"In a way that benefits all..."

Bruce Springsteen's sermon from a Freehold, N.J. diner

Bruce Springsteen’s sermon at the breakfast counter at Roberto’s Freehold (N.J.) Grill.

If you’ve paid attention to Bruce Springsteen’s music over the last 55 years — and yeah, that’s me: my first Springsteen concert turned out to be the day he finished the “Born To Run” album in 1975 — it’s no surprise that the guy has been a died-in-the-wool Democrat for a long time. He’s performed at political rallies for John Kerry, for Hillary Clinton and even did a sit-down book and a long podcast, chatting with Barack Obama about America and their lives.

So there he was, in a brown flannel jacket over a white shirt, his butt planted at the breakfast counter of Roberto’s Freehold Grill in his hometown of Freehold, N.J. staring into the camera for a three-minute plea or sermon — you could define it either way — about your precious vote in the upcoming Presidential election, now, just a month away.

“(Kamala Harris and Tim Walz) want to grow our economy in a way that benefits all,” he said. “Not just a few, like me (small chuckle) on top. That’s the vision of America I’ve been consistently writing about for 55 years.”

Years ago, Springsteen wrote a song called “Man At The Top” around the time of his blockbuster “Born In The USA” album but the song didn’t come out until his collection of outtakes “Tracks” fourteen years later included it. In that song, written in 1984, he was writing about relentless, driving ambition, about envy, maybe even anticipating that this record he was writing all kinds of songs for would put him on top, which it did, with world-wide album sales of 45 million, seven Top Ten singles and 5 MTV videos. Almost prophetically, he was looking at the other side of all that and how it would change his life. It did.

“Man at the top says it's lonely up there
If it is, man, I don't care
From the big white house to the parking lot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top”

That record’s overwhelming success and a turbulent personal life ultimately sent Springsteen into therapy, a situation he bravely shared with his fans in his book “Born To Run.” Ever since, he’s been involved in food banks, unions, benefits for veterans and many other causes, continuing to write about and hope for what should be a growing sense of community for all of us. This horrible division among us, he said, must be healed.

“Perhaps not since the Civil War has this great country felt as politically, spiritually and emotionally divided as it does than at this moment,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be this way… (and it will take) women and men with the national good guiding their hearts.”

The national good. Isn’t that something we all want? What IS good for the nation?

The timing of Springsteen’s endorsement comes shortly after an unsealed document laying out Special Counsel Jack Smith’s most extensive case to date against former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, which, thanks to an embarrassingly slow legal system, Trump’s relentless efforts to stall, stall, stall, a sadly tilted Supreme Court assisting the ex-President, won’t go to trial — AS IT SHOULD — before Americans go to the polls on November 5. Shouldn’t this be DECIDED by then? Or are felons OK at 1600 Pennsylvania?

Look. We all know exactly what Trump did. And what his minions did on his direction at the Capitol on January 6. Yeah, yet again, it looks like he could get away with this, too. What we should do is hold up the election UNTIL HIS LEGAL CASES ARE SETTLED. The Mar-a-Lago documents case. The NY fraud case. And especially, the Insurrection of January 6, an event that put a stain on our history forever.

Trump wants to pardon those who took part. J.D. Vance told us in the debate there was “a peaceful transfer of power.” Trump didn’t even show up at the Inauguration of his successor the first American President to refuse to do that since Franklin Roosevelt, who had a good excuse. He was dead.

Bruce Springsteen, at 75, has been writing and singing and talking about America for, as he said, 55 years, trying to lift our spirits in concert and on his albums. His impressive body of work on and off-stage, has earned our respect and our trust.

So when he says, gesturing with his guitar-picking hand on the counter, that “Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for President in my lifetime,” that sermon becomes a plea.

“His disdain for the sanctity of our Constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity for the rule of law and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of President ever again.”

His word choice there — “sanctity” is telling, since with all the talk of dog-eating and immigrant-blaming we might forget that what we have here in America is unlike other countries. For those who might have forgotten or lined up offside, here’s the definition of “sanctity” — ”the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly.”

That word “sacred” you haven’t heard much lately, either. But the way Bruce Springsteen talked about his plan for November 5, it was show, not tell.

“…like you, I’ve only got one vote and it’s one of the most precious possessions that I have. That’s why, November 5, I’ll be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”