1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,560 Speaker 1: The late Great Russian and Ball loved America so much 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: that he couldn't stop talking about it. Rush loved to 3 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:09,719 Speaker 1: see people succeed in life, and he knew that America 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: provided that opportunity more than anyone else in the face 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: of the world throughout history. Rush took his love for 6 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: our country and created a new radio format, and that's 7 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: what I'm in today, a format talking about America. America 8 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: was Russia's passion, and you heard it every time he 9 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: turned on that golden EP microphone. Rush firmly believed in 10 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:37,959 Speaker 1: American exceptionalism, and you could hear that passion in everything 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: he said. 12 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 2: Here's an exam what American exceptionalism is not. It is 13 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 2: not that we are better people. It is not that 14 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 2: we are superior people. It is not that we are 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 2: smarter people. It is not that God loves us and 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 2: hates everybody else. It is not that God prefers us. 17 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 2: It is not that God doesn't prefer anybody else. American 18 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 2: exceptionalism has nothing to do with anything but freedom and liberty. 19 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 2: Here is what American exceptionalism is. By the way, this 20 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 2: is one of the fundamental reasons why I got so 21 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,759 Speaker 2: excited when presented with the idea of writing a book 22 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 2: about the truth of American history in stages and various 23 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 2: elements for young people. My book Rush Revere in the 24 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 2: Brave Pilgrims is all about the exceptionalism of those people. 25 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,639 Speaker 2: So what is it, Well, if you know the history 26 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 2: of the world, read your Bible, read whatever historical account 27 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 2: of humanity you hold the dear, and what you'll read 28 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 2: arout is human tyranny. You'll read of bondage, you'll read 29 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:14,519 Speaker 2: of slavery. The vast majority of the people, the vast 30 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 2: majority of the human beings who have lived and breathed 31 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 2: and walked this planet, have lived under the tyranny of despots. 32 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:31,519 Speaker 2: The vast majority. It isn't even close. The vast majority 33 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 2: of the people of this world since the beginning of 34 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 2: time have never known the kind of liberty and freedom 35 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 2: that's taken for granted every day in this country. Most 36 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 2: people have lived in abject fear of their leaders. Most 37 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 2: people have lived in abject fear of whoever held power 38 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 2: over them. Most people in the world have not had 39 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 2: plentiful axus access to food and clean water. It was 40 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 2: a major daily undertaking for most people to come up 41 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 2: with just those two basic things. Just surviving was the 42 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 2: primary occupation of most people in the world. The history 43 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 2: of the world is dictatorship, tyranny, whatever you want to 44 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 2: call it, subjugation of populations. And then along came the 45 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 2: United States of America. Pilgrims were the first to come 46 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 2: here seeking freedom from all of that. They were oppressed 47 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 2: because of their religion. They were told they had to 48 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 2: believe in the King and his God, whatever it was, 49 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 2: or they would be imprisoned. They led an exodus from 50 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 2: Europe to this country of people of the same. 51 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 3: Mindset. 52 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:20,919 Speaker 2: They simply wanted to escape the tyranny of their ordinary lives. 53 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 2: This country was founded for the first time in human history, 54 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 2: a government and country was founded on the belief that 55 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 2: leaders serve the population. This country the first in history. 56 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 4: And this is the exception ex cept except the exception 57 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 4: to the rule is what American exceptionalism is. And because 58 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 4: of this liberty and freedom that our country exists, because 59 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 4: the founders recognized it comes from God. 60 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 2: It's part of the the natural yearning of the human spirit. 61 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 2: It is not granted by a government. It's not granted 62 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: by Putin, It's not granted by Obama or any other 63 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 2: human being. We are created with the natural yearning to 64 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 2: be free, and it is other men and leaders throughout 65 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 2: human history who have suppressed that and imprisoned people for 66 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 2: seeking it. The US is the first time in the 67 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 2: history of the world where a government was organized with 68 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 2: a constitution laying out the rules that the individual was 69 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 2: supreme dominant, and that is what led to the US 70 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 2: becoming the greatest country ever because it unleashed people to 71 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 2: be the best they could be, unlike it had ever happened. 72 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 2: That's American exceptionalism. With his finger on the pulse, the 73 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 2: King of Team continues on The Michael Berry Show. 74 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,040 Speaker 1: You cannot have a show about the love of America 75 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 1: without including Mona Reagan. Reagan gave many great speeches in 76 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: his eight years as president, and I'd be just as 77 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,359 Speaker 1: happy played and every single one of you. But we 78 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: chose this address to the nation July fourth, nineteen eighty six. 79 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 3: By fellow Americans. 80 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 5: In a few moments, the celebrations will begin here in 81 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 5: New York Harbor. 82 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:14,679 Speaker 3: If you're going to be quiet a show. 83 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 5: I was just looking over the preparations and thinking about it, 84 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 5: saying that we had beckon Hollywood about never doing a 85 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 5: scene with kids or animals, but they'd steal the scene 86 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 5: every time. 87 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 3: So you can rest assured. I wouldn't even think about 88 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 3: trying to compete. 89 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 5: For the Firewars display, especially on the fourth of July. 90 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 5: My remarks tonight will be brief, but it's worth remembering 91 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 5: that all the celebration of this day is rooted in history. 92 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 5: It's recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence were 93 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 5: signed in Philadelphia, celebrations took place throughout the land, and 94 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 5: many of the former colonists, they were just starting to 95 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 5: call them sell to Americans, set off cannons and marched in. 96 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 3: Fife and drum parades. 97 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 5: What a contrast with the sober scene that is taken 98 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 5: place a short time earlier in Independence Hall, fifty six 99 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 5: men came forward to. 100 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 3: Sign the partment. It was noted at the time. 101 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 5: That they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. 102 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 3: And that was more than rhetoric. 103 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 5: Each of those men knew the penalty for high treaty 104 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 5: for the crown. We must all hang together, Benjamin Franklin said, 105 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 5: or assuredly, we will all hang separately. And John Hancock, 106 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 5: it is said, wrote his signature in a large script 107 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 5: so King George could see it without his facts. 108 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 3: They were brave. 109 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 5: They stayed bray through all the bloodshed of the coming years. 110 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 5: Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim 111 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 5: to human dignity, on the proposition that every man. 112 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 3: Woman and child had a right to a future of freedom. 113 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 5: For just a moment, let us listen to the words again. 114 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 5: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all 115 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 5: men are created evil if they are endowed by their 116 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 5: creative with certain unalienable rights, that among these our life, liberty, 117 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 5: and the pursuit of happiness. Last night, when we rededicated 118 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 5: Miss Liberty and relive her torch, we reflected on all 119 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 5: the millions who came here in search of the dream 120 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 5: of freedom inaugurated in an independence hall. We reflected too, 121 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 5: on their courage and becoming great distances and settling in 122 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 5: a foreign land, and men passing on to their children 123 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 5: and their children's children. The hope symbolized in this statue 124 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 5: here just behind us, the hope that is America. It 125 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 5: is a hope that someday every people in every nation 126 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 5: of the world will know the blessings of the liberty. 127 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 3: And it's the hope of millions all around the world. 128 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 3: In the last few years. 129 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 5: I've spoken in Westminster to the mother of Parliaments, at Versailles, 130 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 5: where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace. 131 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 5: I bit of the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace 132 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 5: in Japan, in the ancient city of Beijing. I've seen 133 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 5: the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys 134 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 5: at Guanta Hope long ago sailed the heights, and with 135 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 5: at that time Lisa Zanetta Hen who was at Omaha 136 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 5: Beach for the father she loved, the father who had 137 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 5: once dreamed of seeing again the place where he and 138 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 5: so many brave brothers had landed on d Day, And 139 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 5: he had died before he could make that trick, and 140 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 5: she made it for him and Dad. 141 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 3: She said, I'll always be proud. 142 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 5: And I've seen the successors to these brave men, the 143 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 5: young Americans in uniform all over the world, young Americans 144 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 5: like you here tonight, the man the mighty Uss Kennedy, 145 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 5: and the Iowa and the other ships of the line. 146 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 3: I can assure you you out there who. 147 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 5: Were listening to these these young people are like their 148 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 5: fathers and their grandfathers, just as with a just as brave, 149 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 5: and we can be just as proud. But our prayer 150 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 5: tonight is that the call or their courage will never come, 151 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 5: and that it's important for us too to be brave. 152 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 5: Not so much the bravery of the battle view, I 153 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 5: mean the bravery of brotherhood. All through our history, our 154 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,680 Speaker 5: presidents and leaders have spoken of the national unity and 155 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,079 Speaker 5: warned us that the real obstacle to moving forward the 156 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:21,120 Speaker 5: boundaries of freedom. 157 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 3: The only permanent danger of the. 158 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 5: Hope that is America comes from within. It's easy enough 159 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 5: to dismiss, they said, a kind of familiar exhortation. 160 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 3: Yet the truth is that even too of our greatest 161 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 3: founding fathers. 162 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 5: John Adams and Towns Jefferson, once learned there's less late 163 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 5: in life. They worked so closely together in Philadelphia for independence, 164 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,959 Speaker 5: but once that was game and a government was formed, 165 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 5: something called partisan politics began to get in the way. 166 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 5: After a bitter and devisive campaign, Jefferson defeated Adams for 167 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 5: the presidency in eighteen hundred and the night before Jefferson's inauguration, 168 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 5: Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed, broken hearted, and bitter. 169 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 5: For years there estrangement lasted, But then when both had retired, 170 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 5: Jefferson at sixty eight to Monticello and Adams at seventy 171 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 5: six to Quincy. They began, through their letters to seek 172 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 5: again to each other, letters that discussed almost every conceivable subject, gardening, 173 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 5: horseback riding, even sneezing as a cure for higgos, but 174 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 5: other subjects as well, the loss of loved with us, 175 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 5: the mystery of grief and sorrow, the importance of religion, 176 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 5: and of course the last thaught us the final hopes. 177 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 5: Two old men, two great patriarchs, for the country that 178 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 5: they had helped to found and loved sovietly. 179 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 3: It carries me back. 180 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 5: Jefferson wrote about correspondence with his co signer of the 181 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:56,359 Speaker 5: Declaration of Independence, to the times when beset with difficulties 182 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 5: and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, 183 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 5: struggling for what is most valuable to man, has right 184 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 5: to self cover, laboring always at the same or with 185 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 5: some wave. Ever they had threatened to overwhelmess, and yet 186 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:12,679 Speaker 5: passing armless, we. 187 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 3: Rode through the storm to the heart. 188 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 5: On the hand, it was their last gift to us, 189 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 5: this lesson in brotherhood, the intolerance for each other. It's 190 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,680 Speaker 5: the inside of the America's shrimp as an issue, and 191 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 5: when both died on the same day, within hours of 192 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:35,600 Speaker 5: each other. That date was July fourth, fifty years exactly 193 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 5: at the first gift to us, the Declaration. 194 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 3: Of the Independence. 195 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 5: And fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith 196 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:48,080 Speaker 5: with them, and all the great Americans are past. Believe me, 197 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 5: if there's one impression I carry with me after the 198 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 5: privilege of holding for five and a half years the 199 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:59,320 Speaker 5: office held by Adams Jefferson Thincoln, it is this that 200 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,719 Speaker 5: the things that unite us, America's past of which we're 201 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 5: so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of 202 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 5: the world, and it is much love of country, these 203 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:10,760 Speaker 5: things far out. 204 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 3: Away, what little divides a right. 205 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 5: So tonight we are for reaffirm that jew and gentile, 206 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 5: we are one nation under God, black and white, we 207 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 5: are one nation any divisible, that Republican and Democrat, we 208 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 5: are all Americans tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever 209 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 5: trial and the travail, we pledge ourselves to each other 210 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 5: and at the cause of a human freedom, the cause 211 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 5: that is given a light to this land and hope 212 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 5: to the whole world. 213 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 3: I thought of Americans. We're known around the world as 214 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 3: a confident and a happy people. 215 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 5: Tonight, there's much to celebrate and many blessings to be 216 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 5: grateful for. So the lot was good to talk about 217 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 5: serious things is just as important. 218 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 3: And just as American people need to. 219 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 2: Make informed decisions. 220 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 6: And you're giving him the into, Michael Berry because you're 221 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 6: a public Paul Revere kind of ringing the warning. 222 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 3: It is July fourth. 223 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,359 Speaker 1: We're reminded that Johnny Cash wrote a song about patriotism 224 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: as the Vietnam War was coming to an end. Johnny 225 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: wrote this song about the Stars and Stripes in the 226 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: midst of Watergate. Johnny Cash wrote that Ragged Old Flag 227 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: at a time when patriotism was at an all time low. 228 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: We've played this song for you a lot on this program. 229 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: It's one of our favorites. Ramono loaves that I love it. 230 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: Our whole team loves it. What I'd like to play 231 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: today is something a little different. It's an excerpt of 232 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: Johnny Cash from the Ralph Emery Show. Ralph Emory asked 233 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: Johnny about his thoughts on the freedom to burn the flag, 234 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: and Johnny Cash did not parse words on the subject, 235 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: and then he recited that Ragged old flag. Something beautiful 236 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: about Johnny Cash, his cadence in his baritone voice reciting 237 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: it without what you're used to is the musical accompaniment, 238 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: just the words Chile. 239 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 7: How do you feel about burning the flag? You feel 240 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 7: like we should have a law against burning the flag? 241 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 7: And I remember if you will. 242 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I do. When I see somebody hear about 243 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 6: burning the flag, I think about the time that June 244 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 6: and I went to Vietnam in nineteen sixty nine and 245 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 6: saw the burning flesh the boys coming in from the 246 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 6: helicopters on the stretchers with the flesh burn falling off 247 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 6: from the napalm on them, on their bodies, and you 248 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 6: never forget the smell of that. But anyway, back to 249 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 6: the flag, I think I think of that whether we 250 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 6: were you know, whether the Vietnam War was right or not, 251 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 6: there are a lot of people sacrifice their lives for 252 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 6: it and their time and their brains, and whether or 253 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 6: not we were right in being there when we went 254 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 6: to t that wasn't the issue. It's that Americans were 255 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 6: there dying for me and uh and dying for that flag. 256 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 6: So I crazy, you know, I think if you want 257 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 6: to burn the American flag, you ought to take it 258 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 6: to Iran. But I still cherish those freedoms, you know, 259 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 6: like I can play I gay. If I got a 260 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 6: week off next week, I can go and do anything 261 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 6: I want to in this United States. Uh, And there's 262 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 6: not many countries you can do that in. And I 263 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,120 Speaker 6: cherish you all of the freedoms that we got, including 264 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 6: the freedom the right to burn the flag, but also 265 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 6: got the right to bear arms. And if you burn line, 266 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 6: I'll shoot you. 267 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 3: Chin. 268 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 7: You wrote a song once, and I think you may 269 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 7: have written it while you were in the Air Force, 270 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:22,199 Speaker 7: called Ragged Old Flag. 271 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 3: No. 272 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 6: I wrote that in nineteen seventy five. Did you in Binghamton, 273 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 6: New York? I saw you do it. 274 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 7: On the fourth of July several years ago at Myrtle Beach, 275 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,200 Speaker 7: South Carolina. Could you do it for us right now. 276 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:48,479 Speaker 6: Ragged old Flag. I walked through a county courthouse square 277 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 6: and on a park bench, you old man was sitting there. 278 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 6: I said, your old courthouse is kind of run down. 279 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:01,160 Speaker 6: He said, oh, that'll do for our little town. I said, 280 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,679 Speaker 6: your old flagpoles kind of leaned a little bit, and 281 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 6: I said, ragged old flag you got hanging on it? 282 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 6: He said, have a seat, and I said, down, says, 283 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 6: first time you've come to our little town. I said, 284 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 6: I think it is. He said, I don't like the brag, 285 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 6: but we're kind of proud. 286 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 3: Of that ragged old flag. 287 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 6: You see. We got a little hole in that flag 288 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 6: there when Washington took it across the Delaware and it 289 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:33,919 Speaker 6: got powder burned. The Knight Francis Scott Key set up 290 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 6: watching it right and say, can you see got a 291 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 6: little rip in New Orleans with Packingham and Jackson tugging 292 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 6: at it seems it almost fell at the Alamo beside 293 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:52,360 Speaker 6: the Texas flag, but she waved on, though it got 294 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,680 Speaker 6: cut with the sword. That Chancellor's fell got cut again. 295 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 6: At Shiloh Hill there was Robert D. Lee bore a 296 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,359 Speaker 6: guard and brag, and the south wind blew hard on 297 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 6: that ragged old flag. On Flanders Field. In World War 298 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:14,919 Speaker 6: One she took a bad hit from Aberthica. She turned 299 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 6: blood red. In World War Two she hung limp and low. 300 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 6: Of the time that one was through. She was in Korea, Vietnam. 301 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 6: She went where she was sent by Uncle Sam. The 302 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:32,480 Speaker 6: Native American Indians, the Blacks, the Yellow, the white. 303 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 3: All she had red. 304 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 6: Blood for the stars and strifes, and in her own 305 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:43,679 Speaker 6: good land. Here she's been abused, she's been burned, dishonored, denied, refused, 306 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 6: and the very government for which she stands is scandalized 307 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 6: throughout the land. And she's getting threadbare, she's wearing kind 308 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 6: of thin. But she's in good sheep for the sheep 309 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 6: she's in because she's been through the fire before, and 310 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 6: she can take a whole lot more. So we raise 311 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 6: her up every morning, and we bring her down slowly 312 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 6: every night. We don't let her touch the ground. 313 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 3: And we fold her upright. 314 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 6: On second thought, I guess I do like the drag, 315 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 6: because I'm mighty proud of that ragged old flag.