Political science and headbanging may seem an odd mix, but they have Evan Clayton in common. Now front man for the band Séance Fiction, Evan asked me to help him come up with a lyric. The finished song is a statement about the near-impossibility of reform: parliamentary rules stifle innovation while the forces of reaction invoke the politics of division. There are many songs about revolution, but not many about revolution deferred by powerful interests.
The only thing left for me to do was make a video:
Some Kos'ers may remember me from Netroots Nation 2009. I liveblogged events for the Head On Radio Network, America's oldest liberal talk network (and now, with the death of Air America, very nearly the only liberal talk network still standing). At the time, I noted the tension within the left between the necessities of process and the imperative for progress. That tension boiled over in December with a netroots rebellion against a Senate health care bill without a public option; the loss of Kennedy's seat to a Republican has added even more strain.
As a proud liberal progressive, I have been worried. But as a political scientist, I am thrilled to see an "electronic grassroots" movement both make common cause with, and rail against, a president governing from the political center. Add in the teabaggery of '09 invoking all the favorite boogeymen of right-wing paranoia, and it's been an extraordinary year for a political observer.
As Netroots Nation 2010 draws closer and we begin to focus on the midterm elections, let's remember that as frustrating as this White House might be, it is Congress where reform goes to die. Who do they work for? is the right question for 2010, and every incumbent should be forced to answer it. Progressives cannot afford to sink in dispirited silence. We must take the long view, as our forebears did: We shall fight until we win.
The lyrics:
State of the union
never quite as good as it would seem
Now cast in your lot
watch it taken by thieves
No representation,
building up in you giving you steam
You are the heir to a forgotten dream
We hold these truths self-evident,
we'll find the root and sever it
There comes a time
in the course of all human events when
The waves of tyranny crest too high to swim
And now is the time to sever all political chains
To drain all the water start over again
At the top of the tower
there is no one here left to blame
The hypocrisy common in here
is all done in your name
It's time to progress forward
and tell you just how things will change
We know just what's best for you
watch everything stay just the same
When in the course of all human events
you find yourself tired of the lie
Just know that deep down we care about you
now bow your heads & cover your eyes
Right before your eyes...
Remove the cause
thinking you're gonna alter the symptom
And before too long
you'll find you're one of "them"
And nothing has changed
even from the top can it be seen now
The hurt that you shepherd are now
all awash in this bipartisan apathy
At the top of the tower
there is no one here left to blame
The atrocities common in here
are all done in your name
Never to innovate only to regulate
only perpetuate only to subjugate
Never to innovate only to regulate
only perpetuate only to subjugate
It's time to progress forward
and tell you just how things will change
We know just what's best for you
watch everything stay just the same
When in the course of all human events
you find yourself tired of the lie
Just know that deep down we care about you
now bow your heads & cover your eyes
It's time to progress forward
and tell you just how things will change
We know just what's best for you
watch everything stay just the same
When in the course of all human events
you find yourself tired of the lie
Just know that deep down we care about you
now bend over & cover your eyes
Right before your eyes, become a lie
before your eyes, become a lie