"Talkin' Election 2000"   

"Talkin' Election 2000"
Copyright © 2002 Stanislove
(Published 2003 as part of "Rant-Journey-Anthem"; Suwimbo Music #535-03)

Listen to a song clip.

At the turn of the century
Two ran for the presidency
One was dull, the other dumb
In the land of Hee Haw - guess who won?
Hallelujah! Stickin' it to ya: Texas goose step on the Constitution.
 
Early on election eve
The nation started to believe
The liberal won, so Murdoch's man
Said Florida had gone Republican.
Illegitimable intimidation! Hanging chads and hangin' justice on the highest court!
 
You wonder how it came to be,
This mediocre dynasty?
Well, in this country, far and wide
Are folks of talent, skill and pride
Doing politics a little different: using corporate power to subvert the government.
 
I say it started back when JFK
Was shot to death that Dallas day.
While Camelot was full in bloom
In Texas there was talk of doom:
Uppity nig-rahs! Fallin' dominoes! Gotta show them lib-uh-rawls who really runs the show!
 
Movin' on to '64
When LBJ signed into law
The Civil Rights Act, but his pen
Was a spear into the heart of southern friends.
Enter Nixon's Southern Strategy: George Wallace, Spiro Agnew and the culture wars.
 
Draft-card burning! Women's Lib!
Black Panthers! Hippies! Acid trips!
Scared the solid citizen
Who wanted everything like that to end.
"I liked Ike; the Lennon Sisters; Step 'n' Fetchit knew his place and Father Knew Best throughout the land."
 
So Nixon made Republicans
Of carpenters and fact'ry hands;
Of farmers, miners, cowboys, too,
Who wanted to believe that he was true.
Lawn Order! Silent minorities - comin' home in a body bag from Vietnam.
 
After Tricky Dick was shamed
And Scary Jerry blew the game
And "Jimmeh" fumbled piously
A man from Hollywood strode on the scene:
Can-do image! "Family Values!" Trickle-down money to the families of the rich...
 
Apparently conservatives
Had realized that our brains are sieves,
With such a short attention span
That a cowboy from B-movie land could rope us in.
"Iran-Contra? Why, I don't remember . . . but it's Morning in America, and have a jelly bean!"
 
"Poppy" Bush came after Ron
To rule our business Babylon
To raise a tax or two, and then
To raise some hell in desert sands.
Save Kuwait! SAVE DEMOCRACY! (Save that oil for us, Abdullah - we need all you've got!)
 
When Poppy stumbled at the polls
'Cause he could not relate to us all
("Oh, look at that - a scanning gizmo!")
And barfed his breakfast - no machismo there!
We said, "Bill, here's your cue: Roll up your sleeves and show us what a Democrat can do!"
 
But Bill's weakness was the female form
And sev'ral women caused a storm.
He had that great, infectious laugh
And offered them positions on his staff...
Monica "Kneepads" headin' south, with pundits and preachers foaming at her mouth.
 
Right-wingers thought they'd cooked his goose
But Bill slipped that impeachment noose.
They got so mad, they popped their veins
And plotted to restore the reins of government
To "The People:" the drug people, tobacco people, Christian Taliban and all the spooks.
 
They found a guy down Texas way;
Gun-fighter's squint and brains of hay.
They shopped him 'round the primaries
And see - he doesn't sweat much on TV!
First Poppy Bush, now Puppet Bush - front man for the ones who wanna turn back all the clocks.
 
So it's "Hail to the Thief!" we cry.
Uncurious George is now the guy
To represent our USA
To rulers terrified of democracy.
"Don't worry, guys - it ain't so hard! Election laws and human rights are safe to disregard!"
 
On a lovely summer day
Two towers smashed to ruins lay.
We blame al Qaida - well, OK,
But didn't we also have a role to play by insulting
A billion Muslims and propping up their dictators to feed our greed for oil?
 
So we peed our pants and passed a law
That undermines what we stand for.
Our Bill of Rights is shot with holes
Because we chose to sell our soul for safety
Or its illusion . . . USA PATRIOT: 1984 was late by only eighteen years!
 
(Jan. 30^th, 2007: This song was finished and published before the neo-con thugs invaded Iraq in '03; I'd been thinking about adding appropriate verses for some time since then. They finally came to me in a rush this morning. The muse works in strange ways...)
 
(New verse)
One by one, we were losing friends
And precious global influence
To countries who in better times
Made us look good by committing crimes
Like torture; secret prisons; wars of opportunity and unitary rule.
 
Y'see, I believe that freedom's not
A trinket that is cheaply bought.
But most don't work for liberty,
They drown in empty prattle on TV. (Don't we?)
Debit-saddled, junk-food-addled, fat-assed, trusting cattle of the corporate class.
 
(New verse)
Ever since I wrote this song
Part of me hoped I was wrong
About America, which my folks
Were dreaming of while under the yoke of Hitler
And his torturers; secret prisons; cattle trains, and bodies piled up high.
 
Hey, if you don't like this song — too bad!
I am not wrong to be this sad
About my country, 'tis of thee,
Under red-neck, white-washed, blue-nosed tyranny.
Freedom was never meant to be convenient!
I'm either gonna have my say or wind up like Timothy McVeigh...