I said enough about my own country’s shameful actions and disgust on July 1st that I was planning to leave the US holiday alone.  But since others are talking. . .

Red Rider’s second album “As Far As Siam” was released on June 30, 1981, turning forty last week.  The song “Lunatic Fringe” is an FM radio classic, written about the rise of rightwing extremism in the US, the “religious right and moral majority”.  Both of which were neither.

Lunatic fringe
I know you're out there
You're in hiding
And you hold your meetings

I can hear you coming
I know what you're after
We're wise to you this time
We won't let you kill the laughter

Lunatic fringe
In the twilight's last gleaming
This is open season
But you won't get too far

'Cause you got to blame someone
For your own confusion
We're on guard this time (on guard this time)
Against your Final Solution

We can hear you coming
No, you're not going to win this time
We can hear the footsteps
Out along the walkway

Lunatic fringe
We all know you're out there
Can you feel the resistance?
Can you feel the thunder?

Rush’s second album “Fly By Night” came out in February 1975.  “Beneath, Between & Behind” were the first lyrics Neil Peart wrote for the band.  It was written months after the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation.

Ten score years ago
Defeat the kingly foe
A wondrous dream came into being
Tame the trackless waste
No virgin land left chaste
All shining eyes, but never seeing

          Beneath the noble bird
          Between the proudest words
          Behind the beauty, cracks appear
          Once with heads held high
          They sang out to the sky
          Why do their shadows bow in fear?

Watch the cities rise
Another ship arrives
Earth's melting pot and ever growing
Fantastic dreams come true
Inventing something new
The greatest minds were never knowing

          Beneath the noble bird
          Between the proudest words
          Behind the beauty, cracks appear
          Once with heads held high
          They sang out to the sky
          Why do their shadows bow in fear?

The guns replace the plow
Façades are tarnished now
The principles have been betrayed
The dream's gone stale
But still let hope prevail
History's debt won't be repaid

          Beneath the noble bird
          Between the proudest words
          Behind the beauty, cracks appear
          Once with heads held high
          They sang out to the sky
          Why do their shadows bow in fear?