Iris DeMent - Wasteland Of The Free lyrics

Living in the wasteland of the free... We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines And their speech is growing increasingly unkind They say they are Christ's disciples But they don't look like Jesus to me And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We got politicians running races on corporate cash Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' a** You may call me old-fashioned But that don't fit my picture of a true democracy And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay But they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage And If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job To some third-world country 'cross the sea And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free Where the poor have now become the enemy Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy Living in the wasteland of the free We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors And we call ourselves the advanced civilization That sounds like crap to me And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess Who cannot pa** a sixth-grade reading test But if you ask them, they can tell you The name of every crotch on mTV And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free We k** for oil, then we throw a party when we win Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin But he's standing up for what he believes in And that seems pretty damned American to me And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free Where the poor have now become the enemy Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy Living in the wasteland of the free While we sit gloating in our greatness Justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea Living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free Living in the wasteland of the free