Doomed to repeat history

The other morning I woke up with a snippet of song stuck in my head; and as is usually the case, I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the song or who did it-or any of the words other than the part continuously looping in my brain.

So, calling upon my cat-like ninja tech skills, I Googled it.
And was promply amazed.

The song is called "Monster" by the band Steppenwolf-it came out in 1970 during the height of the Viet Nam war.
Here are the lyrics:

Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

© Copyright MCA Music (BMI)
All rights for the USA controlled and administered by
MCA Corporation of America, INC

As I looked at these lyrics, written 37 years ago, I was floored by the sense of deja vu; the feeling of my country abandoning it's people was just as strong today as it was when I was an idealistic teenager.

My brother joined the Army in 1970 along with many of the older brothers and boyfriends in our neighborhood. Many of us too young to go protested the war at the University of Houston campus and Milby Park because we felt that the government lied us into war. We saw firsthand how many of them died and were wounded; we saw our mothers worry if they were the next family to get a visit from the Army guys whose job it was to deliver the worst news a mom can get.

We protested even though the same moms and dads supported the war as did everyone's teachers, coaches and other adults. We were called dirty hippies, told to leave our country of birth, called treasonous and commie pinko trash.

Pretty much what I still get called today when we protest yet another senseless war.

George Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."
Just as those prescient lyrics were forgotten over time, we seem to have forgotten the lessons of Viet Nam and the absurdity of hegemony-and the futility of new and improved manifest destiny.

Had someone told me 37 years ago that I would still be protesting an unnecessary and deadly war when I was 52 years old and a mother of three; I would have thought they were insane.

But here we are, doomed to repeat history.