Evans Liberal Politics, updated May 29th and 28th, 2011 and March 11, 2011, originally published September 14, 2010, by Paul Evans. While this has always been a fairly popular post, I felt it needed to be more widely distributed so I rewrote it and am republishing it, with more relevant songs for you, both folk and rock music:

The painting is called “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty.” It was painted in 1886 by Edward Moran, and is courtesy of Wikipedia.

I have always identified myself as being an ordinary guy. The people I meet and interact with in Wooster, Ohio and Akron, Cleveland and places I go around northeast Ohio are pretty much ordinary people. I have been really blessed with educated parents who took care of me, and an education from good schools such as Miami University (Ohio – class of 1980) and an all-but-thesis from The University of Akron. I have also read many thousands of books. But my mind is not all that much unusually gifted, and my hopes and dreams are those similar to normal, working class Americans: that I might live a decent, caring life, supporting myself and making my way in a society which is NOT all that caring, in an economy where it is HARD to find a good job, and in a life which a poet once referred to as “this veil of tears.”

One thing that always inspired me as I made my way through life is how hard ordinary people try in life. I have learned their hopes and aspirations personally through talking with many thousands of working people, as I live my life and also doing vote canvassing for the Democratic Party. I wanted to bring a message of understanding and hope to them, and to my readers – however wealthy you might be. However the post was particularly written with the working class in mind: this Bud’s for you!.

I thought about how to write something that would be helpful to working people (such as myself), and felt that words themselves lacked immediacy and lacked the strength to inspire you as I want to. We have heard the speeches of politicians, we have had the encouragement of ministers of the church. So I thought, “what about some ‘music for the masses’ or ‘music for the rest of us,’ that is to say, music for ordinary, regular people, for our enjoyment and to inspire us. For that matter, I encourage all of you to live caring, ethical and dedicated lives — and let the chips fall where they may.

Not everyone gets advantages in this life. I have known alcoholics, hard drug users, and also people of limited intelligence, who may never “make it” in this world, and it saddens me. In our society, also, I have extensive personal experience as one disabled with mental illness as to how badly the world treats people with disabilities. And I have been so poor that I often get my groceries at a food bank, and have to beg neighbors and friends for gas money to drive around town, for example to visit my father in the local nursing home. I pray to our God that he might hear our suffering, and somehow reach the hearts of our leaders, that they might change this great land of ours, and remake our society into a truly caring, loving society where government is structured so that it helps the ordinary and less fortunate people. So that it helps them DISPROPORTIONATELY.

As Ten Years After says in the song (below), “tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no, rich nor more.” I remind my fellow Christians that Jesus did not care for the trappings of this life, that he was an ITINERANT preacher, that he was poor, that he did not care for the rich, ruling Pharisees of his society, and that he helped everyone he met. The group of people who were disciples and followers of Jesus were the outcasts of society, and “they held their goods in common” (to quote the Bible – it’s in Acts).

Anyway, without further ado, here are some songs in tribute to, and in caring support of, the working class, not just of America, but of the world, songs for ordinary people everywhere. I also want to dedicate these songs for the working class with the words with which the Stature of Liberty was dedicated. I also want to remind everyone that the playing field is not yet level. When the statue was dedicated in 1886, the Cleveland Gazette issued a protest suggesting that Liberty’s lamp not be lit until the United States became a free nation “in reality”.

For so many of us, though we count ourselves lucky as Americans to have the freedoms and blessings we enjoy, our lives are hardly free. We struggle to find work, with one seventh of Americans now living in poverty. Increasingly, the government’s hand looks like a mailed fist to us, rather than the soft gloves we have hoped for. We struggle with addictions, and we struggle as we strive to take care of our families and to make our way in a society which is not truly caring. We live lives which are hard and unforgiving. And we try like hell.

Here is the dedication poem for the Statue of Liberty, engraved on it’s base. Perhaps we need to remember that, as a liberal preacher once said, so long as there is injustice, or suffering for one of us, none of us are truly free, or, to give the title of the poem by Martin Luther King, Jr., "To Justice: Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere."

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Tell Congress to Pass Needed Jobs Legislation

According to the Economic Policy Institute, if Congress would spend $75 billion on direct jobs creation, taxpayers would see a $39 billion return as newly hired workers pay taxes and no longer need such government services as food stamps. Plus, in addition to the more than 675,000 people who would be directly hired with those funds, another 150,000 jobs would be created just as a result of the increased economic activity of putting that many people back to work.

Yet 2011 is all about budget cuts and even President Obama has succumbed to the madness, having stripped half of the funds for Community Action. For shame, Mr. President.

On a Personal Note: We do not live in a Christian society because we are not caring towards each other. That’s my opinion, anyway, harsh as it may seem. My own experience might be somewhat in line with Walter Trout’s song below, “Jericho Road.” There are plenty of exceptions, but “God is not mocked” and someday the rich fat cats and people who just don’t give a damn will pay. For weeks I had ads up begging my readers to make emergency contributions to keep Evans Liberal Politics on the air, and for example, give me just a little fuel oil to heat my home. (This last winter I kept three rooms warm with electric heaters.) I have not had ONE contribution mailed to me. If you DO want to help, send a MONEY ORDER to Paul Evans, 5396 Overton Road, Wooster, OH 44691.

The songs below are NOT all nice, happy songs, just as the lives of working people are full of challenges and sometimes sorrow. They are .mp3′s made from YouTube videos that I like. I hope you enjoy them and might be inspired by them. ~ Paul Evans

See Inspirational liberal political quotes & speeches, Evans Liberal Politics, August 22, 2011, compiled by Paul Evans.

See A Simple Gratefulness: It’s Going to Get Better, Evans Liberal Politics, March 2, 2011, by Paul Evans.

Music for the Working Class

Check out Paul’s Playlist of 230 Rock and Pop Hits, and have fun with all the artists you love while you surf the web.

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