The Wrong Whale

On the afternoon of July 3, I saw the play Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? in New York City. It brings to life the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings of the 1940s and ‘50s and the Hollywood blacklist, where playwright Lillian Hellman famously declared: “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”

That evening, President Donald Trump, speaking near Mount Rushmore, declared that communism is “the greatest threat” America faces today. Not inflation. Not wars abroad. Not AI. Not the cost of health care.

By Saturday night, I was standing beneath the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, waiting for the fireworks and thinking about the changing tides of history. Below me lay the harbor of one of the nation’s oldest whaling ports—no harpoons now, just whale-watch boats. Looking out over that water, I decided to try a different tack on an old confusion: communism and democratic socialism are not the same thing.

One seeks to abolish capitalism and has historically been associated with one-party rule rather than liberal democracy. Today, the world’s remaining communist states are China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. The other is fundamentally democratic, seeking to tame capitalism’s excesses—expanding health care, making college and housing more affordable, and clawing back the influence of big money in politics. Those policies are commonplace across many prosperous democracies, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

So, in honor of Provincetown’s maritime heritage—and in the hope that Americans learn to identify the whale before they throw the harpoon—here’s a sea chanty.

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The Wrong Whale

A Provincetown Sea Chanty

(Photo: Pilgrims Monument July 4th, 2026)

Chorus

Heave away, me hearty crew,
Heave away, heigh-ho!
Name the whale before you strike,
Or where’s the harpoon go?

The Captain climbed the quarterdeck,
His spyglass to the sky.
“I’ve seen the Red Whale off the bow!
We’re all about to die!”

Chorus

The old mate laughed, “Now hold your course,
I’ve sailed these seas full long.
Before you cry for every whale,
Be certain you’re not wrong.”

The Red Whale sails a different sea,
Far off in foreign foam.
Don’t mistake a neighbor’s skiff
For tyrants far from home.

Chorus

This whale I’ve spotted swims about
To help us when we fall,
Cheaper colleges, decent homes,
And Medicare for all.

It still buys, sells, and casts its votes,
Keeps markets on the tide.
But asks the richest on the deck
To pay their fairer share.

Chorus

The Captain stamped. “It’s all the same!
I’ve heard that song before!”
The cook looked up from peeling spuds:
“Then why’s the crew still poor?”

“If tax cuts filled our empty nets,
We’d all be rolling fat.
But somehow every catch we haul
Ends up the captain’s hat.”

Chorus

So mind your charts and mind your eyes,
And don’t let fear prevail.
The oldest trick upon the sea
Is naming the wrong whale.

For every voyage needs clear heads,
Not every splash’s doom.
Sometimes the loudest cry of “Red!”
Just hides an empty room.

Final Chorus

Heave away, me hearty crew,
Heave away, heigh-ho!
Know your whales before you fight—
That’s what old sailors know.

As a voter, it’s up to you to know the difference this November.

P.S.

True confession now—
this sea chanty found new wind
With an AI spyglass

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(Gift Photo: Stage for Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?)