Nancy Griffith, an Austin, Texas native, incredible songwriter and singer, gave us these prophetic insights in 1989, set to lovely music that belied the sad Big Truth she was telling:
“I was a child in the sixties
Dreams could be held through TV
With Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther
Oh, I believed, I believed, I believed
Now, I am the backseat driver from America
I am not at the wheel of control
I am guilty, I am war, I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can’t drive on the left side of the road
It’s a hard life
It’s a hard life
It’s a very hard life
It’s a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they’ll know
And there ain’t no place … for
These kids to go”
The toxicity of The Big Lies now completely infest one of our major political parties, and polls report that two-thirds of our citizens who identify with said party have drunk their poisonous cool aid in prodigious amounts. They believe the Big Lies, deadly hook, strong line and weighted sinker. Faith in the Big Lies is paving the road which our kids will find to be a dead end. They are being taught hatred; thus, hatred will be all that they know.
Real American patriots, thank god the majority, who do NOT believe in the ignorant fantasies of the Big Lies, must stand tall and courageously yell the Big Truths. If we do not teach our children The Big Lies, then they will believe The Big Truths. That is the only way to save our democratic republic form of government, which we have cherished for almost two and a half centuries.
But today, as at no time since the Civil War, our democracy and freedoms are under vicious attacks by the proponents of the foolish nonsense of The Big Lies.
As I have opined before, if our misguided government walks down the path of “folly,” we are destined to destroy this precious gift from our brilliant Founding Fathers (and Mothers). This is not “Chicken Little” screaming the sky is falling, or the little boy that the wolf is at our gates. It is Chicken Big warning us that the dark cloud of destruction hovers threateningly over our heads as never before. The Sword of Damocles is as real today as it was in ancient times.
Our greatest President, Abraham Lincoln, said that our republic was “… of the people, by the people and for the people.” What this means today is that “We The People …” – us, you and me, all true patriots have the responsibility ourselves to stand towering and fight the good battle to defeat The Big Lies (and numerous big liars that spew them) in order to save our nation from ruin.
Quoted many times in the past, but no less true today, Edmund Burke, that brilliant member of Britain’s 19th-century Parliament, gave us this truism: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
The time has come now for good men and women to do something; and by all means necessary to succeed. We must attack the Big Lies and their corrupted liars with all the vigor and dedication historically exhibited by our citizens; their unvarnished bravery made our country the envy of the Free World. There is no more time to waste.
History has shown us that hate begets hate and that lies beget more, bigger and more vicious lies. Let us remember the warped “wisdom” of the world’s most evil but successful propogandist. The biggest of Liars preaching the biggest of Lies. Many millions died of those lies; just as more than 600,000 of our fellow American have died as a result of the spewing lies from the latest American liars.
Is it now long past time to learn the lessons history has to teach us. Surely the time has come to recall and gain wisdom of historical events to help us reinforce the promises we offered in the opening stanza of the Constitution.
No more Jim Crow racist misgovernment; no more false science of black inferiority and white exceptionalism dictated by the false principles of failed eugenics; no more misguided decisions by the powers derived from foolish, idiotic, reckless and imprudent decisions that have NOT been in our own best interest. Live and learn, or live and die of the consequences of terminal stupidity. The choice is yours.
“Well, all I know is what I read in the newspapers.” – Will Rogers.
David M. Taub was Mayor of Beaufort from 1990 through 1999 and served as a Beaufort County Magistrate from 2010 to 2015. You can reach him at david.m.taub42@gmail.com.
