The following is a guest post by Tobin Fraley.

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I would like to thank this blog’s host, Jerry, for allowing me to usurp his daily offering by giving me an opportunity to discuss a song I feel is of particular consequence in today’s atmosphere of hatred, blame, and violence, violence both real and threatened.

Over the past number of years, and in particular on January 6th of this year, we have been witness to a rise in sociopathic behavior culminating in acts of violence in places like Charlottesville, Washington DC and many other venues around the nation. The perpetrators of this kind of activity pray to their own version of a god, swear allegiance to a Constitution they most likely have not read, and wave the American flag without a clue as to what it stands for. Some call for the overthrow of a duly elected government while others believe in conspiracies that should only exist in poorly written fantasy novels. Still others, including actual members of Congress, have supported the call for the execution of elected officials sitting across the aisle.

When many of us read about these people or hear about them on our televisions, there emerges an incredulity, a sense of the incomprehensible that this kind of political nightmare cannot possibly be happening in our nation, in the present day, at this moment when it seems we are in a general age of enlightenment. Yet here we are. The seditionists are not play acting, as much as it may seem when we are shown images of a face painted Viking wannabe. They killed one police officer and had they been given carte blanche, they would have gladly killed many others.

None of this is new to anyone who pays even partial attention to what is going on in our country, but it is the perspective of how this fits within the notion of our history that matters. The old saying is: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” This quote is credited to philosopher George Santayana and is nice enough, though somewhat inaccurate. No part of history will ever be identically repeated since times change, ideas change, and people change, but there are certainly similarities we can learn from.

One aspect of human behavior that does repeat is the fact that madmen rise to power, believing they have all the answers and that providence has chosen them to wield authority. This has proven to be fairly consistent since the dawn of so-called civilization. The names of Putin, Erdogan, Cici, Xi, Trump, along with the newly self-anointed heads of Myanmar and many, many others are those who are currently holding forth as unchallengeable and supposedly omniscient leaders. These types of dictators have emerged over and over again since time immemorial and they always fail. Sometimes it takes a while, but inevitably they sink into the annals of historic failures who only brought pain and misery to the citizens of their own countries.

When faced with this modern day insanity, I seek out respite. At times it is in the understanding that this is nothing new, that we as a species have survived this nonsense in the past, though it was through sacrifice and hard work. Which brings me to a song heard again this morning. Since their first album arrived in 1963, I have been a devoted fan of Peter, Paul, & Mary. When I listened to Wasn’t That A Time, I realized this could have been written yesterday about what we are experiencing today. The cowriter of this song, Lee Hays, was a member of the amazing group, The Weavers, which had been greatly influenced by Woody Guthrie and were the first to record this song.

With that I offer you now is the Peter, Paul & Mary version that I can’t get through without tearing up. Thank you again, Jerry, for this opportunity.

Wasn’t That A Time

Our fathers bled at Valley Forge
The snow was red with blood
Their faith was worn at Valley Forge
Their faith was brotherhood
Wasn’t that a time, wasn’t that a time?
A time to try the soul of men