By Elayne Savage, PhD

While watching a documentary the other day I heard a song I grew up with that always made me so happy. Sometimes I would sing and even march along to it.  

I have such fond memories of A Grand Old Flag and I just love hearing The Singing Senators rendition from 1996 on YouTube.  They were Sen.Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) – Bass, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) – Lead Vocals, Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Missouri) – Baritone,   Sen. Jim Jeffords (R-Vermont)- Tenor,

And guess what – Listening to them sing got me standing up and singing and marching along!

You can find it at 0.45 right after This is My Country.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OaS9Goj4Rzs

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Every heart beats true
'Neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag

And then I got really sad.

Sad for what seems like the demise of the country that I used to feel so proud was my country: 

“The Greatest on earth.”

“The emblem of the land I love.” 

“The home of the free and the brave.”

“Where there’s never a boast or brag.” (Imagine! Boast and Brag free!)

What happened to the land I love?

What happened to our grand old flag forever waving in peace?

Where did the ‘forever in peace’ go?

Well, yes, I guess I am pretty patriotic.

I’m a Washingtonian. I grew up with and respected so many symbols of our government.

Watching the Capitol being abused on 1/6 was really difficult for me. It felt personal. 

And it is staggering to me that it feels everything honorable that these symbols stand for are being dishonored by so much contention and infighting and lying and name-calling and bullying and blaming and shaming.

Honestly, what scares me the most are the attempts at voter suppression in some of the states. 

Joyce Vance, previously a U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and presently a law professor at the University of Alabama decries “claims of victory via voter suppression in Georgia and Wisconsin (and) Ohio’s new law . . . one of the country’s strictest voter identification laws. Before it was passed, voters could use a wide variety of items to establish their identity at the polls, including bank statements and utility bills. Under the new measure, they have to have a driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID to cast a vote. Notably, college and university IDs didn’t make the cut. (And) concern that” the free veteran ID cards issued by Ohio counties would no longer count as a valid form of ID for voting.

“There are concerns the ability to vote for as many as 1 million Ohioans could be impacted by the new law because they have suspended driver’s licenses due to a lack of insurance or unpaid fines and court costs. The report concluded that suspensions disproportionately impact impoverished urban communities of color.

“The rationale for the bill was to improve public confidence in elections because of voter fraud. But even Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, who supported the measure, has repeatedly said the state’s elections are fair and untarnished by fraud. He acknowledged that the possible fraud in the 2020 Ohio General Election was 0.0005%.

“Understanding the outrageous measures like the Ohio law that create a fundamentally unfair playing field is enough to offend the sensibilities of most Americans.”

“Voting rights lawyer Marc Elias filed a lawsuit challenging the statute."

https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/dont-look-up?r=192n8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Blaming and Shaming and Taking Things Personally.

Oh My.

And you are most likely pretty aware of the daily reports of contention and infighting and lying and name-calling and bullying and blaming and shaming that I mentioned above.

I‘m hoping that somehow we can find our way back to the days of the grand old flag. At least to some modicum of integrity and respect. Please.

I would really love to hear your thoughts on all of these goings-on.

What feelings and concerns do you have?

Are you as troubled about trusting and feeling safe and secure as I am?

What can we do about this mess?

Oh, and by the way, I heard the Singing Senators YouTube video when I was watching Blake Zeff’s ‘Loan Wolves’ documentary investigating how Student Debt is prohibited from being discharged by filing for bankruptcy,    

On Peacock and MSNBC

YouTube Trailer:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL7SCY7gC1M

© Elayne Savage. PhD

Until next month, 

Elayne

Elayne Savage is the author of ground-breaking relationship books published in 9 languages.
Both books are now available on Kindle!

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