The Trolley Song

Judy Garland and Friends

The bright City on the Hill is no longer, nor has it ever been, save in the minds of those current self-proclaimed idealists who can enter the Founders' minds (Scalia, Teapublicans, et al.). One must read the Federalist Papers (and Anti-Federalist Papers) to appreciate the uncertainty inherent to the concept of “democracy.” America has had a good run despite colonial and modern-day witch hunts, and slavery and shirtwaist factory tragedies, among other travesties we like to sweep under the rug of “patriotism.” But like the Romans once did, we have moved on, and like them, we have entered the Plutocratic Age in which the “common good” is a soiled concept and “wisdom” is validated by obscene wealth. Our Manifest Destiny has been proven a hollow shell into which we pour our national treasure of lives and gold while we collectively wallow in the muck of well-informed ignorance. Oh for the good old days of “The Trolley Song.”