I Am Beginning a Campaign to Remove One Unnecessary Word from the National Anthem

The last words of our nation’s National Anthem are, “O-er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” One word no longer applies.

In the 21^st century, only one percent of all 340 million people experience the American dream, and the core reason our country was the most respected country in the world. That word is “freedom.”

I am 78 years old, and struggle to keep our home, eat fresh and healthy food, and pay our utility and water bills every month. I am a slave to a government which ignores me, my wife, and nearly 80 million other citizens. We are not ‘free,’ we are survivors of the corrupt leadership in Washington. We are expected to show our appreciation for a 2.5 percent annual raise when Greedflation has increased by as much as 60 percent on necessities.

If “the People’s President,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had not displayed his deep concern for all of our nation’s people and created the plan I and my wife paid into for more than 40 years each, Social Security, my wife and I would be homeless today. However, Trump and his traitorous party want to weaken or end the only retirement benefit most older Americans have. In our nation’s history, the passing of Social Security in 1935 may be the only perfect law passed in our nation’s history. If it is financially at risk, it is the result of actions to ruin a good thing by corrupt politicians. At last count, they added six addendums to the program, stealing money from me, my wife, and nearly every working man and woman in the country. We and our employers paid into Social Security, and each recipient only receives benefits based on their contributions.

Every time the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ is sung, it is hypocrisy and an homage to the criminals who have greatly harmed the quality of life for the working class.

Freedom in America is an illusion. The majority are only free if they play the game. If they work hard to support the outrageous wealth of the minority; if they trust the most corrupt government in the world; if they purchase unnecessary items at needlessly increased prices: and if they believe what they see and hear on television ‘news,’ they are pawns in a game they cannot win. They, we, are in the complete control of our nation’s 813 oligarchs, and their Fuhrer, Donald John Trump.

I will always be a loyal American: loyal to my America. However, I curse today’s incompetent government and will never be patriotic as long as the worst people in the world are in control of what might have been a great country.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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