Manifest Destiny
Repeat After Me Children,
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
1st to break it down into its component parts:
“Manifest”-(noun/adjective/verb)
Manifest means laid out plainly for all to see
Wanna see what's going on, on a ship you look in the big old book where they keep the records it's called the "manifest."
Also, when people believe in magic or religion
And they want something to happen and it does
That's also called "manifest."
As in, "Praise the Lord, just when I thought I was going to starve, Sheila manifested this here dead opossum, so now we'se eatin' good."
“Manifest.”
"Destiny"-(noun)
Destiny means what is supposed to happen in your life
The road ahead, your fate.
Again, people who believe in magic
Or religion
(for they are the same thing-
And the concept of destiny is very much a matter of magic or religion)
To those folk destiny is like
God
Set up a set of hurdles for you to fall into or fly over
A string of dominoes
Laid out to you're infinity
Waiting for you to stumble through the gate
To tumble the pegs in their pre-set directions
All worked out before you even get there
You're really not to blame, you see?
For how you live
Or the good or bad that happens
Such issues are not really in your power at all.
It's all god's will
No, no
Don't question it
God's will, got it? God it?
Good
Manifest + Destiny, Manifest Destiny
Sounds beautiful, doesn't it?
Now here's what it means,
You ready?
Once upon a time
This land where we are now standing
Was a Deer's
An Antelope's
A Mammoth's
You know, they hugged, they played
And not wanting to toss out a discouraging word here
But you know some men eventually came around killed 'em.
Those men
Red men, long ago men
Believed the animals were there for their taking
They believed it was part of the gods wills
It was their destiny to live
It was the animals destiny to die
And the gods manifested this or that
Or he did or did not
And they lived that way for ten thousand years
Till,
Some newer men came
Chasing gold and
Were willing to be gory
And they came and brought their own vengeful god with them
They came aiming to manifest some gold and some glory
And claim it all in the name of some god
And then the men who followed them
Were ready to kill anybody for their god
And kill they did
It was their destiny
It was manifest
It was plain to see
The land was there for the taking
And to reassure themselves
The dying and the suffering
Were of no consequence
In 1845, they even coined a phrase for it,
Manifest Destiny
They codified it, they defanged it, it wasn't even killing anymore
Just Manifest Destiny
And then they threw a war
So, what is Manifest Destiny?
Well,
Say it with me children
(Here comes the definition)
Manifest Destiny.
Manifest Destiny.
Manifest Destiny
Is
The belief that
God
Intended
For the United States to stretch from sea to shining sea
If there was an Indian in the way
Kill him.
If there was a country in the way
Go to war.
That's what happened with Mexico, you know?
You know that all this-
Used to be Mexico
We took half of the country,
Half.
Just took it.
Thousands dead
Left in the cactus
Carnage from coast to coast
The red land
Of the white man
Between the two seas of blue
Manifest Destiny, American as the flag
Not our fault.
Couldn't be helped,
Had to be done
Manifest Destiny
Wasn't really murder, wasn't really stealing
Just Manifest Destiny
No way around it
God's will, Manifest Destiny.
Tough break Indian
Shouldn't've been in the way, Mexico
Nothing personal
Just takin' care of business
We got god's work to do
From sea to shining sea.
(1/30/09, 3/10/09, 4/29/09)
