State of the Union

It’s January, time for the American President to speak to the nation about the current state of our affairs. Sure, things have been a bit sketchy for the past… well, for a while now, but I have great hope that my country will not only recover but shine greater than it ever has.

Of course, the only way this will happen is if the people of this nation act like a nation, not a preschool playground. While the President can’t fix everything, there are certain things he (or she) is capable of.

(Yeah, I know a lot of you aren’t Americans, but I am‚Ķ and certainly you can appreciate the sentiments here.)

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State of the Union – 5.5MB MP3
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Remix This Song

Anybody can grab the instrumental version of this song and write their own letter to the President. Anyone who posts their audio letters to YouTube will be featured on Matthew Ebel’s website! If you’d like to use this music, please do the following:

1. Record your own letter to the President on top of this music using your own software.
2. Only positive letters will be featured on matthewebel.com, nothing negative. Doesn’t have to be positive about the President, just positive in general.
3. Film yourself reading your letter to the President, or use photos or videos of your favorite parts of the USA and turn them into a video.
4. Make sure you put “State of the Union by Matthew Ebel, Used With Permission” and “www.matthewebel.net” in the video for at least 3 seconds.
5. Put “https://matthewebel.net” or “https://matthewebel.net/SoU” in the first line of the video’s description (that’s what I’ll be searching for, so that’s how I’ll find your video).
6. Spread the word!

State of the Union Remix – 5.5MB MP3
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Photo by Tim Pierce, Los Gatos

Lyrics:

A letter to the President of the United States of America:

Dear Mr. President-

I am an American Citizen.

Whether I voted for you or not is irrelevant; I am your boss. Your job is to serve my interests and the interests of hundreds of millions of people just like me. We did not elect you because we think everything is fine the way it is. We are your bosses, but we expect you to lead.

We want you to lead us, not Congress. Furthermore, we want you to lead us, not Congress. We are a nation of capable people and the last thing we want is to rely on career politicians to do all of our work. You were elected on the promises of hope and change, but you made it clear that it would be our responsibility to make that change happen.

We don’t want legislation, we want leadership. Tell us what we as individuals can do and we will make this country better. You are charismatic, grounded, and intelligent. You have a power to lead that should not be wasted on cynical politicians and pundits. We are the people of the United States of America and we remember what you told us time and time again:

Yes we can:
We can change the way this world thinks- the way it hopes and the way it dreams.
Yes we can:
We can treat each other like brothers and sisters, not red and blue thumbtacks on a campaign map.
Yes we can:
We can leave this world in a better shape than how we found it, because it is the right thing to do.
Yes we can.

And furthermore:

We know you are not God. You cannot snap your fingers and make all the parts of this symphony play in tune. Our nation’s founders never wanted it to be that way, remember? We, the people, have the power.

We do not elect kings or corporations, we elect servants. We own guns because our founders wrested this nation from the tyranny of their own government. We cope with great adversity because we have the power.

We are not perfect. Left to our own devices, we bought cars that are poisoning us and handing our money to foreign dictators. We spend our money on disposable junk instead of things built for a lifetime. We propped our futures up on houses we couldn’t afford, worrying about things like gay marriage or Freedom Fries instead of the hole opening up underneath us.

It may look like we’ve fallen asleep at the wheel, but we have the power to change. We expect you to remind us on a daily basis:

Yes we can:
We are the architects of our own future and we want you to help us build it.
Yes we can:
We are hard workers, men and women of exceptional courage and strength.
Yes we can:
We are not helpless. We are the unstoppable people of the United States of America, and we expect you to live up to one simple expectation:
Yes we can.

With respect,
Matthew Ebel