Observer, you seem to be thinking that I am blaming England for Manifest Destiny and the extermination of Native Americans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I have emphasized over and over again that the people in power in the United States were people of British Ancestry. They would never think of themselves as British - they thought of themselves as Americans, the only true Americans. Even when I was growing up in Detroit in the 1950s, ethnic ancestry was very important, and those who were not of the proper ancestry were excluded from many levels of society. The most obvious exclusions were in country clubs (private golf courses) and in the exclusive private men's clubs that were the centers of power in most American cities, and in the Daughters of the American Revolution. In general, people could not belong to these organizations if they were Jewish, Catholic, Black, Italian, German, Greek, or an obvious member of any ethnic group. If you had an accent or your first language was anything other than Proper English, you were excluded. The people in power were known in the 1950s as WASPS - White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

I didn't notice this as much after I moved in 1958 to the Milwaukee area, where the power was held mostly by Germanic and Scandinavian peoples.

And my whole point from the beginning, is that the song "This Land Is Your Land" was never intended to exclude anyone but the wealthy. The people the song is directed to, are working people - and their ancestors were not in the United States at the time the land was conquered and the indigenous peoples exterminated or confined on reservations.

So, Mrr, much as I like you, I have to say that I think your objections to the song are anachronistic. It seems a shame to attack this most inclusive of songs, which says that this wonderful country was made for and by the working people, not the ruling classes.

-Joe Offer-