and Cheney and there is no way of stopping what is happening to us. It thas been building up for many years, you could almost feel it coming but I thought - "Hey this is crazy!"

Maybe this is why I am not interested in the forthcoming election or what General P has to say tomorrow. It doesn't make any difference.

[Syrinx]

12. I'm still interested in the election

I think you are right in that it probably doesn't matter. But I'm still going to pretend that it does, because maybe it does.

:shrug:

Can't hurt, to take a few minutes to vote.

EDIT: You're really 85 years old?

[Bzzzz]

10. Screw Haggard...

I've never forgiven him for Okie from Muskogee. :puke:

[Syrinx]

11. as maybe you are aware...

That was Haggard verbalizing his father's views. His own views were diametrically opposite of those. It was an experiment in songwriting. Merle is a good man. A liberal and a realist.

[immoderate]

21. Interesting, I didn't know that, but...

I have always seen the :sarcasm: hanging on "Okie." Otherwise I couldn't reconcile that with "If We Make It Through December" on his fine Christmas Album. I don't celebrate Christmas, but that is one of the best albums ever. A hard working poor man's expression of lost hope.

--IMM

[slampoet]

17. He allowed himself to be used by the same forces that destroyed his and my beloved country.

For that he became a rich man and all the rest of the world is poorer for it.


I refuse to have sympathy to those who are rich, but have regrets at how they made their money.


If you were really sorry you would use your money for something positive and not just use your fame to WHINE ABOUT IT.



Poor little rich hick. Go take your bass boat to some other country and spoil that one too.

[dbt]

19. First among them would be the Nashville Establishment.

Look into Merle's finances, where his money went, and to WHOM. I'll wait...

:evilgrin:

If he's got a bass boat left, I will be VERY surprised!

[slampoet]

23. Is that why he's wearing a $300 hat with a matching suit in the post photo?

He would have taken his record contract elsewhere if he weren't making money.

Also he voluntarily appeared onstage with Jewel.

'Cmon.

[Bucky]

20. If it's any consolation, I have a cousin from Muskogee who proved that song wrong.

Or at least the first two classic lines...

Okie From Muskogee

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
And we don't take our trips on LSD....

And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

So basically, it's a song about the right to personal choices in intoxicants.

[madokie]

25. this ole okie loves him for it

but hey thats just me, sometimes I'm like that you know

[dbt]

13. Mighty Merle has had him a long, strange trip.

He's seen everything he sang about in "The Fightin' Side Of Me" turned on its ear. While he was waving the flag back in '69 or so, the gubmint was beginning to pick his pocket. Little by little, he began to see through the deceptions. As he stated in the article:

They've left the redwoods up alongside the highway so we'll think they're all there. But go up in an airplane and you'll see that they've clear-cut everything behind.

In the beginning, it was all black or white, good or bad, right or wrong. Once, it was proper to rally around the President in times of national crisis. But along the way, Merle found out that they were feeding him shit--and telling him it was steak.

Haggard is like a real fine whiskey; when he first came out of the still, he would tear your head off and rip out your guts. But the way he's been aged has wrapped his keen edge in velvet. It's still there, but now you appreciate it when it cuts you. Merle chose to open his eyes while Charlie Daniels took the blindfold because it looked like The Flag.

I reckon The Hag is lately hearing an Ed Bruce song in his head:

This is the last cowboy song,
The end of a hundred-year waltz.
Voices sound sad as they're singing along,
Another piece of America's lost.

[Arkansas Granny]

15. I think you've put that very well, indeed.

I think many of us have faced the same revelation.

[dbt]

16. Thank you, Ma'am!

I feel the same sort of abandonment as I watch our whole Arkansas Congre$$ional delegation sell us out time after time to the Regime.

Peace be unto you!

:hi:

[LittleClarkie]

27. Wasn't he buds with Johnny Cash?

And I seem to remember him being in the Big Bopper's band or something.

Dude's been around a while.

[acmavm]

14. Yep, I do believe he's right.

[mmonk]

18. Great statement worthy of quoting.

[Wiregrass Willie]

22. I never knew Merle was so profound. He is so right. n/t

[alfredo]

24. Some great quotes.

[Jed Dilligan]

26. Okay, but when was it so wonderful?

We only desegregated the South right before getting into Vietnam. How long was it ever wonderful before turning brutal, racist, and genocidal again?

Is it wonderful on Indian reservations? In public housing projects?

I don't buy the "formerly great country" myth. The country worth fighting for is yet to come, and it might not be here.


btw: Props to Haggard anyway, for opening his eyes.

[Wiregrass Willie]

28. The movie "American Graffiti" ...

dated the decline as beginning in 1964. I have no trouble with that. But neither do I advocate it. We went from being the most wonderful country in the world to being the most powerful and the richest. Which really isn't all that bad. But it's still not "wonderful".