You can tread the path of militarism -- ride it high, slog through it low, make it the very form of your national being and your personal worldview -- but where, exactly, will it lead? Here's a brief examination of this question.

Will You Be Free by Chris Floyd

Will You Be Free?

When the guns no longer sound
When the dead are in the ground
When the foe hangs from the tree
Will you be free?
Will you be free?

When blood and iron rule the day
When ash and bone mix with the clay
And choke the fruits of victory
Will you be free?
Will you be free?

When the children of the slain
Cry for revenge to ease their pain
Lost in shadows you’ll never see
Will you be free?
Will you be free?

When the fear comes round again
And they call for troops to send
To some new war across the sea
Will you be free?
Will you be free?

Lyrics and music © Chris Floyd

This was recorded with the remarkable multi-instrumentalist Nick Kulukundis, who also produced the track. This is a slight reworking of a song that originally appeared on the album Wheel of Heaven. Final photo,"Taxpayer," © Lee Mayr.