Good Morning, Campers!
Feb 25th, 2006 at 12:47 pm by Susie
Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution, got to revolution
Hey I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution, got to revolution
Ain’t it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution, got to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it’s time for you and me
Got a revolution, got to revolution
Come on now we’re marching to the sea
Got a revolution, got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of America.
“Volunteers,” Jefferson Airplane
You know what? I don’t care if Rush Doughboy uses this song on his evil little radio show. It’s our song, and it’s about our values. Fuck him, the whiny little junkie.
We’re taking it back, along with the rest of this country.
Everyone I know is so depressed. “What are we going to do? They control everything, they’re never going to give up power.” Damned straight they won’t, not without a fight.
We’re too fixated on the end goal. Here’s what you do: You get up every morning and you do the right thing. If a butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane, your righteous words and deeds, your sense of purpose can change the world.
We can be together
You and me
We should be together
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive, we steal cheat lie forge hide and deal
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young
But we should be together
Come on, all you people standing around
Our life’s too fine to let it die and
We can be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is
We
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall motherfucker
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Come on now together
Get it on together
Everybody together
We should be together
We should be together, my friends
We can be together.
Remember when that music was new? Grace Slick wailing on that last line, an entire generation pumping their fists in the air when she sang, “Up against the wall, motherfuckers!” Think back to before it was only soundtrack fodder for commercials and remember how it galvanized us all:
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio.
A hundred thousand dead in Iraq. A little girl, drenched in her family’s blood and screaming into the night. Naked men made to crawl like dogs, forced to listen to the cries of their wives and sisters being raped in the next cell. Icebergs melting, workers sickened and dying of poison at their jobs, bodies of the elderly floating in the chemical soup that used to be New Orleans and one fucking lie after another.
These greedy bastards. These immoral motherfuckers.
If you’re not outraged, there’s something wrong with you. And if you’re outraged, you need to do something. It’s a moral fucking imperative.
Sometimes people say to me, “You’re not going to talk about politics and religion again, are you?” I look them in the eye and say, “What else is there?” Now, don’t get me wrong: I have a life. I tell outrageous jokes, I go out with friends, I’m always up for fun. (As anarchist Emma Goldman once said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be in your revolution.”)
So yes, I will dance. But I will also fight. Not talk about religion? How can I avoid that, when these people are the Anti-Christ, hiding behind their fake churches?
There is nothing in your life more important right now than fighting this regime. Our country and the values we hold dear are imploding. There are lives in the balance, and you can’t wait for someone else to do something. Either you join the Resistance, or you’re part of the Vichy regime.
Start small, but goddamnit, start! Turn your friends on to blogs, or write one yourself. Don’t back down when a wingnut makes a public assertion in line at the supermarket: challenge their immoral insanity. Write letters to the editor, call talk radio, sign petitions. Become an advocate and pay your dues in the fight against the forces of global destruction. There are many wonderful groups that offer political training, and it’s cheap. (My best friend is off at a Democracy for America training this very weekend.) Affiliate with likeminded citizens, because there’s more power in the network than there is in one lonely individual. Go to your local Drinking Liberally, or start one yourself. Join hands - and join forces.
We are the body politic. And this mess ain’t going to fix itself.
Wow! This is a great post. I do remember listening and singing along with the Airplane, the greatest American band bar none, back then. We beat Nixon and we will beat Bush and his asshole buddies like Rush.
I’m never going to give in to the Corporate Slave State.
Never.
Yep, one hell of a fight ahead, excellent post, got me fired up. You are the Randi Rhodes of the blogsphere hands down.
Power to the People…
Susie says it’s time to get to work and take this country back. My friend Suze kicks off a rant the likes of which I haven’t seen out of her in a long time. Go read…….
Wow- you’re on a roll today!
Where is Grace when we need her. I saw an interview where she said that she stopped performing because she thought that it was ridiculous for someone with liver spots to be singing passionate love songs. But her best songs were not love songs, they were political.
Thank you my dear, a most excellent rant. A nomination to next year’s best post (ever).
Hey Dick! Whatever you think of us is totally irrelevant! We are the future! You are the past! Pay your dues and get out of the way! ‘Cause We’re Not. the Way. You. Used. To. Be… When you were very young. {Blows Against The Empire Paul Kantner and the thirty or so San Franscicians to make up the original Jefferson Starship]
All is well.
Tao
Aieeee… not the Starship! Please, anything but that!
An inspirational post, Susie.
The tide has turned, their ship is taking on water fast, and the rats are already elbowing each other aside as they rush for the exit. My main fear is not their resurgence but a delusion-based, crazy use of executive power.
‘Good Morning Campers!’
A Woodstock reference?
On Thursday, James Speth, dean of the Yale College of the Environment and Forestry wrote an incredible letter (now behind the firewall) to the NY Times urging people to leap into action to fight global warming. How can we really ignore the demise of our planet–nothing is more important. As Speth says, we should be marching in the streets! (Why doesn’t this ever make it to the front page of the newspaper or the top of the evening news?)
Here’s a related essay by Speth:
http://www.yale.edu/forestry/about/heart_of_the_matter.html
Great post. More of this please. = )
I was just telling my daughter what a great civics lesson this all is, teaching us that we have to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
Pardon me, but I have to go contact my state representative. Wisconsin Assembly is voting on Tuesday on a marriage amendment, you know, that man-woman thing. I haven’t written to Feingold for a few days either.
We are just about at the tipping point. If you were alive and aware during Watergate, you know what I mean. Their loathsome war is lost, all their thievery and scandals are falling down around them. It’s only a matter of time before they send the helicopter to the White House lawn to collect the bitter, broken little man and take him back to Texas. Enjoy your work. Witness what is happening and let everyone know what you know.
I don’t know if this will be a true link, but if not just do a manual input…This is a great synopsis on the state of our political system written by Bill Moyers and posted at CommonDreams. If you need more insult to injury to get your hair up, well here it is.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0224-20.htm
Yeah, its about time; ‘been waitin’ 5 years (where was the outrage following the election of 2000 and subsequent breaches of foreign treaties, and then, consistent gross negligence) for this kind of fire and passion from the heart and soul of some American, somewhere, anywhere. Yes, there are American hearts and souls that are alive and well.
And yes, the revolution will not be televised.
Rush uses that song for his bullshit radio show? Last time I checked, Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, as well as the judicial branch.
So what exactly is he revolting against?
Between that and the weird “Election Wars” spoof, it appears that positioning yourself as the little guy fighting the good fight against “the man” plays well with the little greedmongers that make up the GOP’s rank-and-file. Even if you are “the man.”
Here’s some truths for you to ignore, Rush: Who ignored warnings about 9/11? Republicans. Who invaded Iraq under false pretenses? Republicans. Who failed miserably in the face of Hurricane Katrina, the first major disaster after 9/11, after spending millions to create the Department of Homeland Security? Republicans. Who inherited a budget surplus and turned it into record deficits in just two years? Republicans. Who presided over the nation’s shattering the trade deficit four years in a row? Republicans. Who made the terms “black sites” and “extraordinary rendition” household terms? Republicans. Who let lobbyists write tragic legislation like bankruptcy “reform” and the medicare prescription drug “benefit”? Republicans. Who OK’d spying on Americans without court oversight? Republicans.
But don’t let the fact that you are the machine keep you from believing that you’re raging against it. Never let the facts interfere with a good delusion.
Just crank up the volume.
Sorry, I meant to say “shattering the trade deficit record four years in a row.”
See what happens when you stop mid rant to wipe the foam from your face?
How on earth does Limbaugh use this song? What exactly does he think it means? Has he ever listened to it? Jesus what a tool.
We Are The Body Politic…
Susie at Suburban Guerilla rocks today — using three of my all-time favorite tunes, particularly Volunteers. A hundred thousand dead in Iraq. A little girl, drenched in her family’s blood and screaming into the night. Naked men made to crawl……
I am the walrus. Goo-goo-goo-joob.
You’d better add Zappa at his most political, Gil Scott-Heron, Marvin Gaye (What’s Going On?), Dylan singing the Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues, Working Class Hero by Lennon, The Universal Soldier by Buffy Ste. Marie, What ya gonna do about me? by Quicksilver, and more than a few folksingers, if you want to bring out the sense of solidarity against those repressive times. Now, years later, that joie de vivre feels lost, as the recognition grows that the country’s not merely confused, but so many are just so damn vicious.
What a way to start the day. Excellent rant!
Oh he knows exactly what that song means, its called perversion folks! In the inquisition as you were slowly tortured to death by the most cruel means imaginable, means that took centuries of technical and physiological research to perfect, you would be told that deep concern for the welfare of your soul was the motivating factor. It would be explained to you that only the deepest love for you on the part of your tormentors could allow them to overcome reluctance towards proceeding with this work on your behalf.
If you are a social animal, and you are not an “Alpha” individual, you face the same dilemma as do the majority of individuals. You have two choices, choice 1 is to help the alpha individual expand their privilege and hope your thrown a bone or two for your services. That is the “conservative” way. What is conserved is energy, which is converted to mass. you may think of this as the “MASS” side of the social equation. Conservatives treat victimizers as heroes, blaming the victim for their own plight. Lies are the preeminent form of attack, they are utilized with pride
Choice 2 is to band together with other low ranking individuals and through force of numbers limit the alpha individuals power, thereby perhaps wresting a bone or two from them. That is the “liberal” way. What is liberated is mass, which is converted to energy. You may think of this as the “ENERGY” side of the social equation. Liberals treat the victims as heroes, blaming the victimizer. The truth is the preeminent form of defense, and it is utilized with pride.
Mass is mass to the degree it remains changeless and ordered, therefore too much mass stifles the flow of energy. This is why the economy is suppressed under a conservative regime.
Energy is energy to the degree it causes change and chaos, therefore too much energy overwhelms the structure of mass. This is why the economy is subject to wacky extremes under a liberal regime
Nether conservatives or liberals are at root cause of problems, rather it is an ineffectual expression of human nature which is. The powerful are not to blame since no matter how oppressive they become the peoples acquiescence is involved. The powerless are not to blame ethier since no mater how downtrodden they are they retain the capability for improvement.
Screaming after conservatives “they lie, they lie!” does no good, they’re proud of it, that’s the privilege of the elite
Hounding after liberals yelling “bleeding heart, bleeding heart! does no good, their compassion is their only hope, they believe in it.
The true problems arise in the interaction BETWEEN mass and energy, its not as simple as pointing the vilifying finger at one or the other. It takes a failure on all sides to destroy a nation, and that’s what we are seeing here!
Everyone is so busy vilifying the opposite side of the equation that true lasting improvement will remain forever elusive, for it is the human hiearchal instincts gone awry that have become the enemy!
Yes, this is excellent. WE WERE RIGHT THEN, and we’re right now. Very important not to ever forget that.
Also, with the perspective of age (I turned 60 last year), it’s good to remember the even larger picture, the one that makes all the evil, greedy immoral bastards and their crimes no more than a fleeting pimple of the face of the planet, the same planet that will likely shake most of us off someday very soon. The Big Picture is the one where not even replacing the greedy, immoral bastards with the likes of us will make more than a temporary superficial difference. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…” Right and left like children on a merry-go-round in the sky, chasing each other but never catching, the whole machine sparking now and catching fire, listing heavily and falling ever faster toward the ground…
The planet is the big story and two-leggeds are the bad guys. It’s not one policy or the other, but how everyone’s asleep. It’s not about our thoughts, but identifying with them instead of who we really are.
That said, bring on the Airplane and the rest. Dance?? HELL, YES!!! We were right then and we’re STILL right. The ecstatic opening to new possibilities, new ways of being that can make a difference, isn’t reached by mental processes. Kick out the jams, motherfuckers, and turn up the volume. I ain’t dead yet, and you aren’t either.
Bravo, namaste, and onward through the fog.
Yin and Yang my friends. We are all gready bastards.
By encouraging the bastards to compete with each other they continually strive to do more with less.
This is called capitalism which Marx has said will naturally decline without significant effort when profits are no longer possible.
We are not there yet. So the convinced Marxist at this time would be a strong advocate of capitalism so that it runs its course faster.
Marx still knows way more about economics than most Marxists and he is dead.
Pity. On both counts.
BTW Hayek is a good antidote to socialism.
If you want to learn how to start a real revolution: read Hernando DeSoto (from Peru) on “The Mystery of Capitalism”. He says the problem is not too much capitalism but not enough. The poor aren’t allowed into the system.
I still Volunteer for the Revolution. Just not the socialist one. It is stupid to keep repeating what works poorly or not at all?
Remember when “Made in Japan” meant shoddy? What happened?