The Founder

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.


(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.


(It never was America to me.)

(...)

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!