Poets as the umpires of democracy

Thomas Hampson performed here last evening as a part of a tour sponsored by the Library of Congress celebrating American music. He is truly amazing. He quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, "the true umpires of a democracy are its poets not its politicians." He went on to say that to truly understand someone you need to read them poems and listen to their songs because that is how a culture is truly represented. These are the stories of a people.

What a really wonderful notion.