Bloggerlife.blog

07/04/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Independence day?

I wonder what to write about this morning as I listen to Sweet Honey in the Rock singing their iconic freedom and justice songs. I have been following them since I first heard them in the 1980’s at Westport Plaza. They had been singing as an African American women’s a cappella group since the early 1970’s. It was an accident that I heard about them on the radio. I rushed to buy a ticket and a friend and I went to hear them. We were blown away by their harmonies, the rhythm of their hands and voices, and the words that emphasize freedom and justice and the troubled landscape of the United States of America. They proved once again my opinion that the human voice is one of the most amazing musical instruments.

“The power of the universe…gave me a song to sing and sent me on my way. I raise my voice for justice, I believe…” is one of my favorites. As they vocalize these words this morning I wonder just how much freedom we can enjoy these days, and how much justice is being perverted before our very eyes.

This is the first Fourth of July in my lifetime that I can remember not feeling free at all. Even as a child living in Mexico City I remember us expats getting together as a pretty big crowd and waving a giant stars and stripes as fireworks lit up the night. The atmosphere was one of celebration of our many freedoms we enjoyed as citizens of the USA.

 As an adult I have learned that the way our system was set up, freedom is relative. Our history as it is revealed now tells the story of a nation built on the backs of People of Color. In many ways, those same people are still sociologically at risk. Opportunities are much more available to white people like me. 

Maybe you are tired as I am of the awful news coming out of Washington, D.C., these days. This week’s news of the passage of a budget bill that slashes services to millions of people has been a gut punch to me. It’s not just 47’s twisted views either. Congress, made up of 535 “representatives”, showed just how cowed a very small majority has become under the thumb of a man who knows nothing about the lives of real people. His fortune has been handed to him from childhood. Like the Prodigal Son, he has wasted his fortune, and returned to be surrounded by sycophants who assure him that he matters.

I don’t do “helpless” well, and helpless is how I feel. I live in a state where all three of my congress people have completely drunk the Kool-Aid that 47 is serving. Their responses to my letters and calls are filled with praise for 47 and his malevolent policies. 

One of the worst news clips I have seen is senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who proclaimed that she didn’t like the bill at all, that it would negatively affect many Americans, but that she voted for it anyway. She apparently got some concessions for her state and that’s all that matters to her. Screw the other 49 states and their people.

Despite the circumstances, millions of people will somehow celebrate this Summer holiday with get togethers, parades, and fireworks. I remember when I lived in Webster Groves how the kids and I would go to Moss Field and find the perfect spot to watch fireworks. This, after trying out the rides available at the festival for three whole days. Today I will go to a friend’s house for good company, good food, and the Cardinals/Cubs game this afternoon. I always watch the PBS musical and fireworks spectacular in the evening. But this night I will watch my British crime show instead. 

Our Canadian friend, John, was here recently for a retreat. Of course there was a lot of discussion about our politics. John says the only way we will overcome this mess is to take to the streets en masse. And, to stay informed, and to work like hell for the mid-term elections. I will also pray for my Democratic party, which seems to be floundering. There are some who are speaking out loudly against what is happening  Jasmine Crockett, Jamie Raskin, and Hakim Jeffries come to mind. But they are being held hostage by a handful of Republicans who make up the razor’s edge of majority. My prayer is for the razor not to be responsible for the death of our Democracy – death by a thousand cuts.