February 2024 – Susan Feathers

For Spacious Skies

We are a mosaic of people, places and stories. Liberty’s flame welcomes all to these shores where E Pluribus Unam (many out of one) is our purpose. Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness (the welfare of the people ) our promise.

The American mosaic began with people who came from the East over a landbridge during an Ice Age. It was a time when nature was free. the rule one of reciprocity among species living in a landscape of soaring mountains, crystal rivers, lakes and oceans full of life. and forests trembling with the movements of animals, birds, insects and a few people. Though old by our planet’s account, it was brand new to the first people who wondered in its force of life surging at its own accord. They are still among us, and their memories are longlasting. If we listen, we can here the wisdom they developed living among their kin.

Oh! How I wish to be born again when America was new to us human beings. Reverence for life, the will to live so strong in all. Rivers free to run their courses, lakes shimmering like mirrors, towering clouds and lightening striking all across the open plain, the bone deep terror of its awesome vigor.

Ah, so, I hear the naysayers refuting this idyllic description, but what if it was just that way? What if the air was so clear you could see for miles, what if every body of water was drinkable? What would it feel like in virgin woods with the whole pageant of living things vigorous and free? What sounds, fragrances and piercing colors would we see agasp in the virgin wood? I wonder…

Much much later the new European immigrants, hungry for land and the very freedom they denied its Native People, a young teacher penned this poem which became the source for America the Beautiful, beloved song of our nation.

Oh beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self, their country loved
And mercy more than life

America, America may God thy gold refine
‘Til all success be nobleness
And every gain divined

And you know when I was in school
We used to sing it something like this, listen here

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain

But now wait a minute, I’m talking about
America, sweet America
You know, God done shed his grace on thee
He crowned thy good, yes he did, in brotherhood
From sea to shining sea

You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this
(America, America, God shed his grace on thee)
America, I love you America, you see
My God he done shed his grace on thee
And you oughta love him for it
‘Cause he, he, he, he crowned thy good
He told me he would, with brotherhood
(From sea to shining Sea)
Oh Lord, oh Lord, I thank you Lord
(Shining sea)

Alexander Courage and Samuel Ward wrote what came to be the song best loved among hundreds written – each inspired by the poem by Katherine Lee Bates. She penned the poem after a trip during which she observed the stunning beauty of the West. She was a professor at Wellesley College on her way to teach in Colorado Springs.

I hope with all the strength in me that this anthem can spur a rebirth of the original land and its people, and that us late comers, immigrants all, will make room for our multicultural society, our E Pluribus Unam. You see, we became the great idea stimulated by this Land, this Place. May we restore Her, restore Ourselves to higher purpose, to make that American Quilt we dreamed of when we sought to govern ourselves anew. Oh America! Oh, Liberty, may we breathe that fulsome air again and may we obtain that clarity of mind to see who we are today and who we must become again so that freedom reigns among us all.

Whitney Houston

GREAT AMERICANS: FRANCES MOORE LAPPE

Diet for a Small Planet arrived like a rolling earthquake in sunny California in 1971.

50th Anniversary Edition

In 1971 (when I first read Diet for a Small Planet), Frances Moore Lappe’s research brought to light the nature of capitalism in creating hunger and poverty. I recall her riveting question then, and just how relevant it remains today:

How much is enough?
Frances Moore Lappe

Instead of the world not producing enough food to feed everyone, she demonstrated how we produce enough food to feed everyone and that remains true today. Then why hunger? Unregulated capitalism and concentration of wealth to a few people and companies causes many problems including hunger. Access to nutritious food remains an issue of human rights. In the introductory remarks to the 5th edition, Frances doesn’t hold back on the perilous point in history in which we are poised. She titles it: Our Choice, Our Promise. Ever positive, Lappe shows us how most of our current ills are a question of democracy.

What is Democracy Anyway? For me, at the heart of democracy are the rules and norms for living together that meet our deepest needs–bringing forth the best in our species while keeping our destructive capacities in check.
Introductory Remarks, Diet for a Small Planet, 50th Edition, xx1.

Frances centers her work in food justice within democratic norms. She describes humanity’s greatest needs: personal power (voice), meaning (our lives matter), and community.

Go to Small Planet Institute

No one understands the problem of hunger and its solutions better than Frances. I highly recommend her book, Diet for a Small Planet. See also 22 other books Lappe has published at this link.

Another Great American

Jeffrey Rosen, CEO and Executive Director of the National Constitution Center (NCC) and Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School is as enthusiastic a scholar of the American Constitution as any man. His respect and love of the principles embedded in the Constitution’s DNA is infectious.

The National Constitution Center brings together people of all ages and perspectives, across America and around the world, to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution.
https://constitutioncenter.org/about

Here below are links to a podcast and a video on the Constitution Drafting Project in which three scholars – conservative, liberal, and libertarian – draft five new amendments to the Constitution.

For the Podcast go here.

Below is the YouTube video of the full discussion among these scholars. I was struck by the fact that in spite of different viewpoints, their five amendments were very similar which also came as a surprise to them. Their discussion provides citizens with understanding of how a broad range of viewpoints can converge on how to govern ourselves.

Today’s Great Americans

Heather Cox Richardson is one of America’s most trustworthy and insightful voices for democracy in our current struggle to preserve and restore democratic institutions in the U.S.A. She is a historian, professor at Boston College, and author of the recent book, Democracy Awakening.

Heather publishes a daily Letters from An American on Substack. I rely on her daily digest of the day’s events put into a historical context. Heather examines our present struggle to protect democratic governance with a long view from the founders to the present leadership. She shows us a longer trajectory and reminds us that we the people have agency to shape our future. Most importantly, she corrects misinformation, clears the clouds of half-truths.