I am troubled by the station of our nation in these amber waves of grain.

What happened to “crowning our good with brotherhood” across the fruited plain?

What did we do with our purple mountain majesties?

How did we let this happen to our country, you and me?

We need to get back to crowning our good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

You know the words.

One hundred and thirty years ago, Katharine Lee Bates wrote,

“O beautiful for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain

America, America

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea”

In 1996, one hundred years after Katharine Lee Bates wrote those words,

George Carlin said, “If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders.”

Bill Clinton was president in 1996, but George wasn’t talking about Bill.

This is exactly what George Carlin said that day, thirty years ago:

“You might have noticed I don’t complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens.

This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out.

If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders.

Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand-new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans.

So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck.”

George Carlin stood on that stage, looked his audience in the eye, and told them that they were selfish and ignorant.

And that they sucked.

And they laughed, and clapped, and cheered.

I’ve been pondering this problem since I first noticed it in 2003. You might remember “Pendulum”, the book I wrote about this problem more than a dozen years ago.

Having had that thought in 2003, I’ve had 23 years to ponder it, so I will offer my final word on the subject:

The solution to the station of our nation,

it seems to me,

is to cast away our selfishness:

I care about you. You care about me.

Ignorance will always be with us.

There will always be things we do not know.

But if we decided no longer to have enemies,

I believe our world would begin to glow.

Roy H. Williams