TheAgitator.com
Kerry’s Gotta Do What He’s Gotta Do (or The Slogan Is What It Is) (or Whatever Happens To Kerry Happens)
Thursday, June 3rd, 2004John Kerry’s people appear to have settled on “Let America Be America Again” as a campaign slogan. For many, the slogan is stupid enough (or arrogant enough) on its face to fail. But, for those who need a little something more, Timothy Noah has a good article on Slate.com about the line’s etymology.
The line comes for a poem by Langston Hughes of the same name. A reading of the poem reveals what a poor choice the line was. For example, a pretty stanza romanticizing America as “a land where Liberty/Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath/But opportunity is real, and life is free/Equality is in the air we breathe” is followed by the poet’s comment “(There’s never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free.’)”.
Then, the person romanticizing the old America, and calling for its return, asks who is making the objections to his speech, and the answer comes:
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek–
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean–
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today–O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
The poem then builds up steam, rallies the workers, and concludes that the poor men, Indians, Negros, and all those who really made America [read: the proletariat] must take back America and make the America that never was, but that should be:
O, let America be America again–
The land that never has been yet–
And yet must be–the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine–the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME–
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Maybe Hughes’ position is what Kerry actually seeks when he says “Let America Be America Again.” Maybe Kerry is saying “we’ve never achieved the true vision of America, and let me lead you there, with your hand at the foundry and your plow in the rain.” But more likely, Kerry is that speaker in the intial stanzas, longing for the olden days, when life was peachy and men were men and all were free and prosperous: the very position that Hughes attacks in his poem.
It will be interesting to see if this gets any play at all, or how the “Let America Be America Again” message evolves.
[cross-posted at Pieces of Flair]
This poem and choice represent two aspects of the Leftist mentality
1) That our past is one long train of sin and abuse for which we must ever atone.
and
2) That America is an idea that only the Left can fully realize, that past leaders only embraced hypocritically, and that can only be achieved by wiping the slate clean of various deviations and hypocricies. The past to which Kerry harkens in the 1960s, when radicals began to let America be America “again,” i.e., for the first time.
This guy is basically a radical leftist whose various twists and turns are designed to hide us from this fact.
commie
Maybe Kerry will start quoting from other “great” leftist writers like Lenin and Trotsky next.
Still better then Bush’s “America: Go Fuck Youself!”
I still like,
“we have no plan so Kerry ‘s our man!
Raul Duke, can you explain how Bush’s motto is “America: Go **** Yourself!” I don’t really get it?
Raul makes a perfect representation of what politics in this country is about. A comment is made against Kerry which has thought and meaning and your typical Bush bashers come back with a idiotic attack that is unsupported. How many morons did we have to hear during the last election say Bush is not qualified because he is an idiot, too stupid….did they know him personally? So Bush was a moron but Gore was smart?
You see, because Raul does not agree with Bush, that means that Bush is telling the country that we can go fuck ourselves.
Now how could that line not apply to Kerry? He is telling all hard working Americans to fuck themselves and their success and give up their money for the lazy and inept. Kerry does not like America the way our Founding Fathers made it, he wants it to be socialist like France and the rest of Europe, so he is saying fuck America really.
Raul, have a little intellectual honesty and make a real argument. Moronic statements like that only show who you are. We have enough of the Democrats in the country doing nothing but blaming Bush for everything without ever offering even one suggestion on what they would do.
His motto on his last swing though the midwest was “America: Yes We Can”, which comes across as very unilateral
I think everyone is missing Andy’s point. The poet that created the poem was a communist…or at least wrote nice poems about Lenin and Stalin while disparaging Christianity….
Goodbye, Christ Jesus Lord God Jehovah,
Beat it on away from here now.
Make way for a new guy with no religion at all —
A real guy named Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME
Kerry is turning into the new Dukakis. The right is going to have a field day with this.
Peter-
Kerry doesn’t like America the way our Founding Fathers made it? and Bush does?
I will leave the rest of your comments to the explanation above.
“His motto on his last swing though the midwest was “America: Yes We Can”, which comes across as very unilateral”
As opposed to what? “America: Yes we can and yet we can’t”?
Personally, I thing “yes we can” is a dumb slogan, but that’s just because I find most slogans to be dumb. Not surprisingly, I find Kerry’s new communist slogan quite dumb as well.
Seriously, what on earth do you mean by “unilateral”? Should he have gotten the French and/or U.N. to approve his slogan before use?
Roger-
yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.
Duke
Anyone here changing their vote because of a slogan?
Raise your hands higher please.
I don’t see any…
Raul, you have the same problem over and over again, I never said anything about Bush here. Try thinking once in a while instead of seeing everything as a way to attack Bush.
I made no comment about Bush’s thoughts on America, I simply stated that Kerry has a problem with our constitution as it was written, he would like to change its meaning. Which goes well with his new communist slogan.
Whether Bush sees the country the way our Founding Father’s has absolutely no relavance to my statement that Kerry does not see it their way.
Ok, I read the poem and didn’t see your interpretation, Hoey. Here’s what I understood from Hughes:
America was built on dreams of liberty for all and it has the most potential to do so (of other nations). But despite that dream, we (as a nation) haven’t yet realized “liberty for all.” He goes on to list the reasons why not everyone has the same opportunity for success (“The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
“). I assume this was written during or soon after The Great Depression.
Hughes’ final call is for getting America back on track to realizing that dream.
No where in the poem did I sense “commie talk” or a return to some golden age. It might not have been symbolically the best author to choose if he was indeed a Communist. But that doesn’t make the slogan automatically Communist.
With that said, I still think slogans are silly (and should be silly). How else will you get and keep the attention of our ADD nation? (jk).
Kerry’s people probably just thought it sounded nifty.
Or the America that they want to return to would be Clinton’s America.
They were going to use “Kerry: I’m Lovin’ It” but that was taken by McD’s.
I am in no way a Kerry supporter. It will be open season on this country if that bozo gets elected.
Having said that, the brain power that this blog represents (and that is a compliment, not an insult) may be able to draw the relationship between the slogan and Hughes poem and call the slogan communist. But it is not. It is a slogan.
And intelligent, thinking people are not who it is intended to make an impression upon. These campaign gurus know who can be influenced by slogans and who cannot.
Everybody that posts here has already made up their minds on who they are going to vote for. The ads and the slogans are for those millions of voters out there that do not have a clue, and do not have long memories. And really aren’t all that interested either.
His slogan might just as well be “America; I’m lovin’ it” or “America; Just do it” or Clinton’s favorite “America; Is it in you?” (cigar joke :)
The fact is that there are 8 people 25-40 years old in my office and there are 3 who could tell you the difference between a Democrat and Republican. And that is probably representative of most of the population. These slogans and ad campaigns are for the other 5. Designed to make them punch the right hole in pavlovian response to something they heard rather than deciding on real issues. They will choose a president the same way they choose a bag of chips. “I think someone told me these were good.”
Sad but true.
Chris, to the point about your colleagues’ ignorance, I know many Democrats and none of them can tell me why they choose to be. The one reason they ALL give… “Democrats are for the poor people.”
“And intelligent, thinking people are not who it is intended to make an impression upon. These campaign gurus know who can be influenced by slogans and who cannot.”
“The fact is that there are 8 people 25-40 years old in my office and there are 3 who could tell you the difference between a Democrat and Republican.”
Exactly, Chris.
The five who couldn’t tell you the difference, have the biggest impact on the actual vote.
Of the three who could, some number might be very passionate about the difference between a republican and a democrat. Those are the ones who choose the candidates by way of party membership, party conventions, and other activism.
Which is why we have two parties that claim differences and oppose each others’ ascension, but end up picking candidates who are not too far from the center. First, it lets you tap into the huge block of voters who are essentially moderates themselves, in the mistaken belief that they are automatically scared of strong opinions (if they were, they would have taken the other side already, and be one of the three. They’re too unaware to be scared). Secondly, that block of voters includes an awful lot of people you can sway with a slogan.
It is sad. Americans’ disinterest results in the parties giving them more reason not to care.
G
Anybody try the new Guacamole flavored Doritos? I’m tempted to get a bag from the vending machine here, but then I hesitate. We’ve been taught since we were kids to avoid green Doritos, so it’s like a survival reflex, ya know? Sometimes they can live in my couch for two, three years maybe, without even a hint of green forming on them. I don’t know. I like guacamole though.
“I know many Democrats and none of them can tell me why they choose to be. The one reason they ALL give… “Democrats are for the poor people.”
Exactly Dani. I get the same thing from the Democrats I know “Republicans are for ‘the rich’ Democrats are for ‘the working man’.
But when I ask them to give me any kind of example of this, they either start parroting sound bite they heard on tv, or bring up some example of how Bush is an idiot. (How does Bush being an idiot prove Republicans are for ‘the rich’?)
Slotman
Raul -
Still makes no sense. I sincerely want to understand what you are saying, but can’t see the meaning through the fog of Bush hatred.
Very well put Chris. A sad, but true indictment of the state of politics in ’04 USA. And the politicians KNOW where and how their bread is buttered. The less informed the general populace is, the less they have to work to get elected and re-elected.
Sick.
It does continue to amaze me that people buy into the whole “Democrats are for the poor people” line. What would Kerry, Clinton, the Kennedy’s, or all the Hollywood big wigs who are always running off at the mouth know about poor people?
Politicians are rich people that need other rich people to help them get elected, They are ALL for the rich first. Anything else they say is just to get your vote.
How someone who is poor, or a minority could look at John Kerry Whiteboy Heinz and think, “yeah, that’s the guy that will look out for me” is beyond comprehension.
Okay, I bought a bag. I figured 55 cents, what the hell, right? Anyway, tore open the bag and nope– this bag, it don’t smell like no guacamole! More like feet dipped in guacamole. The chips themselves taste better though. Nothing I’d hunt down late at night at a 7-Eleven, but I’m not afraid anymore to pump some coinage into that there vending machine. That’s right, vending machine!! I AIN’T AFRAID OF YOU NO MO!! Tomorrow I will head to the break room and try out a bag of the Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips, so I will post a review then. Viva la break room!!
Scared Stiff, !! what a coincidence! I get the same response… major tv news network regurgitation, even from my own mom who works her ass off. How I wish I could convince her.