Republican is the New Punk
by Doug TenNapelJohnny Cash was punk rock. The birth of rock came when Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Cash toured small towns and set the youth on fire. Parents were outraged. The long dippity-doo hair atop gyrating men “dancing like the negroes” before frothing young girls set mainstream culture against this rebellious little movement. It was our first smell of anarchy and it scared the establishment.
Johnny Ramone
The rebellious spirit of rock is dead. No better evidenced than by its formal endorsement of President Obama. Never before has rock been so central to the inauguration of a president. Bono is an ambassador in sunglasses who still knows how to pull a string and get an audience of thousands to put their fist in the air.
But rock cannot be both establishment and anti-establishment. It can’t be a rebellious underdog while endorsing and distributing the status quo. And yes, President Obama is the status quo of unlimited spending and government expansion he supposedly opposed during the election … then again, he also said he would fight to reduce abortion but couldn’t wait three days in office before throwing the pro-life useful idiots who voted for him under the bus. No change there. If this is what he meant by “reducing abortions” I can’t we to see what he meant by “reducing taxes.”
This is the mainstreaming of the bad boy, complete with rat-pack suit and cigarette in hand. A snappy skin spread over the boring, failed, liberal Democrats of the sixties. Hope and Change was nothing more than a repackaging of policies that have no right to be associated with hope or change.
Lefty politics are no longer the fringe and no matter if the voters knew it or not they carved lefty politics into stone. Bill Ayers became the system he once fought against. Sure, they still wear the earring and say “fuck” a lot to maintain street-cred among the academics, but now rock has taken sides — it is for the establishment. Same with journalism, the university and pop-culture. The left has become a cliché. They’re not “Arrested Development” they’re “Golden Girls” with a soul patch. Snore.
Now that the art nerds and punks just became the football jocks and prom queens, a new rebel is emerging from the wilderness. They are the new anti-establishment. One minority force bands together against every other branch of government swallowed by the Democrat octopus. The last evidence of a check or balance against the popular people are now the Conservative Republicans.
The arts have failed. They no longer keep mass culture in check with thought-provoking art that challenges the establishment. Now they’re in charge of spreading the mainstream mandate of the Liberal Vatican. There isn’t an original thought among them, just a thousand-mile stare, a blue logo and the drone-like vocabulary of emotive, vaguely inspiring chants.
We’re the new rebellion against the majority juggernaut that doesn’t take kindly to dissent. Make a fist and show them what happens when they tell you what to think, feel and believe.
If you want me to unite to your cause, then end abortion, give the people back the money they earned, fight terror, keep your hands off free speech on the radio and enable job creators to make more jobs. Until then, screw your hope and screw your change.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
683 Comments
I too have maintained this for a long time. Think about it, What is "cool" about wanting your life to be run FOR you? What is COOL about Collectivism? Libs want to take every decision out of your hands, no smoking,no personal property, no guns, no free speech (unless it is Liberal speech), no picking your own damn lightbulbs, no living in the suburbs, no driving the kind of car you want, no keeping the temperature of your house where you want it, no trans fats, no soda, no free choice in pretty much ANYTHING without regulation. Oh, but you can have Sex however and with whomever you want!! Yippeee!! The libs have sold people a bill of goods, trying to show how "free" they are by running on Sex.. After that, the benevolent Government will make your decisions for you and you WILL LIKE IT DAMNIT! The Libs have the mainstream culture, they have the media, they have the movies and entertainment, they have the education system. Yet even still, Libs think they are so AVANT GARDE! What a joke. They don't realize they are just abunch of useless tools. Well, useful as idiots maybe but that is it.
So, wait. Whichever party is out of power is automatically punk? That's the dumbest thing I've heard.
Well, the key point of his argument is that Republicans are "anti-establishment" which, what?
Bravo!
“Make a fist and show them what happens when they tell you what to think, feel and believe.”
You encouraging violence against those you don’t believe in? Can I punch a Christian if he tries to get me to change what I believe in?
Dangerous words Mr T. Liberals never ONCE endorsed violence against the right when they were the punks.
Mainstream punk isn’t punk, it’s merely badly disguised pop. You can always tell: is it truly anti-establishment, or just anti- Republican?
O/T, sorta …
Over at threedonia.com, JS Lawalin just made a nomination for Super Bowl MVP:
Anyone who ‘trips’ over and disconnects the power cord at the Springsteen show.
OK, rock on.
DootnDoosh says “Liberals never ONCE endorsed violence against the right when they were the punks.”
You have honestly never seen Jane Fonda sitting with the North Vietnamese commies on an anti-aircraft gun? Or Michael Moore calling Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi a “freedom fighter”? Cindy Sheehan equating people that behead “infidels” to the minute men of the American Revolution? That list is endless…
Isn’t it interesting that now all of a sudden its ok for Obama to go on al-Arabiya and talk about his Muslim roots and family members but on the campaign trail that was “racism”? We have liberated Kosovo and Bosnian muslims in the balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, and have tried to get the “palestinians” to take yes for an answer to have a state instead of being terrorist. George W. Bush about a week after 9/11 was at some islamic center saying that “these people have hijacked a great religion”
Its Obama that is going back to the old ways of the past praising of dictators while struggling to support democracy in Iraq, or any sort of bold freedom agenda that is more thought out than Bush’s.
WHAT A FRAUD THE ERA OF OBAMA IS SO FAR!
or if ANY doorman lets you in with your bedwetter Glen Beck hairdo.
I never met a doorman who wouldn’t let any patron into the “club,” underground (illegal, fire trap rave) or otherwise, in exchange for a nice “stipend” (twenty bucks, a rock, a bindle-full, promise of ‘romance’).
Are you kiddin’? A hairdo?
Huh?Duh.The late, great Johnny Ramone, whose guitar style defines punk rock, talks a little about his own conservative politics here:
http://www.scrammagazine.com/johnnyramone
Best Punk Song of 2008- Citizen-Soldier by 3 Doors Down.
Best lyric in the song- “The strongest among you may not wear a crown.”
The original political punk rejected the brutality of nature and raised up humanity’s inherent and equal worth; liberty and equality replaced rule by the strong, rich, or deceitful.
How many people even know what either a citizen or a soldier is anymore?
Anyway, it’s a good song.
There is one gigantic problem with running on a platform of rebellion: once your Establishment enemy is destroyed, something has to replace it. It is not enough to oppose the Establishment; one has to propose a new one in its place.
My comment applies equally to artists of any political persuasion.
Well done, Doug. Very well done, contrary to the opinion of “Huh?” who is such a weasel he chose to be anonymous. Typical of the left-wing loonies – not enough conviction to stand up for anything. He couldn’t even get Glenn Beck’s name spelled correctly, or was that just another way to spit on the right?
No matter.
Thanks Doug.
The late, great Johnny Ramone.
Just seeing that badass picture perks up my day. A true iconoclast in the music world — a true iconoclast politically in the music world.
True original.
Huh? New Thinking. Newthink. Mmmmmm, where have I heard this before, and if I can’t buy it can I at least rent some? It sounds soothing and righteous.
Mr Blifil, I just wanted to make sure that by "medical procedures" you simply meant "abortions." From what I can gather by what Doug has written about abortion in the past, he's not against medical procedures per se, of course. If by "medical procedure," however, one means purposely killing an innocent child, then that's something else, isn't it? I'm not staking a position either way here. I'm merely pointing out that pro-life people think that that is what an abortion is. For pro-life people, abortion is not just about "a woman's uterus," as you seem to suggest, but (so they would say) an innocent human being in the womb being purposely killed.
As I said, I'm not arguing one way or another. I just hope that this reminder will help you in discussing this matter further with pro-life people.
HUH?- I’m a huge fan bands like Korpiklanni and Eluveitie. I’m also a big fan of this site, and George W Bush. I think you need to go back to Blabbermouth wherever your silly posts fit in.
I mean, your argument goes
punk = anti-establishment
Obama = establishment
GOP = anti-Obama
Therefore GOP = punk
That’s incredibly silly. Did that make Walter Mondale punk?
Hint: Walter Mondale was not punk
Doug,
If I may be so dated…..RIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I find it terribly amusing when you guys look to the RIGGED party system to look for someone to fight against the establishment. The Establishment controls both parties to give you the illusion you have a choice.
Read “The Creature from Jekyll Island.” You won’t believe how much you haven’t been told.
I’ve known this for years Doug. Now it’s official hopefully. If you disagree with the Left Establishment types you are the 3 E’s: Evil, the Enemy and(of course)an Extremist. It’s all so predictable that only idiots, the pathological and people with very low esteem take the endless stream of pablum seriously.
The extent that a work of art seeks to further a polital agenda, is the extent that it is dimished as a work of art. Political art is no art at all, but rather politics in rock and roll drag.
JWM
Yikes. Typos! Or maybe evil spirits stole my letters- yeah, that’s it.
Out evl sprits!
JWM
“Golden Girls with a soul patch”
what does that even mean?
Like, the show itself with a soul patch?
Or Betty White with a soul patch?
What?
Where am I?
Count me out of this silliness. Do not fall into the trap of being so enamored by the process of revolution, of destroying the Establishment, that you care nothing for the consequences.
Like I said before, another Establishment must necessarily replace it. Therefore, I reject this whole “anti-establishment” nonsense.
For the silly Liberals here, Doug was not making the point that establishment equals whoever is in power (be it 2 years, 4 years, or longer). However, the unimaginably cultish behavior of the musicians and other artists (including composing praise songs to Obama and making videos swearing allegiance) is far beyond anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. The very people who claim to be free of pop-culture peer pressure have become a caricature of themselves. It’s something most of us have seen for years….how they all have their “uniforms” that supposedly show their independence from the mainstream, but whenever challenged, they show just how thin their allegiance to rebellion really is.
That Bruce Springsteen and Bono are jokes is not anything new to most of us. That others are beginning to see it as well (and will rebel in a new direction), that’s going to be truly interesting and will start a different chapter in rock (although I don’t exactly expect Conservatism to be the direction taken to be cool).
Johnny Ramone was more than a conservative; he was a Republican.
OH MY, You left out the most punked out quasi-conservative rocker of all time – MY MAN FRANK ZAPPA! He ain’t the beard and mustache, zircon-encrusted, wild poster boy most people think. No drugs, small government, screw censorship. Married once, three nice kids.
AND WAY AHEAD OF HIS TIME. Y’all still ain’t caught up to him yet been dead 15 years.
Huh? takes his name from the response he gives when someone asks him what he does for a living. Or is it what he hears when he asks a girl out? or maybe it’s what he hears from the prostitutes when he shows them his goods? As for Blucas! he just appears to be confused. It must be that things with his Obamessiah aren’t going the way he thought they were.
as a single mother of three children who are in their ‘tweens’ this story brings tears to my heart i ofen tell my oldest son dean to throw out the rap! and let in the nuge! only buy american and no liveral arts in my house or he can find another place to live. my 15 year old daughtr waw into the beatles but i asked her to listen to ted nugent a few times because he’s both a christian and a conservative rock n roller and i had to threatend hr with moving the heck out and finding her own way but now she loves nugent and weve writen letters to him and sent him pictures
blucas!,
Yes, conservatives ARE anti-establishment, since the media, academia, and now the government (i.e. the three branches of The Establishment) are dominated by liberal folks. ipso facto – anti-liberal = anti-establishment.
Pretty simple.
And Doug. As someone who spent over a decade working in academia, your article is spot on.
Just PLEASE never use “Golden Girls” and “patch” in the same sentence ever again.
Alice Cooper? Staunch Christian Conservative.
Also a heck of a golfer. That’s what we get these days, people who can’t do better than copying someone’s act from 20 years earlier (except without the talent). That’s what passes for rebellion in today’s rock ‘n roll era.
Reasonsjester,
Scholar of Soviet history and a conservative with a satirical streak.
If I were you, I’d never turn my back to any of the other faculty in the dept.
…in spite of that rumor going around this thread that liberals are never violent.
Wow RJ, I had no idea you had those kinds of musical chops. I’ll agree with pretty much everything you cited. Especially Foo Fighters, who epitomize a band not really caring about trends or pop culture (and succeeding in affecting it because of their attitudes).
Old Metallica is spectacular (before they all got matching haircuts and outfits). Master Of Puppets is the mother of all songs about personal responsibility and consequences. I doubt they’re overly Conservative, but the message is anything but Liberal.
Des,
..and most importantly, Alice Cooper didn’t take himself seriously. He knew he was an entertainer, and never claimed to be a witch, or from another world, or in Satan’s fave 5. M. Manson, on the other hand, takes himself WAY too seriously, and comes across as the attention starved little teenager — moping around, committing very choreographed acts of rebellion, and claiming that “nobody understands me” and “life sucks, everything sucks.”
Liberals are sissies. Conservatives are armed forces, star athletes, heroes – risk takers who will stake their lives and refuse to cry victim. If conservatives ever shed their civility and started acting up like liberals, woe be to them. Conservatives are stronger, braver and have guns. Liberals would hide in a cave and piss themselves.
I like your thoughts. As long as the artist earns $$ on the free market, it’s art. When taxpayers have to support it, it’s not. In Obama’s world, taxpayers have to support more and more. Are you taxed enough yet?
Somebody tell my about Johnny Ramone…I remember he was popular but I don’t know what he stood for…Thanks!
abe lincoln = grand old punk
Um, wasn’t that Johnny playing guitar on rock’s most blantant anti-Reagan song, “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”? (I know, it was Joey’s song — he was as left as Johnny was right.)
I’m not sure what to make of this essay. Stan makes a good point — rock and the “counter culture” haven’t been “anti-establishment” for decades — they are the establishment — and a pretty reactionary establishment at that. In the late ’70s, at the dawn of punk, the big labels and radio stations that played the Eagles (ugh)reacted to the Ramones and the Pistols the same way the ’50s “establishment” reacted to E and Chuck Berry. (By the way, how could you possibly write that lede about rock’n'roll pioneers and leave out the one man who laid down the blueprint for everything that has followed in the past 50+ years?)
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing to see so many of these supposed cultural “rebels” going all-in for a politician, but this is nothing new — Francis Albert recorded a campaign song for JFK and Jolson did one for Warren Harding.
I don’t mind “political” music, even if I don’t agree with the politics in question (hell, one of my very favorite bands, the Clash, was slightly to the left of the Khmer Rouge), I don’t even mind if an artist or a band plays at a fundraiser or an inaugural event — but this current trend does smack a bit of “let us all sing the praises of the Dear Leader”!
Oh, and one more thing (as a famous dectective lieutenant used to say), and it has nothing to do with politics — on my list of Irish rock’n'roll bands, you will find the name Thin Lizzy several pages ahead of U2.
The #1 rule of Punk Rock: if you have to say your punk your not.
Republicans = Fail
No real punks would align themselves with either party FYI.
from Reason Jester…..
“This was a great article that makes a very good point: Left-wingers are a bunch of sell-outs.”
Speaking of which, I LMAO over the incident with Sprinsteen and Walmart. He said his crew didn’t check it out good enough or some non-sense.
Mistake indeed… he just sold out to WallyWorld for the bucks and got caught by his “will work for food” (translation: don’t want to work)looney leftest base! What a nitwit!!
Did the Right collectively take their delusion pills this morning?
The Future of “Punk” Rock: Douchebags in Suits cutting off funding to the arts and censoring and dividing and talking about “evil” this and promoting “Wars” on that. Boring.
You can’t claim to be anti-establishment just because you currently aren’t at the helm, your still there.
Punk is the struggle to be free from oppression. What does Obama offer us but an ever-expanding swarm of regulators and tax collectors to suck all the joy and freedom out of our lives. Every piece of “change” and “hope” coming our way arrives with force of law and at the point of a gun or a jackboot on the neck because left to our own devices we would never comply with his directives.
[...] stare, a blue logo and the drone-like vocabulary of emotive, vaguely inspiring chants. – Big Hollywood [...]
I love you.
Thanks for the link Joe Lima, Johnny was awesome.
————————————————-
Ya gotta laugh at all of these young folks thinking they are “edgy” and “anti-establishment” when you talk to them and they don’t even realize that they are just parroting what they were told by their teachers or by T.V. executives.
I got a kick out of it a couple of years ago when I heard that MTV, which features so many “artists” and shows that are anti-corporation and big business, has more commercials per hour than any other cable network. The Viacom (or whoever owns MTV now) executives are using anti-capitalism messages to make tons of money off of these brain dead kids. Ya gotta respect that.
Great article, Doug. I’m officially signing on with the Anti-Establishment.
See you in church tomorrow…
Hey Dootndooshbag you must have gone through our historically inadequate public school system or you just have CRS ( Can’t Remember Stuff ). “Liberals didn’t commit violent acts” – give me a hippy break – think 60’s and 70’s radicals for $500 – the Black Panthers, the Symbionese Liberation Army, Bill Ayers – oh! and what was his name in Helter Skelter – oh ya Charles Manson – Dooty you need to check your countrys’ history ……. IF YOU HAVE THE COURAGE
Um, wasn’t that Johnny playing guitar on rock’s most blantant anti-Reagan song, “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”? (I know, it was Joey’s song — he was as left as Johnny was right.)
I’m not sure what to make of this essay. Stan makes a good point — rock and the “counter culture” haven’t been “anti-establishment” for decades — they are the establishment — and a pretty reactionary establishment at that. In the late ’70s, at the dawn of punk, the big labels and radio stations that played the Eagles (ugh)reacted to the Ramones and the Pistols the same way the ’50s “establishment” reacted to E and Chuck Berry. (By the way, how could you possibly write that lede about rock’n’roll pioneers and leave out the one man who laid down the blueprint for everything that has followed in the past 50+ years?)
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing to see so many of these supposed cultural “rebels” going all-in for a politician, but this is nothing new — Francis Albert recorded a campaign song for JFK and Jolson did one for Warren Harding.
I don’t mind “political” music, even if I don’t agree with the politics in question (hell, one of my very favorite bands, the Clash, was slightly to the left of the Khmer Rouge), I don’t even mind if an artist or a band plays at a fundraiser or an inaugural event — but this current trend does smack a bit of “let us all sing the praises of the Dear Leader”!
Oh, and one more thing (as a famous dectective lieutenant used to say), and it has nothing to do with politics — on my list of Irish rock’n’roll bands, you will find the name Thin Lizzy several pages ahead of U2.
Bilefull you write well but inaccurately – you come off as quite intelligent so you’ll understand very well when I say to your “abstinence-only” statement is just more of the same kool-aid craziness you libs are so known for – you know dam well conservatives support and promote adoption centers and homes, birth control in its’ various forms and sex education that centers on marriage and monogamy – unfortunately your liberal ethos (or is it pathos) doesn’t allow you to recognize anything other than STD producing abhorant behaviour that’s celebrated to the detrimant of our society. No, I’;m not some bible thumper – I’m a 54 year old dad who’s seen it or experienced it all and I’m raising my 3 teenagers.
[...] Original post: Republican is the New Punk [...]
Thanx for that post, Mr Blifil. Now there’s absolutely no doubt that you haven’t got a clue who Johnnny OR The Ramones were. Those of us who knew da bruddas from day one know you’re full of crap.
“End abortion, give the people back the money they earned, fight terror, [keep] free speech on the radio and enable job creators to make more jobs.” Bravo. A very good summary of a just society.
All politicians are scum and the Republicans deserved to lose for allowing banks to leverage 30:1, CDOs, Credit Default Swaps, and other esoteric derivatives to run amok… this does NOT mean the current administration deserves anyone’s support. One gang of thieves and frauds replaced with another. Yes We Can.
This article isn’t as out-there as I originally thought… it brought to mind Paul Morrissey, who I wouldnt call a republican exactly (Warhol’s director and Lou Reed/Velvet Underground promoter), but he is definitely a huge Reactionary. I doubt he has much good to say about Bush, but you can bet he’s laughing at the braindead Kool Aid Drinkers who believe Obama is going to save the world.
Reasons, thanks for the suggestion and backdoor compliment – quite frankly I think Ann Coulter is the most succinct, hottest, erudite, take-no-prisoners, give-no-quarter, take-no-bull**** female commentator out there – I haven’t read any of her books; neither have I read any of the serious conservative authors books; I make it a point to listen, as much as I can, to a wide variety of broadcasts as I can. That and the web keeps me pretty well informed. I read for recreation and fiction is where it’s at for me.
Re: double post — forgiveness please!
From Mark Steyn at “The Corner,” what should be the final word on this article:
“As for ‘Republican being the new punk,’ only in the sense that McCain-Palin wound up like Sid and Nancy in the Hotel Chelsea.”
[...] http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/01/31/republican-is-the-new-punk/ [...]
An L.A. Punk legend (and no not from O.C.) I know recently said the EXACT same thing as Doug. For those of you who think you’re punk, alternative or counterculture, yet are part of the Obama nation, you’re done…you’ve lost all credibility. Do you really think Shepherd Fairey’s iconic portrait of Obama is a spoof of totalitarian art? I wouldn’t be so quick to make that bet. Now I’m not conspiratorial (truly I’m not) but wouldn’t the most obvious ploy be for those in power to consolidate behind an unassailable an benevolent leader…isn’t it the most convenient and oldest trick in the book. Does it ever dawn on you that hate Bush so much that having the government amass this kind of power makes the next Bush that’s elected much more powerful. (And don’t get me wrong, I like me some Bush)
The conservative philosophy (and eff off if you think it’s race baiting and war mongering…check your history those are historically Democrats traits) is that the individual knows what’s best for him or herself and that a government big enough to help us when we’re down is only a bigger weapon when someone with bad intentions holds the keys. The individual cannot flower when the majority holds the sickle of the state apparatus. Democrats and liberals are good American folks too…why have you lost your way?
As King Buzzo of the Melvins said when asked about Bush (paraphrasing) “You think (Bush) is a dictator, you haven’t seen nothing yet.”
Well put , Doug.
I couldn’t agree more.
I just had 2 comments removed after review – completely a mystery to me since i attacked no one in them and they were complimnetary and thankful in nature – what the heck did i do – no explanation offered either
Ya know,what was ” The Boss” thinking? He signs a deal with WalMart and doesn’t think there’ll be blowback from the left?
He’s not a great singer but I didn’t think he was tone deaf.
Yup, I just figured it out – I used asterisks after the word bull – the censors here need to unpucker a little i think and look at the context of what’s posted -my hope is that the intelligence level here is high enough to accomplish that – to interpolate to the level that distinguishes between the words “crap” and the other word that’;s certainly more profain makes one think that there’s another agenda here and that would be TERRIBLY disappointing
Thanks blowhole for trying to educate us about the Ramones.
I didn’t know they weren’t brothers.
Idiot. No wonder you you want to remain anonymous.
You’re a disgrace to your team.
You’re the Andruw Jones of the liberals
Reasons, thanks for the backdoor compliment re: Ann Coulter – I think she’s the most erudite, take-no-prisoners, take-no-crap, tell-it-like-it-is, hottest,accurate commentator there is. Don’t have any of her books or other authors that write in that style – i listen to broadcasts a lot and cruise the net. Typically I read for work or recreation only. The recreation reading is all about fiction intrigue,suspense,action,mystery and usually conservative authors. OK so much for my bio …..
Mr Blifil,
John dated my sister at one point. I worked part time at manny’s back in the mid 70s when they first got together. My cousin played in Shrapnel and my Dad’s best friend’s son played in Manster, so I saw a lot of early shows in NY before moving to PA. I know that there was bad blood between Jeff (Joey) and John until the end, but ask anyone who knows them and they’ll tell you that Jeff and Linda’s relationship had been on the outs for some time (if it was ever that strong to begin with) before she and John got together. My point was that you give DeeDee waaaaay too much credit for being the creative nucleus of the band, and nobody’s making any of them out to be the stalwart conservatives you mentioned, but they weren’t exactly the Leftist heroes you make them out to be, either. In fact, DeeDee was suprisingly ignorant of politics and world events in general (as well as just about everything else of any real import), especially at that time. John was the most informed of all of them. Ask Danny Fields.
By the way, you make the (common) mistake of taking Bob Christgau’s word as gospel. The Bus Boys recorded a song about the KKK in 1980, about a year before the Ramones did, but it was right about the time the Ramones started playing “The KKK took my baby away” during their live set. Come to think of it, why in the hell would you give a commercialized buttboy like Christgau any credibility whatsoever? Over the recent years the guy’s been not much more than a blowhard hack reciting press releases.
You don’t know jack.
Flamen, did you just call blowhole Emo?!!
I love you
Okay, Blifil…as far as myself I said conservative small government philosophy not Republican or Democrat.
Both parties share plenty of what you list…
Malfeasance…there’s only one malfeasance we’re currently dealing with is the financial crisis…Bush deserves blame, but he was following a liberal policy of providing home loans for those who couldn’t afford them. Nobody escapes that mess, and because the GOP was in the White House it lost it. Every Republican or Conservative I know would applaud that bit of justice if it weren’t for the fact that those now taking power share the same philosophy that got us in this mess. It is this kind of nexus of social justice and government that is the trade of every corrupt system.
Profiteering – Clinton made Dick Cheney’s company rich and signed the no-bid contract that Halliburton operated under during the Iraq war so that’s a draw. Not to mention oil for food. Much of the profiteering came to light because of the Bush administration’s audits then was used against them in the press.
Drowned (drownded???) cities – I know a relief coordinator who dealt with all entities during Katrina, it was not Blanco or Bush it was Nagin that held things up. No partisan edge there. Don’t take the fact that Bush didn’t land (and in his own words divert important resources to his visit) and use that to mean anything. Would you have liked Bush to break every law known to man and send the army into New Orleans without permission. Maybe he should have…but really?
Torture – It’s good that you don’t want our military to torture…but waterboarding vs. the torture that EVERY COUNTY ON EARTH except for Canada practices. Plus no liberal can use torture as a serious claim when they hold up Castro, Chavez and Che as pillars of justice.
Illegal wiretapping – This was always being watched and adjudicated by the courts. The only things that Bush did that were troubling to civil libertarians were signed off on by judges and members of both parties. And healthily members of both parties questioned it. How is this evidence that big government is good?
And tens of thousands dead for a lie? Whose Clinton’s, Al Gore’s…the Democrats that begged Bush to intervene in Iraq? No there was no way that Saddam could have chemical weapons that are easily reconstituted from basic chemicals. And in what name did Saddam’s victims die? We can debate this ad nauseum but it’s once again this reflexive modern liberals’ defense of dictators that sickens me.
BTW – Almost everyone in power now signed off on everything you railed against in your post. Yeah, Joe Biden, you couldn’t tell his opinions from Ben and Jerry for the last eight years…yeah right!
Am I afraid of the tire gauge police? Hell yeah. It’s just as odious as being wiretapped for no reason. Just ask folks in England. THERE LITERALLY ARE TIRE GAUGE POLICE!
But my point was non-partisan…it was ideological…you can disagree with Bush’s policies, that’s great, and many of us who appreciated him were p—-d at many things he did. in fact that’s my point. We can love our President but he should never be put forth as a messiah or an agent of change or king or the reason our life is going to suddenly get better. My point was that liberals used to be interesting. Their motto used to be “question authority”, their motto now is “Find out who doesn’t think just like us and stop them.”
Obviously the side that wants a smaller government is the more counterculture.
Keep the faith, baby!
Bilfy said…..I have yet to hear of a Republican initiative to widen access to contraception and/or increase education and awareness among the demographics most vulnerable to the occurrence of unwanted pregnancy. “Abstinence-only” programs have the distinction of leading to the highest rates of unwanted pregnancy in the nation in the areas where they are the only option allowed to be discussed or taught.
See, this is how you can tell someone spends most of his time talking to people who merely nod their head in agreement when you make stupid platitudes. Really Bilfy? The highest rates of unwanted pregnancies occur where there is abstinence only education? I’d laugh if it wasn’t so utterly pathetic. Go back to your insults, you really suck at fact-checking.
Hint: Walter Mondale was not punk
You’re right…he was disco.
Republican is the new punk. Heh. Okay, Doug. Tell you what. Let’s meet at the next RNC meeting. Or better yet? The next Republican convention. And you can point out all the punks.
I love the guy who tells you how un-hip you are and then goes on to educate us all on how ElectroClash and D+B “rule” these days. Does he thinks it’s 2001? Maybe he just awoke from a coma?
I want to say HELL YEAH!!!! i really do, but with the right’s boring ass leadership, i really can’t. we need some new, young blood, badly.
Their motto used to be “question authority”, their motto now is “Find out who doesn’t think just like us and stop them.”
Wow is that nicely said. Bernard Goldberg was on Medved’s radio show Friday, and a Liberal caller said his ideas were so far out that he, “Shouldn’t be allowed on the radio.” When Laura Ingram sat in for Bill O’Reilly, she had one of the goofy kids who protested Alberto Gonzalez at a college speech. The girl (who couldn’t be bothered not to dress like one of the Bratz dolls) flippantly said that Gonzalez didn’t have the “right” to speak at the college because of his behavior in the Bush administration. If you look at colleges all over America, you see Conservative speakers get shouted down, or have their invitations rescinded because some Liberal group doesn’t think they should be heard.
There may not be any “Punks” in the crowd at the Republican Convention, but the gutless way Liberals have behaved over the last couple of decades has far less in common with the essence of real Punk music, no matter who you’re listening to.
Mr. Blifil I thank you for coming here and am glad you’re a fellow American. But I bet you’ll someday become a conservative. I became one when I realized it was LESS racist than liberalism, more free speech than liberalism and provided safeguards from those practicing control in the guise of utopia. Read this site, take what you want. You can be a libertarian or a member of the religious right…that’ll encompass every belief your intellect can take you to. To be liberal you must hate America, hate industry and subscribe to 10 or so core beliefs. I’ve got a secret…you can’t hate America for the way it treats the world. We are the world…we’re people who came here from every corner legally to escape tyranny and make a living for their family. To invent the inventions and build the industries their countries suppressed out of fear that the people would control the means of production. Businesses are a collection of entrepreneurs and stock holders and pension funds. Not the domain of socialists’ caricature of villains. You’ll learn that.
The posters are right that the Republicans aren’t exactly punk rockers. But Doug is right in saying that that spirit now resides with us. And I have met Republican punk rockers, and gay people and homeless activists despite the lefts’ self preserving smears. And amen to poster Carter for saying that we need exciting leadership. Let’s hope Steele is a good start but it’s up to all of us.
Doot……..you are delusional. Liberals never engaged in or condoned violent behavior……Have you been under a rock the past 20 years ?
No one among Progressives seems too concerned with the huge bait & switch. Would we have had hordes of stupid young white “idealists” running around harrassing everyone to vote for Obama last fall, if they knew “change” meant Clinton retreads and assorted Democratic machine hacks? Ha, change we can believe in indeed. Professional job holders.
Republicans definitely deserved to lose. When the economy is booming, the president usually gets all the credit, if it’s tanking he gets all the blame, so it’s sort of an even trade-off, since he probably has little to do with either (see Bill Clinton)
The Human Race seems doomed to advance in the lowest possible gear.
I believe Marilyn Manson publicly supported Bush, in the beginning anyway… something to do with his Tipper Gore experience.
David Mamet and the Twin Peaks guy (avant garde director, cant think of his name…) are both rather conservative.
To the extent Republican meant leaving everyone alone as much as possible, it makes sense. But that’s not what Republican means any more. The best govt on earth is always the least intrusive. I’m not sure that option exists anywhere now.
Can I still get in on a CDS that guarantees a return if TARP fails? I’d like to bet against it.
I’ve been wondering for some time why people who wear Birkenstocks(or the equivalent), clothing that looks like burlap sacks, have unwashed hair, and a religous zeal for forcing conformity to their ideology are considered cool. I guess it may be because they consider it their, and everyone’s, duty to have sex with anyone they have eye contact with and access to any and all mind altering substances.
That isn’t cool. They’ve managed to turn sex–which mostly used to be referred to as making love–into a soulless, mechanical, itch-scratching act and all those lovely drugs cause far more problems than solutions.
Lefties aren’t cool at all and never have been. In reality they are bossy, controlling, humorless freaks of society.
Did you see the cover of Mechanical Animals? lol… there’s just something incredibly funny about a guy in a skin-suit with breasts, supporting Bush. Lunchbox is a nice tune. Nobodies. There are worse bands than Marilyn Manson. Great? No. Entertaining? Definitely.
Anyway, Bush DID make sense at the time. Personally I thought we should kill every muslim male over the age of 12, disperse the women and children across the planet. So ends jihad. However, that would be politically non-feasible for either side, few common sense solutions are. We have an overcrowded planet, we can certainly afford to lose a billion people (and more!). The only downside I can see: all the boo-hoo-ery which would follow becoming unendurable. Generally I like war. I’m glad Obama is sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan if for no other reason it’s an affront to the peaceniks who supported him. It’s the one thing he’s doing that I really approve of. Marines are bored with Iraq anyway, it’s not the adventure they were promised. At least not now.
Oh dear, another one of these things.
I would ask the author to define conservatism as a political philosophy. After he’s thought it over see if he can still link a romantic movement worshiping Whitman’s barbaric yawp to anything like conservative politics. Conservatism at its heart validates and even celebrates the limitations of us mere humans–mortal and unable to mend cosmic injustices for ourselves, much less an entire nation, much much less the whole world. It’s the movement of letting the people sit down, shut up, and do their jobs without troubling them with any messianic enthusiasm. How inspirational is that? You gonna write songs about that sort of thing?
So Obama is the rock n’ roll Pan figure described so well in “Triumph of Vulgarity”. The fact he was elected to the highest office in the US on a wave of romantic enthusiasm does not suddenly turn Bob Dole, Lynn Cheney, and the ghost of Ronald Reagan into punk rockers.
+10!
Everyone go back and listen to “California Uber Alles”, and tell me that Jello didn’t see this coming a mile away. Whoda thunk that Jello would be a conservative (ok, libertarian) back in 1980?
Remember: “The alternative to the spectacle is the spectacle of the alternative”
http://www.ace.mu
http://www.ace.mu.nu/
Sorry wrong link.
Dootndoosh: Never endorsed violence? How about all those ‘liberals’ who stated with incredible arrogance that Sarah Palin should’ve have aborted her youngest son? How about all those riots whenever the G8 meets? How about the Left’s behavior at the RNC Convention?
As for punching Christians, go right ahead, we will only pray harder for your salvation.
Meghan McCain called likened Republicanism to being a punk. She was widlely criticized and mocked by the very people who voted for the conformity our new marxist president promises. Yeah, baby! Nothing says PUNK like being a ward of the state!
Back in the late 80s/early 90s, when liberal NYC was awash in crime like you can’t even picture these days… I remember my friends being appalled that I was watching Newt’s class on Mind Extension University on cable. They wanted to shut that down fast. Why? This was during a time when I was trying to make sense of people and their so-called beliefs. I no longer expect people to make sense. In any case, it was my first first-hand experience with Progressive Liberals and their hostility to ANY idea that has not been approved from party leadership. They have not changed one iota.
I had to laugh when three electricians came to my house the other day; Two had more metal in their faces than the guy in the Iron Mask. Bleach-tipped hair, ….I asked “So, how’s business these days?” “not good, but it’ll pick up” I said “with OBAMA? Mr. Gloom and Doom, who’d hire anybody or buy anything?” They stood there, stunned, and said “You don’t like Obama?” I said “NOPE!” Turns out THEY didn’t, either…all 3, TOTAL conservatives. ONE said “I’m from Kitchner, Canada…and I moved here to ESCAPE Socialism…and now, with Obama, I’m back in it again!” ya, I know how he feels.
‘Oh Navel,Navel’…GREAT COMMENT.
Thank you Doug! Your statement is perfect. As a longtime lover of rock n roll, (a really lonnnnnng time, I’m old) I have watched it change from something that set trends- presents ideas and the middle finger to the status quo- into red carpet dandies showing off the latest designer clothing like hangers with eyeballs. Although there are a couple bands out there who are the real thing, you can tell they keep there heads down so as not to get them cut off. They are a sad bunch indeed. The beginning of the end came with the appearance of the “art school rocker” replacing the working class guy who picks up a guitar and has something to say. Worse yet the guy impersonating the working class guy! The rest have just followed like the lemmings they are. I do have hope in some of the young ones out there. Time will tell if the machine eats them or they eat the machine.
wow, I knew libertarians had “liberal” in them, but this article with inaccurate generalizations. this article not only doesn’t have the facts to back up it’s arguments (about obama, or rock music), but it also shows a lack of knowledge about art’s intention. *sigh* but it is kind of interesting to think about.
Underling,
Great posts. We’re on the same page.
Doug TenNapel is a graphic novelist, video game designer and writer. His
video game creation EARTHWORM JIM enjoys unmerited respect in the world of gaming.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unmerited
Adj. 1. unmerited – not merited or deserved; “received an unmerited honorary degree
epic fail from the bio to this drivel
Hey TRL…Just a question, were those punks singing na na na to Bush in the Viacom tent or at the MSNBC Corporate Free Speech area? Your version of punk is picking the Mac guy over the PC guy.
Google: "the list punk" You will see a huge list of Bay Area music.
Frankly, conservatives suck. Listen to the oppurtunist who host the right wing radio and television. They are not doing this to get the word out. They are ranting right wing propagand to make millions off of their minnions.
First, good Christians do Gods work. So you haters that call yourselves conservatives should understand that you are here to serve others. It is all about "Getting Mine" to the conservatives. "Don't tax me and support those welfare Moms. Let them starve…" "Stop the Mexicans from coming here…" Yet they want a cheap salad, car wash, aand landscaper.
[...] So suggests this piece. [...]
The worst thing that ever happened to rock and roll was when it decided it needed to ally itself with “progressive” politics.
Rock and politics is not the issue here — it’s rock and government. We’re about to see a reprise of the “liberal fascism” the country experienced when all those Hollywood stars were appearing in NRA (not the good one — FDR’s National Recovery Administration)propaganda shorts.
On the other hand, I did approve of Nixon making E an honorary DEA agent so he could keep an eye on some those show biz types who were taking drugs (unfortunately, nobody was keeping an eye on E).
The entire premise this article is based on is paper-thin nonsense. “Conservatives want smaller government” is bad comedy. After 8 years of W. in the White House and 6 years during which Repubs held all the levers of power, both the size of government and the deficit were at their highest levels in history. There’s no shifting the blame on Dems either, because this was the state of things in -2006-.
Republicans want less government in our lives. Except when it comes to abortion. Or school censorship. Or the freedom to assemble and protest. Or the freedom to choose who we will call our spouse. Or when a duly-elected state assembly votes to set its own environmental policy. Or when terminally ill cancer patients want access to medical marijuana after every other pain medication has ceased to help. And on, and on, and on. Republicans only want smaller government when it suits them, and where the larger society conflicts with their values they’re just fine with using the state.
A Republican Congress and a Republican president have also given us one of the most threatening pieces of legislation in American history, one which shreds the spirit of civil democracy. It’s the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and it explicitly states that anyone:
“before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.”
A “competent tribunal” is left for the President to define. From now on, you are an “enemy combatant” if the President says you are, and there’s contradictory language within the bill itself regarding whether this applies to only foreign nationals or citizens as well. At the very least, this oversight demonstrates incompetence and lack of simple consideration for where such a dangerous bill might lead down the years ahead.
End abortion. Sure. Conservatives love the unborn, right up to the moment they’re born. A sea of unwanted, unloved children. Great idea. You’d need more schools, more roads, more prisons, etc. How is that “small government”?
You must be logged in to post a comment.