What America Means: Badlands Live ~ Richmond 8-18-08

"Poor man want to be rich, rich man want to be king, king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything."

Listen and remember Springsteen's impassioned version of this song played in 1980 the night after Ronald Reagan was first elected. VA nurse and music writer, John Ford , explains that evening " Bruce Springsteen opened his show with an especially roaring, impassioned performance of Badlands. He saw it coming: the rape and pillage that would be the Reagan years. Springsteen's still at it, though with a new group of pillagers to confront. His defense against the Reactionary tide in America has long been to shout about where we are going wrong, but also to present an alternative view of what "America" means. It's not support of Salvadoran death squads and Nicaraguan contras, nor Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and torture."

Bruce Springsteen supports Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The stakes are just as high as they were in 1980. Remember what America means. America is not torture, Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. America is the promise of hope and liberty. Barack Obama is the promise of hope and liberty. I donated to the Obama campaign again today. We all need to pitch in and get our country back!

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