“I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands

one nation, under God…indivisible?

With liberty and jus– ”

 

Every day I say the words

Like I know what they mean

But I finally understand

That things are not what they seem

A nation full of hatred, depression and fights

It’s all too much for people proud of freedom and rights

 

People blaming all their problems on 2008

Thinking, “Before recession? We were all straight.”

Here’s a newsflash everybody, we had issues before.

Education, all those wars, and the treatment of poor

 

If we’re all proud of this nation

What are we doing?

We’re used to seeing hate crimes

And cities in ruin

It’s normal

We’re used to it

So what happens now?

We stopped asking the real question,
“Let’s stop it. But how?”

 

People dying in the streets because of bad kids with guns

Why is it, even now, they’ve got the ease and the funds

To stock up ammunition, all those bombs and grenades?

Yet every time it happens, our surprise just fades

Is it resilience, short term memory, or a national crisis?

And besides all of these problems, now we’re dealing with ISIS.

 

An evil state we hate and want to derail

We support the fight everywhere without fail

Why? “Cause we’re Americans!” and “Hatred is wrong!”

But have you noticed that at home we just change the song?

Anyone who looks Arab? Immediate suspect.

Always finding new excuses to keep people in check.

How can we keep claiming to be the land of the free

if we persecute our neighbors and push them down on their knees?

A child in an ambulance

Bloody and shook

Everybody everywhere has had a look

But when the time came for that kid to escape

Our country slammed the door on him, just said, “Too late!”

Not one, not two, but thousands that run

To the doors of our country, screaming “Please let us come!”

We, as a nation, preach that they need our help

Yet for some reason, refuse to do it ourselves.

Last time this happened, it was thousands onboard.

Lusitania sent away. Into death camps they poured.

Let’s deal with the big problems: People are dying

Bombs are being dropped and children are crying.

If we’re spending all this money, put it to work

Because all we have now is people going berserk.

 

We’re banging on the doors of people at home

Kicking them out. Leave them alone.

They work

They live

their lives just like you

Why is it now that they’re being hurt too?

We’ve got other problems.

Stop beating the poor.

They’re already struggling

They don’t need more

of the ridicule and danger we, Americans, give

no one needs that much trouble just to continue to live

 

“Home of the brave”? that much is true

As for “Land of the free”? We’ve got work to do.

We need to stop all this hate and let some refugees in

and focus on a fight that we know we can win.

Hate poverty, not poor people

Don’t kill Medicaid.

If crazy people want guns,

they don’t need the aid

of easy access, no checks on what they’ve done

so they can shoot up a school or public place just for fun.

 

Learn to love your neighbor, learn to make nice

And just because he’s Mexican, you don’t gotta call ICE.

America, at its base, is the best Earth has got

But for now, we need to fix it because we’re stuck in this spot

where hate crimes are the norm and the wealth gap reigns.

Pay attention to the issues and the internal pains.

We’re great. We know it. We’re not “great again.”

But when we’re put on a scale, we score 7 of 10.

America’s not the “greatest” country, it’s not hard to see,

but with some improvements and some time, we surely can be.