Day For Decision
Composer(s): Allen N. Peltier
Performer(s): Johnny Sea



The other day I heard someone say 
You know, America is in real trouble
It's true 
Old Glory has never fallen so close to the earth 
Our embassies are being stoned 
Our diplomats are often in fear for their lives 
And we're involved in a half-dozen nameless, winless conflicts
spilling American blood on foreign soil 
Our young men are dying for ideals 
that don't seem to mean too much to Americans anymore

The truth is America's real trouble doesn't lie in the rice paddies of Vietnam 
in the masses of Red China, or in the diabolical intrigues to the south of us 
The real trouble lies in the playgrounds of St. Louis 
the hillside mansions of San Francisco, and in the slums of Chicago 
A disease which is slowly eating away at the heart of America 
lives in the small southern towns, the fishing villages of New England 
and in the hot dusty streets of the midwest

This is the age of the American cynic 
The year of the unbeliever
The day of doubt 
We've killed all the sacred cows and destroyed all the images
And there's nothing left to respect 
Old fashioned love of God, country, and family is passé
We stare at our shoelaces when they play the national anthem 
We wouldn't want to be seen at a political rally or a town hall meeting 
And we don't want to be caught with our eyes closed during public prayers 
We've decided the only way to get into public office is to buy it 
Our heroes are the fast guys who get away with things 
Patriotism, the old hand-over-the-heart 
flag-waving singing patriotism has been condemned 
Think about this 
Patriotism 
When you tear away the fancy phrases and crepe paper, it's plain and simple pride 
I'ts a new car-prettier girl-bigger house sort of pride in country 
Somewhere along the way we've lost it 
Our form of government is the same 
We still say America stands for the same things 
But next time you're at a party, ask someone to sing American the Beautiful 
and see what happens

The basic ideals and structure of America haven't changed 
We have 
You and me 
Our enemies know it 
They've seen the newsreels of the discontented marching around the capitol 
They've distorted and blown up our mistakes 
They've been putting steel wedges in the cracks in our wall of solidarity 
The new idea is: Don't attack America
wear it down gradually till it eventually falls under the weight of its own corruption
And did you know, it's working?

This sneering complacency 
once stamped out by the bloody feet of a tattered Continental Army in 1776 
once drowned beneath the keel of the U.S.S. Arizona in Pearl Harbor Bay
has risen again 
This deadly "Let George do it" attitude lights the way 
for the Vietcong in the swampy jungles of Vietnam 
This "Better red than dead" cancer is more feared by the American soldier 
than all the communist mortar shells 
It kills the vitality and spirit of America 
Democracy is a frail and fragile instrument
Made of hope, prayer, and Yankee ingenuity 
It is held together by a fourth-of-July flag-waving patriotism 
And we've almost exhausted our supply of it 
Try this test 
Lift your eyes to a flag, then sing out as loud as you can 
that old out-worn antiquated freedom hymn you learned so many years ago

For purple mountain majesties 
Above the fruited plain 
America 
America 
God shed His grace on thee 

Now if you feel a little pride welling up inside of you 
if you feel a little mist in your eye 
then, thank God for you, mister, you're still an American!

America, America
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea