They say the great songs are timeless, for reasons positive and negative. One such song is “Wake Up Everybody” by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, released in 1975–and sadly, just as relevant now as it was then.
It’s hard to listen to the opening lyrics without thinking of the aftermath–in terms of both despair and resolve–of the 2016 election:
Wake up everybody
No more sleeping in bed
No more backward thinking
Time for thinking ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred
War and poverty…The world won’t get no better
If we just let it be
The world won’t get no better
We gotta change it yeah, just you and me
Positive change is needed in this country and in this world, now more than ever–with far-right extremism on the march and progressive principles under assault as never before. 2016 has taught us that the forces trying to destroy a better, more peaceful world have acquired new political and cultural weaponry–and their power must be resisted.
The fight for a better world is a fight we at the Washington Monthly are committed to. To quote the tagline for the old Harrison Ford film Clear and Present Danger, truth needs a soldier–and we are willing to fight like hell to make sure the truth wins.
In his 1967 speech denouncing the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr.–who, if he were with us today, would be leading the resistance against the repugnance of Donald Trump–declared:
If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.
Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.
The struggle to stop the advance of Trump’s agenda will be long and bitter…but if we do not quit, if we are firm in our resolve, the result will be beautiful.
We need your help to win this fight. The billionaires have their voice, and over the next four years, they will use that voice to bring as much pain as possible to those who are already put upon. If they win, we lose everything.
With your help, we can win this fight. With your help, we can ensure that justice and fairness can triumph in this country. With your help, we can trump Donald Trump.
Please make a tax-deductible donation to the Washington Monthly today. With your help, we can demolish the walls of ignorance and incompetence that Trump has constructed.
