To The Pennsylvanians

The great English poet William Wordsworth in response to a certain U.S. commonwealth shamelessly defaulting on its debt in 1837 wrote this:

To The Pennsylvanians

Days undefiled by luxury or sloth,
Firm self-denial, manners grave and staid,
Rights equal, laws with cheerfulness obeyed,
Words that require no sanction from an oath,
And simple honesty a common growth–
This high repute, with bounteous Nature’s
aid,
Won confidence, now ruthlessly betrayed
At will, your power the measure of your
troth!–
All who revere the memory of Penn
Grieve for the land on whose wild woods his
name
Was fondly grafted with a virtuous aim,
Renounced, abandoned by degenerate Men
For state-dishonour black as ever came
To upper air from Mammon’s loathsome den.

Does Pennsylvania need another Wordsworth today? Why? The words from 1837 don’t need any changing.

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