#12 American Land by Bruce Springsteen

(My husband and I were at this show - I think you can see the back of our heads :-) )

Many years after Born in the USA, Springsteen is still singing about the broken promises of America. The Irish music behind the lyrics lends the song to the voice of immigrants, such as the Irish, who came to an America of promise and found instead an America of racism & inequality, a place where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

Greed and misuse of power are rewarded. People will say hard work is rewarded. I know plenty of people working hard who will never advance in life because they are kept held down by a system that can only have one result, lives separated by class and wealth. The golden door has proved to be made of glass.

I’m currently reading Edward Bellamy’s “Looking Backward”. He wrote the story in the 1880’s and he so accurately could see where America has gone wrong in its economic/social philosophy. He knew that there was only one eventual outcome and we are living it now.

We are stuck in our options because we only see one system, one way of doing things, as the best way. Why is sharing resources, labor, etc…such a bad thing? What are people really afraid of? Our individualistic mindset is twisted. We spout off ideas of equality yet we operate under a system that makes equality impossible, in all areas of life.

The idea of America is greater than the reality.


For Complete Lyrics Visit: http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/AmericanLand.html