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Length
4:33
Sufjan Stevens on 'All Good Naysayers, Speakup! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!' :
Is it our job to deliver justice to the world? Is it our work to make appeals, to holler, to raise our banners, our megaphones and microphones and propaganda posters? Well, yes. At the very least, Americans are entitled to their opinions, however unfavorable, unlikable, untrustworthy, or unsound. Something must come of all this kicking and yelling and genuflecting!
Where are the naysayers, the go-getters, the antagonizers, the productive organizers? Where are the housewives and the church custodians and the street sweepers and the bathroom cleaners? These people, all of you, take up your seat on the platform that looks over the panorama of the entire world. This is your world, your nation, your community of workers!
What is the goal of democracy but to engage the pronunciations of the people? Our platform is the one of service — in all things, for all practical purposes, we regard the world as worthy of our care. Did we forget we are the Good Stewards. We are the farmers, the market makers, the businessmen, the astronauts, the dressmakers, the bakers, the bus drivers, the foreign students, the sick-in-bed. All of us, putting one and one together, each word attached to the next, in one gregarious sentence meant to pronounce all things worthy of our love and our service! Take up your flags and your posters and your folded flyers! The streets are waiting for your parades.
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