Tilting At Windmills : The Shape of Punk’d to Come

The reader would probably not be surprised to learn that this author is the singer in a punk band as well as being a stubborn, opinionated hardhead. “Why, that is crazy talk” one might say, “these attributes are never found together in the same person!”  Suspend your disbelief, say I.

Unfortunately for the folks at Dying Scene, they have offered me a forum for my polemics, and much like inviting a vampire into your home, they may find me a somewhat problematic guest and equally difficult to uninvite. Now that introductions have been made, we may dispense with the formalities to skip directly to the article.

But Waitaminute, Dad. Did you actually say freedom?
We live in interesting times. Corporations have finally gained ascendancy over the individual with the blessing of the highest courts. Our currency and our savings accounts are being inflated into worthlessness by a central bank hell-bent on protecting the balance sheets of the largest banks.  The wealthiest individuals pay less than 15% in taxes (I’m looking at you, Mitt) while middle and working-class stiffs pay upwards of 25%. Our president (no matter which party he is from) acts as if he’s permitted to do anything at all in the name of “combating terrorism”, even if it means trashing the constitution by assassinating American citizens without due process. The government has just completed work on a huge data collection center that is designed to eavesdrop and record every single electronic communication made in this country. More people are out of work, out of their homes, and on food stamps than at any time since the Great Depression, and our leaders’ response is to print more money and give it directly to the largest banks at 0% interest, so that they can turn around and loan it to us at interest. There is so much to be angry and upset about today, but if you weren’t paying attention you would assume the most important issues facing our nation are gays marrying and whether or not the president is a socialist.

Focus a Moment, Nod in Approval…
The Powers That Be (hereinafter referred to as “TPTB”) are dependent on your continued apathy for their continued takeover of the country. They want you to focus only occasionally if at all, and only on the “issues” and candidates that they choose for you. They’ve been increasingly successful at controlling the debate as more and more of the media falls under the control of just a few huge corporations, thanks to deregulation legislation that they wrote and paid for.  See how this works?

‘Cause if You’re Dumb Enough to Vote…
And so, every four years less than half of eligible voters will haul their carcasses to the polls to vote for one of two men who have been handpicked and funded by TPTB. After choosing the lesser of two evils they pat themselves on the back and feel that they did their civic duty and now have a right to bitch about how fucked up everything is. Bullshit.

…Then You’re Dumb Enough to Believe Them.
Forget the big elections. Presidential, Senatorial, and many congressional races are multi-million dollar affairs backed by the politico-corporate establishment, and even when the voters do indeed choose the lesser of the two evils, TPTB have friends in high places. Start small. Become involved with the intricacies of your own town’s political machinery. Vote for the non-major party backed candidate for congress in your district. Make informed votes for your state representatives. We have a much better chance of electing truly progressive candidates at the local and state level. There is far too much money and power vested in large national elections, and the major parties’ political machinery is much less powerful at the local level.

Who is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?
Reading a candidate’s homepage can tell you a lot about what they want you to believe is their platform, but learning who they are backed by can be much more informative.Beware the candidate or ballot measure which claims to want to preserve open spaces and the local environment but is backed by a major developer or a group called “Citizens for Walmart”. Information on candidates is much easier to find now than at any time in the past, thanks to Al Gore’s wonderful invention called the interwebs. Use it before TPTB are finally successful in controlling and censoring that, too.

Better yet, stop bitching about the lousy candidates (that’s my job, and I’m better at it than you), and run for office yourself. The minimum age for local office is 18 (21 in some states). You are old enough to make a difference. If there is a candidate or organization you believe in, help fight the giant money advantage that the corporate candidates enjoy and volunteer your time and your energy. Get the word out. Hold a bake sale or put on a benefit show.

Triumph of the Swill
Start a politically motivated band and get angry. Out of the approximately 2,234,857 punk bands active today, I can think of four that are overtly angry and political. One of them is my band, two were started 20 or more years ago, and one is DC Fallout. The scene has too many bro-hymn bands and songs about your ex-girlfriend already. Write something aggressive and angry for a change. The whole emo/screamo fad really pussified punk. Do something positive for the scene and the future, and bring the anger back. Please.

It won’t be easy, and it isn’t fair, but this is the hand our generation has been dealt. Complaining won’t get us anywhere. It’s time to get educated and get active. We can either continue to get Punk’d by concentrated power and money, or we can get informed and motivated and turn it around. Even if we lose and this country continues its slide toward corporate fascism, at least we’ll go down fighting.