\u201cA lot of the core of our songs is the American idea,\u201d Springsteen once said. \u201cWhat is it? What does it mean?\u201d And when he convenes his flock, he rises above the daily trench warfare of politics and asks older questions about duty and belonging.<\/p>\n
Before the preacher took the stage, I found myself at a pre-game reception alongside many political and civic machers. There, the conversation ranged from an argument over Ken Martin\u2019s leadership of the Democratic National Committee to handwringing over the rise of performative progressives like Chris Rabb<\/a> on the ballot to the Trump administration\u2019s war on the rule of law. A lot of head-shaking and sighing.<\/p>\n The \u201cgreatest challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence.\u201d \u2014 Bruce Springsteen<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until Springsteen unveiled his three-hour plus argument that I realized we\u2019d all been talking tactics, not values. For a decade now, the political and media elite has struggled with how to respond to Trumpism. Think of the many permutations of Gavin Newsom: Crusading young progressive<\/a>; social media provocateur<\/a>; aisle-crossing consensus-builder.<\/a>\u00a0The newest Newsom has lectured Democrats to \u201cbe more culturally normal,<\/a>\u201d but it\u2019s not normal to not know who you are at your core \u2014 an affliction deeply wounding Democrats as a whole right now.<\/p>\n Contrast Newsom\u2019s Goldilocks approach to the moral clarity of Springsteen. He took the stage not as a strategist but as a prophet, delivering a blunt assessment of the national moment before launching into song:<\/p>\n The E Street Band is here tonight in celebration and defense of the American ideals and values that have sustained our country for 250 years. We are here to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in these troubled times. Our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration.<\/p>\n So, tonight, we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war.<\/p>\n Those words generated headlines, but the headlines missed what came next. Having made the critique, Springsteen pivoted to solution: a rousing defense of enduring American values. Fist raised, he called out each one, and his crowd responded with a rising crescendo of applause:<\/p>\n Honesty. Honor. Humility. Character. Integrity. Truth. Compassion. Humanity. Thoughtfulness. Morality. True strength and decency. Don\u2019t let anybody tell you that these things don\u2019t matter anymore because they do. They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we want to be, the kind of country we want to leave to our children.<\/p>\n This was less politicking than civic catechism. \u201cHe\u2019s, like, the only person in public life meeting this moment,\u201d my friend Dan said while the Boss held forth. How about this closing argument, just before a cover of Dylan\u2019s Chimes of Freedom:<\/p>\n Yes, these are hard times, but the E Street Band was built for hard times. And we will make it through because of the love, faith, anger, and hope in your heart and soul, and the timeless belief that better days lie ahead. This is how America renews itself.<\/p>\n The hardest part for me has been feeling the distance between you and your neighbors, between you and your fellow citizens. That distance is painful and it can darken your soul.<\/p>\n We have a president who says he wishes nothing but ill upon those who he disagrees with. That\u2019s not the country I want to live in. From the beginning, America was born out of disagreement. It\u2019s an argument. It\u2019s an ongoing, blessed, sacred argument about what course the country should take to form that more perfect union. We can argue about these things and still recognize our common humanity, our dignity, and our unity. <\/p>\n These are not partisan messages; they\u2019re civic ones. In an era when nearly every public figure seems trapped inside an algorithm, Springsteen remains defiantly analog. He speaks in stories. He appeals to conscience. He asks audiences not merely what they believe but who they want to be.<\/p>\n While Springsteen rocked, rolled and pontificated, the crowd cheered every call from the stage, in song or spoken word, to choose commonality. It was an overwhelmingly White crowd, gyrating to songs that told stories of immigrants saved by their American dreams, delivered by what has long been the most diverse rock band in history. And the argument was as carefully constructed as any inaugural address.<\/p>\n Springsteen introduced his recent ICE-inspired protest song The Streets of Minnesota by saying, \u201cThe power and solidarity of the people of Minnesota was an inspiration to the entire country. They stood shoulder to shoulder for their neighbor. Their strength and their commitment told us that this is still America,\u201d and then he played it, movingly, while the photos of Ren\u00e9e Good and Alex Pretti, citizens killed by ICE agents, stared at the crowd from the venue\u2019s giant video screens. Tellingly, the Boss followed in short order with classics like Badlands, and its reminder that \u201cIt ain\u2019t no sin to be glad you\u2019re alive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will make it through because of the love, faith, anger, and hope in your heart and soul, and the timeless belief that better days lie ahead. This is how America renews itself.\u201d \u2014 Springsteen<\/p>\n There are countless books about Springsteen, including his own beautifully written memoir.<\/a>\u00a0But perhaps the one that has stayed with me the longest borrows its title from the aforementioned lyric: Ain\u2019t No Sin To Be Glad You\u2019re Alive, by the media critic Eric Alterman, who charts Springsteen\u2019s moral awakening. Springsteen\u2019s outraged rejection of relativism today is not new.<\/p>\n Yes, he burst onto the scene in the 70s with songs about cars, dead-end jobs, and running away, but until last week\u2019s revival meeting, I\u2019d forgotten about \u201cAmerican Skin (41 Shots),\u201d a song about the shooting of unarmed Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in Rudy Giuliani\u2019s New York, and the acquittal of the four police officers who had fired at him 41 times. Listen to it. There\u2019s the outrage, but also a stunning sympathy for the humanity of the cops who had done something so soul-shattering awful. Then there came Wrecking Ball, with its anthem \u201cWe Take Care of Our Own,\u201d in response to the 2008 Great Recession.<\/p>\n \u201cThe genesis of the record was after 2008,\u201d Springsteen explained at the time, \u201cwhen we had the huge financial crisis in the States, and there was really no accountability for years and years. People lost their homes and nobody went to jail. Nobody was responsible\u2026 there was no voice that was saying just how outrageous \u2014 that a basic theft had occurred that struck at the heart of what the entire American idea was about. It was a complete disregard of history, of context, of community; it was all about \u2018what can I get today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And let\u2019s not forget The Ghost of Tom Joad, his haunting mid-90s album inspired by Steinbeck\u2019s Grapes of Wrath. In it, the Dust Bowl migrants become Mexicans seeking their own American Dream. Economic dislocation acquires new faces and new languages, but the underlying questions remain: Who belongs? Who gets left behind? What do we owe one another?<\/p>\n Get this: According to Alterman, Springsteen will come across a heartrending tale in a newspaper, (I like to think it\u2019s the Asbury Park Press), and hunt down the author and interview him or her, seeking out details for song.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the work of a seeker, not a politician. It misunderstands art\u2019s role in society to dismiss Springsteen as \u201cpartisan,\u201d though I get the temptation. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be preached to by Springsteen or Roger Waters or Kid Rock,\u201d said Sirius and CNN host Michael Smerconish<\/a>. \u201cI just want to enjoy the music.\u201d But Springsteen\u2019s moralism mitigates against the claim. Because those 20,000 folks packed into the Xfinity arena Saturday night? They have the makings of a new type of political coalition: Call them Springsteen Independents.<\/p>\n They may disagree on taxes, immigration, Gaza, or guns. But they share a basic conviction that character matters. And they have no doubt that their guitar-toting pastor would be just as outraged by the hypocrisy of those who hate Trump yet so fully support Graham Platner in Maine. In Bruce Springsteen\u2019s America, Platner wouldn\u2019t make the morality cut. In case you haven\u2019t heard, Platner is cosplaying a working class Springsteen hero,<\/a> a 40-year-old man with a Nazi tattoo on his chest who, despite social media posts to the contrary, says he had no idea what the insignia meant when it was burned into his skin 20 years ago.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also that whole bit of six to 12 different women receiving sexts from the guy<\/a> \u2014 who has that kind of time? \u2014 and posts on Reddit where he\u2019s just wondering why Black people don\u2019t tip:<\/a> \u201cI work as a bartender and it always amazes me how solid this stereotype is \u2026 Every now and again a black patron will leave a 15-20 percent tip, but usually it [is] between 0-5 percent. There\u2019s got to be a reason behind it, what is it?\u201d<\/p>\n You know, just asking for a friend. Nonetheless, with few exceptions, Democrats are silent about this latest sign of our cultural apocalypse. Platner uses the new buzzword \u201caffordability\u201d with great aplomb. But keep in mind \u201caffordability\u201d is a word, not a policy, and it\u2019s been thrust into the political lexicon by consultants reading polls. Bruce Springsteen doesn\u2019t poll; he\u2019s a modern-day Harry Truman, who used to say, \u201cI don\u2019t give \u2019em hell; I just tell \u2019em the truth and they think it\u2019s hell!\u201d The first politician to follow Springsteen\u2019s lead \u2014 moral clarity, love of country, joy of spirit \u2014 will be the first to differentiate him or herself from all the cautious pretenders to (what has become) America\u2019s throne.<\/p>\n For 50 years now, Springsteen has gotten his audience to believe in something, which perhaps once was the purview of elected leaders. Bono said it best when he inducted Springsteen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:<\/p>\n In 1974 I was 14. It was the era of soft-rock and fusion. The Beatles were gone, Elvis was in Vegas \u2026 America was staggering when Springsteen appeared. The president just resigned in disgrace, the U.S. had lost its first war. There was going to be no more oil in the ground. The days of cruising and big cars were supposed to be over. But Bruce Springsteen\u2019s vision was bigger than a Honda, it was bigger than a Subaru. Bruce made you believe that dreams were still out there, but after loss and defeat, they had to be braver, not just bigger. He was singing, \u201cNow you\u2019re scared and you\u2019re thinking that maybe we ain\u2019t that young anymore\u201d because it took guts to be romantic now. Knowing you could lose didn\u2019t mean you didn\u2019t still take the ride. In fact, it made taking the ride all the more important.<\/p>\n Springsteen seemed to concur, once pithily sizing up just what he models for all of us: The \u201cgreatest challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t that the challenge we face now? Rebuilding a country of shared values, of common purpose? Leaving the concert, that\u2019s what we were talking about. How this 76-year-old had rekindled love of country in a throng of 20,000 strangers, bringing them together. That, apparently, he is nothing but a mensch only adds to the object lesson.<\/p>\n