We approach it in increments but can rarely be certain that we have arrived

I am reading Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman and he has me thinking about the nature of truth (how we approach it in increments but can rarely be certain that we have arrived) and of useful information (how some information does not become untrue, it just becomes less useful by being subsumed in the progression of knowledge).

From there, my thoughts moved onto the phenomenon of latter-day relevance - knowledge or ideas which are developed and then languish (and are sometimes mostly forgotten) for years or decades until they suddenly become pertinent either again or for the first time. Gregor Mendel's work on genes is an example of latter-day relevance.

In the midst of this speculation, I came across this song by Arlo Guthrie, Presidential Rag. I enjoy Guthrie's work and have a number of his albums but was unfamiliar with this song. Apparently he wrote it in 1974 in the context of Nixon and Watergate.

This also seems an example of latter-day relevance - a song written in one era and without great circulation or profile all-of-a-sudden seeming relevant a third of a century later.

Presidential Rag
by Arlo Guthrie

You said you didn't know,
that the cats with the bugs were there,
and you never go along with that kind of stuff no where,
but that just isn't the point man,
that's the wrong wrong way to go,
if you didn't know about that one, well then what else don't you know,
You said that you were lied to,
well that ain't hard to see,
but you must have been fooled again by your friends across the sea,
and maybe you were fooled again by your people here at home,
because nobody could talk like you,
and know what's going on,
Nobody elected your family,
and we didn't elect your friends,
no one voted for your advisers,
and nobody wants amends,
You're the one we voted for, so you must take the blame,
For handing out authority to men who were insane,
You say its all fixed up now, you've got new guys on the line,
but you had better remember this while you still got the time,
Mothers still are weeping for their boys that went to war,
father still are asking what the whole damn thing was for,
and People still are hungry and people still are poor,
And an honest week of work these days don't feed the kids no more,
Schools are still like prisons,
cuz we don't learn how to live,
and everybody wants to take, nobody wants to give,
Yes you will be remembered, be remembered very well,
and if I live a long life, all the stories I could tell,
Of many who are in in poverty of sickness and of grief,
hell yes,
you will be remembered, be remembered very well,
You said you didn't know,
that the that the cats with the bugs were there,
You'd never go along with that kind of stuff no where
But that just isn't the point man,
That's the wrong ,wrong way to go,
You didn't know about that one,
well then what else don't you know.