Rod MacDonald on 4th of July weekend

"Sacrifice"   

© 2003 rod macdonald (blue flute/ascap)

From "Tale of Two Americas" release

Here's MacDonald performing "Sacrifice" (song 11)

I'm just as patriotic as the next guy
I love my country, want to look after my family
and I understand that freedom isn't always free
no you sometimes have to sacrifice
to fight for what you believe in
and I believe in freedom, toleration, peace and liberty

ah but those who say you have to go and fight
never send their own to battle, it's always someone else's sacrifice
that makes the system go
as long as there's enough poverty
there'll be volunteers for the military
while the ones who run the show sit back and watch their millions grow

and sacrifice the young to feed the old
sacrifice the hot to serve the cold
sacrifice the patriotic for the gold
sacrifice the truth for the story being told
i'm all right, i'm just looking through the eyes
of my patriotic heart

I'm just as angry as the next guy
I don't want to see suicide bombers over me
or breathe toxic microfibers in the hall
so they tell you to strike first
before the other guy can hurt you
what if the other guy was never going to strike you at all

ah but then it all gets marketed like a movie
some great adventure across the world, some documentary
and compared to wars in history fought for real causes
against slavery, tyranny, 
extermination camps
how could there ever be enough oil wells to justify the losses?

iIm just as likely as the next guy
to drive the kids to school or heat the house with fuel
but it makes for strange relations with the world
to suck up to the countries
that sell it to us cheap
while their people hate us and want to kill us in our sleep

and now no one is afraid to bomb civilians
from so high above the soil you can't even see the oil
or alone in marketplaces with bombs strapped on their chests 
one side kills the other in return for killing them
til you look on the down the road, time and time again
all you do is is sacrifice the future for the past