Ohio

Originally issued on Atlantic 2740. The B side, "Long Time Comin'" was originally issued as the B side of Atlantic 2676 (the A side was "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"). This is a copy of the gold/black Atlantic Oldies reissue, in its factory sleeve. Note: The audio is Near Mint, and would grade Mint except for a handful of light "pops" near the beginning of the track. Have a listen to the mp3 snippet to see what I mean: After Neil starts singing, the audio sounds pristine.

Rant Warning: I had a very strong emotional reaction on listening to this powerful recording again today, and I wanted to share some thoughts that it brought to mind. "Ohio" is a song about the tragic death of four students at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970 at the hands of National Guard troops ostensibly sworn to protect the population. The people today who worry about government "over-reach" and intrusion into our lives may have forgotten what happened in this country in 1970 under a Republican President. That President, Richard Nixon, actually ordered our National Guard troops to fire on student protesters on the Kent State campus. I mean to ask my two grown sons if they taught this actual act of Federal intrusion into our personal lives in their American history classes. We musn't forget that tragedy, and how much better the country is today in so many ways than it was in 1970. It was Richard Nixon's over-reach into the realm of executive dictator and subsequent fall in the Watergate scandal, plus the release of the Pentagon Papers, that opened peoples' eyes into what we didn't want our Government to look like. I wonder if the people who worry about Obama's "over-reach" into their lives really understand what over-reach means. I can't think of a single thing Obama has done that has involved breaking the law or killing innocent American civilians. Especially nothing that intrudes into my personal life. Richard Nixon is the reason we are so suspicious of Government today — he actually broke the law in many ways, and was fortunately ultimately brought to task.

But since Watergate, Kent State, and the illegal and unethical behavior of our military during the Vietnam War, U.S. citizens have naturally grown more suspicious of the Federal Government. Some of that suspicion is a good thing, but when people begin to see over-reach where none exists, where what in fact exists is a steadily shrinking Federal Government that no longer has the funds to do its jobs well and that certainly can no longer be the force for good that (some of) our Founding Fathers believed it could and should be, the suspicion has gone too far. If you believe Government can do nothing good, you certainly shouldn't be elected to Congress, where all you will do is ensure that it can't do anything at all and hopefully less than what it is already doing.

Some people don't remember how bad the air and water quality used to be in this country, and they take the work of the EPA for granted, or worse, think the EPA is somehow bad. We have problems today that require new Federal leadership, but that requires money. And Republicans seem to pride themselves in an ill-conceived pledge to never raise taxes or fees, or in fact to allow any increase in the revenue stream for the Federal Government. With funds shrinking, how can the Federal Government possibly do any of the things we as a people aspire to: Space exploration, improved transportation systems, better education for our children (it will require higher teacher salaries, folks), energy independence and reduction of carbon emissions, higher wages for the 90% of the population that hasn't had a pay increase in more than a decade, smarter investments in research in health and emerging technologies, figuring out how as a nation of immigrants we can better process the people who want to come here and the millions who have made lives here illegally, recognizing that many of our parents' families were once in the same boat.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just think some Americans today don't remember how truly bad the country once was: We had segregation in restaurants, buses, and schools. We had bad air and water. We had a nonexistent National transportation system; I'm old enough to remember the excitement as each new branch of the Interstate Highway system was added. It improved the lives of millions, but it required citizens' willingness to be taxed to pay for such improvements. We had health epidemics that would make peoples' reaction to last year's Ebola scare seem like that of children. We had products that could be labeled however the selling company saw fit, with no standards for how and what ingredients need to be included on the labels. Advertisers could make whatever claims they desired about their products, with no one championing the rights of consumers to know truth from fiction about the products they want to buy. The Federal government has been a force for good in the past, and it can be so again. After all, we are the Government. "Of the People, by the People, for the People" is what our Government is supposed to be and should strive to be. When it succeeds — and this requires adequate funding and staffing of the best and brightest — it can really change the lives of everyone for the better. It also requires sending to Congress people who are dedicated to improving the Government, not tearing it down. Just don't forget Kent State. We never want to go there again.

Please accept my apologies if I've offended you... I'm just trying to get my personal thoughts down, and they may be different from yours.