“The Hunger Games” trilogy is based in a country named Panem, which is located on the ruins of North America. Within the country of Panem there are two types of societies, the tyrannical Capitol and the twelve districts.

The Capitol of Panem is the perfect exhibition of power and sheltered opulence. The citizens are rich, well fed, and stocked with everything nice. But while the Capitol is throwing their big parties and buying expensive goods, the districts surrounding them are working hard to fulfill the Capitol’s every need, leaving them with next to nothing.

The twelve districts of Panem are full of misery, poverty, and food shortages. Each of the districts has an assigned duty by the Capitol, from agriculture to coal mining; they work hard and suffer to provide their designated good. The citizens of the districts live within the tyrannical laws of the Capitol, and if they ever decide to break the law, they are sure to pay. The Capitol strives every day to remind the people of the districts that their reign is supreme, and one of their favorite torture devices is the annual Hunger Games.

Every year the Capitol goes around to each of the districts to select two teenagers to fight ’til the death. With 24 in the beginning, only one will win–well, usually, that is.

This story’s Hunger Games had a few twists and turns in it, and they were not set up by the Capitol. Katniss and Peeta, district twelve residents, decide to give the Capitol a run for their money in this year’s Hunger Games. They are tired of the constant oppression and refuse to be pieces in the Capitol’s game. When the Capitol gets a hint of Katniss and Peeta’s plan, they react and turn their lives into a living hell, triggering a complete rebellion in the process.

Many people disregard the fact of how political the “Hunger Games” series is. But when you look at the full picture Collins displays, it is impossible not to see the political trend. Throughout all three books there is a constant battle of tyranny verses freedom.

There is no word on Collins’ political views, but it is obvious she has distaste for government control. She makes it clear that the only way the characters can have freedom is to overthrow their big government machine. I find it hard to believe the books are only coincidentally based in the ruins of America. Could Suzanne Collins be hinting she believes the country’s current trends will lead to an economic collapse?

America’s current situation is one that is leading towards government domination, and though we are not even close to the extremities of “Panem,” it is hard not to imagine what lies ahead. It is gloomy to think of the possibilities of the future, yet refreshing to know that one of the world’s most popular books (and soon to be movies) are ones that actually go against the liberal agenda of larger government influence.

I urge everyone to read this book and to dig deeper. Whether you’re looking to just escape for a while or are in need of some political motivation, “The Hunger Games” is sure to please.

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As with the majority of the conservative artists in the Tea Party movement, Jeremy has been traveling around the country performing on his own dime and as many fellow musicians know, studio time costs a pretty penny.  Jeremy has set up a project page where fans can participate in the production of his new songs by helping defray some of his costs, getting a few “thank you” goodies in return, and even a shout-out in his video.

Here’s what Jeremy has to say about how he got started in music and how he ended up using his talents to wake his fellow Americans up:

***

Have you heard about “Poetry Night” at the White House?  I find it appalling and very inappropriate (yet not at all that surprising) that the Obamas have invited “Common”, a rapper who grew up in the pews of America-hating “Reverend” Wright’s church, who he describes as an “intelligent, strong individual…a great man…a conduit of love.”   He denigrates women with his misogynistic lyrics, promotes killing cops, and burning (President) Bush. Isn’t that special?  His lyrics have been praised by a Fox News reporter as being “very positive.”  Are you kidding me?

Hi Caliber

This is just another tactic this administration is using to convince young Americans that Barrack Obama is just that “cool” and that these are the kinds of artists your kids should be listening to.

Please.

In the New York Times Bestseller Obama Zombies:  How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation, author Jason Mattera describes how liberals successfully launched their highly successful technology-based campaign to take advantage of and brain-wash his generation into becoming “zombies” for Team Obama.  They used every facet of new media to reach our youth through their computers, iPods, and cell phones via new media venues and services like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and text messaging and “rocked the vote” in favor of “That One.”

Thankfully, we conservative keyboard warriors are fighting back with those very same tactics to reach our young voters using every weapon in our arsenal (e.g., conservative websites, blogs, video rants, music, books, artwork, and the list goes on).   In less than two years (since the 2008 elections), through the effective use of  new media, the TEA Party movement managed to rise up and put a major hurtin’ on the Democrats in the House and Senate in the mid-term elections.  It was interesting to note that younger voters seemed less than enthusiastic about voting in 2010.  Perhaps voter’s remorse is setting in?

Good.

Make no mistake, we have our work cut out for us and it is up to us to reverse the damage done by the left to our kids.  We need to keep hammering away at them with the truth, we need to speak their language, and present the conservative message in ways they are more apt to take notice.  One way is through the music they listen to.

Allow me to introduce Hi Caliber.

Hi-Caliber, one of our fine culture warriors at BigDawg Music Mafia, is a conservative hip-hop artist, a proud TEA Party member, and political talk radio guru.  His mission is to battle the left-wing media with a tool rarely used by his fellow right-wingers.  That tool is hip-hop.  Hi Cal states:

The goal is to show our youth that being patriotic is “cool” and that not all conservatives are rich, racist, hatemongers as some would have them believe.

After a political and spiritual awakening in 2001, Hi Cal discovered conservative talk radio and accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  It was shortly after that he decided to combine his life-long passion for hip hop with his new-found passion for politics.  His first “buzz” came during the 2008 election when he recorded a song called Use Your Brain which gained multiple spins on the Imus in the Morning show.

Hi-Cal  had heard a lot about the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2009 and decided he needed to be there. With absolutely zero contacts or connections, a backpack loaded with copies of his first CD Mr. Conservative, and $30 to his name, he showed up in an old beat-up Buick carrying a sign that said “Support Conservative Music”.   He was approached by liberal blogger, Max Blumenthal, who was looking to depict him as a nut job.  Hi Cal “spit” a couple rhymes on camera which later showed up on the Daily Beast and Breitbart.tv.

Chris Ross is a great American, an amazingly gifted musician/singer-songwriter, and a superb conservative voice in the fight to save this great country.  Upon hearing the first few bars of his song Freedom, I knew I was going to really dig his music.  I was right.  I was instantly hooked.  His songs and vocal style remind me of the music of the band America  which I loved back in the day (and still do).  How very apropos.  When he recently posted one of his newest songs, Restoring Honor, featured on the WatchGlennBeck.com site, I just knew this song would resonate with so many Americans.  And it is doing just that.

After I contacted Chris and told him I wanted to do a BigDawg Spotlight piece on him and asked him for his bio, what he sent me turned out to be so much more that I decided to let him answer the opening question himself.

I grew up listening to music.  My father, a rabid music fan, introduced me to the sounds of the 60s and 70s and I’ve had a passion for music ever since.  Today, it is easy to hear these influences in my music.   My sound is a combination of modern acoustic pop and country with some classic 70’s rock mixed in.

In June of 2004 I released my debut CD entitled American Dream featuring heart-filled originals as well as classic covers.  This labor of love proved to be a success and spent 10 straight weeks on the top 10 list at www.cdfreedom.com. That site now is www.Nimbit.com.  The title track of the album American Dream was inspired by the events of 9-11 and the start of my political awakening.  Basically, I was sick of hearing Hollywood types complain about how bad America was and was deeply affected by the events of 9-11 losing a high school friend who was a flight attendant on the 2^nd flight that hit the tower. That Song American Dream was the first moments of me waking up politically.

In 2007 and 2008 I began writing more political-themed songs. As the Presidential race of 2008 started to heat up I wrote my first song that reached national attention. My song Freedom was featured on both the Glenn Beck Radio show and the Alex Jones radio show in the Spring of 2010. It was also named by the Huffington Post as one of the top 10 Tea Party themed songs of 2010. It currently has close to 20k views on YouTube and has been a successful single on iTunes. The song has also been featured on NewZeal.Blogspot (now TrevorLouden.com), Watchglennbeck.com and many other patriotic websites across the country.  This song has been an absolute God-send to me.  I have deep faith and this song was one of those instances where I truly felt the Holy Spirit influence me while writing this. I believe we are all here for a reason at this point in time and we all have our jobs to do. I think this is one of my callings — to help get the message of Freedom out.

I care so much about my country and I can’t even fathom that there are people out there who would rather live in Tyranny instead of Freedom. One of the things Glenn Beck really has nailed is that this is truly all about Individual Freedom and Liberty vs. Collective Liberty.  Collective Liberty is much easier to control because it is Liberty for the good of all.  Well, who decides what is good for all?  That is the most important question.  By the way, our forefathers fought for Individual Freedom and Liberty over a tyrannical King.  The French fought for Collective Liberty.  So it is easy to see why America is who she is and France is who she is.  How could we have fallen so far so fast?  That is what I am aiming to do is to help wake people up and inspire them to relearn the values that our forefathers taught us

Recently, I have joined an amazing group of fellow conservative artists at Big Dawg Music Mafia.  This was an idea I have had for a long time.  Back two or three years ago I was amazed at how little of a forum conservative voices really had.  Particularly with all of us musicians out there.  However, having a full time job, a family, plus my own gig schedule with music, it was impossible to find time to do it.  But it was amazing the amount of musicians I was meeting from just my song Freedom across the country that I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this popped up.  I was very encouraged by the amount of people I started to see who were speaking out for their country.  I really commend the job Lisa Mei and BigDawg do in promoting all of us. It really is like a conservative record label. We are all helping each other out and promoting songs and videos on social media forums like Facebook. We are also collaborating with each other.  For instance, I wrote a song called 1776 that Toots Sweet, another Big Dawg’er, is in the studio recording right now.  I wrote that song with him in mind. So we are all trying to help each other out but, more importantly, help our country out in winning the culture war.  I think we are producing a bunch of conservative Bob Dylan’s and Crosby Stills and Nash’s from the 60’s but in a modern and conservative way.  We desperately need to get young people engaged in this movement.  We need young people to realize that living in a free country is way cooler than living in a country where the government tells you what to eat, where to go and watches what you say because it may offend someone. How is turning into a robot from a movie like Minority Report cool?  But nonetheless I feel like at least right now the left is winning the battle for young people.  Through music and multimedia I think we can turn that around though.

Make no mistake, this is a battle.  We all hope as conservative musicians that this remains a peaceful battle fought on the battlefield of ideas, debate and ballot boxes.  We hope to win the culture war and hope to wake America up!  We are a true grassroots organization.  We are not Astroturf like these Union thugs that recently tried to interrupt the Boston Tea Party Rally and other Rally’s across the country.  Check out this video of them trying to yell over me with a bullhorn while I was playing my song Freedom.

Then these same goons had the gall to boo and yell over the opening prayer at this event.

It is no wonder why these organizations are forcing their members to go out and disrupt these events. Their very livelihood is at stake. To our fault, we have allowed our society to go on too long with entitlements and so many rely on Mommy and Daddy or better yet Uncle Sammy to solve all of their problems and take care of us. We have been conditioned not to question anything that is being decided for us because it is for our benefit.  However Thomas Jefferson once said:

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.

I intend to live this way.  I intend to proclaim the values of Freedom and the values in which this country was formed.  I will continue to do so unashamed and with a loud but hopefully pleasantly sounding musical voice.

Thanks, Chris…I couldn’t have said it better.

I got a chill (the good kind) when Chris said about his song Freedom:

I have deep faith and this song was one of those instances where I truly felt the Holy Spirit influence me while writing this.

It is never a surprise to me when I learn great patriots like Chris trust in God, use their faith as their moral compass, and always remember to give Him the glory.  It is the very thing that I know in my heart is grossly lacking from the hate-filled leftists depicted in his videos above (and some others I’ve come across from the recent Tax Day TEA Parties that are beyond vile).

I’m stoked to have Chris join our BigDawg Brigade (our site volunteers) as our New Media Coordinator as he clearly understands and appreciates the value of using social networking sites to grow our movement.  I look forward to the privilege of  finally meeting in person and performing with Chris at the National TEA Party Convention in Memphis in September.

Please do yourself a favor and “friend” this great culture warrior and musician on FaceBook, subscribe to his YouTube channel, and show him some love by purchasing and sharing his amazing “freedom music“.

The beauty of having a central gathering place online is the great networking and collaborations taking place.  Case in point, one of our gifted members, Joe Dan Gorman, who has some great, hard-hitting conservative messages in his songs and videos (a couple of which YouTube has banned – “You(Tube) can’t handle the truth!”…this will be a topic for another day), recently wrote and produced a new music video entitled We Will Not Submit and invited some of our members to join him in recording some back-up vocals for the song and taking part in his video, and it is already getting tons of great reviews and being aired on conservative internet and AM/FM radio stations across the country.

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Other recent collaborations include  AlfonZo Rachel, Nate Smoove, and Rufus Troutman on their latest song, Government Not the Answer.  Bobby Powers and Party Time, my songmate, BigDawg, and I recently collaborated on Freedom Reigns and performed an acoustic version at our CPAC Liberty Fest.  Several other cool collaborations are currently underway between members of our site – something BigDawg and I are thrilled to see.

We are not just about music, though.  We have also attracted filmmakers like Wendy Goldman and Becky Best, of Crusader Pictures, who are currently writing the script for their Feature Film Comedy, An Incorrect Man: “a comedic look at a world overrun with political correctness and bloated bureaucracy, where one man makes a stand—and gets hammered”…and are seeking support via a site called Kickstarter which enables everyday citizens to get involved in projects such as this one.  They will be filming in Nashville, as music will play a large role in their project and they look forward to working with some of our site members.

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Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and “Al Gore’s Internet,” these collaborations are taking place without members actually working together face-to-face which should encourage those of you who think you need a lot of cash, a band, a fancy studio, or production company to make things happen…and things are, indeed, happening. 

BigDawg Music Mafia is fast becoming the “go-to” place for conservative organizations looking for talent for their upcoming events and projects.  Fellow culture warrior and radio talk show host, Jason Worley, has requested some music for his Denver-based radio show, Grassroots Radio Colorado on 560 AM, KLZ and member Melody Himel Scalley, host of Politics on the Edge on 103.3 FM, WESR, is using one of my songs to open her show.  Liberty Bell Radio has also had a few members on their show and has been playing our members’ music.  Mark Skoda, who just launched a new radio show and television station (to be syndicated) in Memphis, will be teaming with us on upcoming projects.  California-based radio host, Alana Burke has also joined our site and will be inviting members to share their music on her show.  We’ve also been approached by NBRN.FM, a Nashville radio station, for some of our music for their broadcast rotation, and by a media company looking for talent for a project they are working on.  We were just recently approached for possible teaming with media company Reload with Emmy-winning director Steve Feldman whose goal is to produce movies, television shows, and mobile device apps that are created from a conservative (Biblical) worldview.  Some of our members are also going to be performing at the Freedom Jamboree in Kansas City this Fall as well as a TEA Party vs Hollywood:  PUT-UP or SHUT UP Tennis Challenge For A Cure event that one of our members, Ruth Bryant White, is helping plan for October 2011 at Caesar’s Palace and The Darling Tennis Court.  This is a charity event being held in honor of Shannon Tavarez, the 11 year old star of Broadway’s The Lion King who lost her battle with leukemia last November.  The event will have TEA Party leaders and superstars challenging Hollywood and “Mainstream Media” personalities in tennis matches (including table tennis!).   I would so love to see Sarah Palin and Kathy Griffin duke it out.  No contest there!  These are just a few examples of how all the great networking is opening doors to our members…and we are just getting this party started!

The key to growing this movement of conservative culture warriors is agressive marketing and networking with other conservative organizatons.  I just had the great honor of representing BigDawg Music Mafia at an Emergency Conservative Leadership Summit in Washington DC at which over 50 TEA Party & other conservative leaders met to strategize a way forward toward 2012, to work together to keep eachother informed on the issues and what each respective organization is focused on.  I plan on staying fully engaged with these fine patriots to constantly drive our message home.

Still think it can’t be done?  Just watch us.  Got talent?  Join us.  Need talent?  We got that.  And to those who want us to “sit down and shut up”…we have a message for you:  “We will NOT submit”.

That, of course, was just their public face; in reality, it soon became clear, they are ugly and reptilian under their human skins and have an agenda to exploit humanity in some way, either as slaves or as food or both, or perhaps some even worse and more horrible fashion. And a small group of people have divined this agenda and set up a small, loose, but dedicated resistance organization.

Central to the narrative is the resistance against an intrusive government that claims to be for nothing but the good of humanity but is in fact pursuing sinister, elitist, and exploitative hidden agendas. As such, the show makes a strong commentary on contemporary political issues and constitutes one of the most frankly libertarian TV series seen in many years. In addition, it suggests strong approval of religion, specifically Christianity, in a way that makes the resistance group a spot-on analogue to the current-day Tea Party movement.

In episode 5, “Welcome to the War,” for example, the “visitors” clearly display the trappings of an oppressive government: claims of exclusively benevolent intentions; a large, complex organization devoted to the will of a single leader and small cadre of elite satraps; exercise of raw power against opposition whenever it can be accomplished in secret; use of sympathetic media mouthpieces and propaganda techniques; highly advanced military power and surveillance capabilities; vastly greater power than the people over whom they want to rule; use of deception and scapegoating  in order to undermine resistance; and the like.

A member of the Christian clergy, Father Jack Landry (characterized excellently by Joel Gretsch), remains central to the resistance effort, along with FBI agent Erica Evans (likewise well played by Elizabeth Mitchell). Both are determined, kindly, and fundamentally decent and unselfish. Father Jack continually wears the traditional turned-around collar identifying him as a clergyman.

Leading the visitors, by contrast, is Anna, an extremely charismatic woman whose appearance includes both Caucasian and African characteristics. Anna claims to be for treating all people as equals and helping those who haven’t been successful in life, stopping just short of directly quoting President Obama and other progressive politicians. As the show progressed through its first season, however, she was increasingly revealed as a cold-hearted monster whose words of benevolence are entirely phony.

In episode 8, “We Can’t Win,”, for example, one of the V leaders describes flooding caused by a monsoon, which has possibly killed thousands of people, as a “tragedy.” “No,” says Anna, smiling triumphantly, “an opportunity,” echoing the words of former Obama aide Rahm Emanuel. Later, Anna tells a sympathetic journalist, “There’s tragedy every day all over your world. So many opportunities to help.”

In that same episode, Anna and the visitors continually refer to their takeover plans as “progress,” an apparent allusion to contemporary statists’ self-description as progressives.

As noted, the religious orientation of the show is strongly Christian. The leaders of the resistance use a church as their base of operations, and the climactic scene of “Welcome to the War” takes place in the church’s sanctuary. The church thus serves as a source of sound, eternal values and gives emotional strength to the resistance. The resistance members are clearly shown to be in the movement to protect their families, faith, freedom, and personal integrity.

In another positive allusion to Christianity, resistance member Georgie sacrifices his life to ensure that he won’t give away the identities of the other resisters, an evident allusion to Christ and to subsequent Christian martyrs. The show doesn’t avoid difficult moral quandaries, either: in “We Can’t Win,” Father Jack shoots a human agent of the Visitors.

The Visitors, too, recognize the power of religion, but they use it to their own ends. Erica’s teenage son, Tyler, becomes interested in “The Church of V” concocted by the Visitors as another means of distracting people from their real intentions.

In addition to the human resistance, among the aliens are some good individuals who sympathize with the humans. In fact, “John May,” the first V to turn against Anna, actually started the resistance. His name is of course reminiscent of John Galt, the hero of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. Two prominent aliens working against their government are given biblical names, Joshua and Samuel.

Episode 9, “Heretic’s Fork,” includes allusions to Nazi eugenics programs, with V doctors performing experiments on live human subjects. These events also resonate with contemporary issues such as elective abortion and embryonic stem cell research, however, as when Anna refers to an unborn V-human hybrid baby as a “mongrel” and insists it should be put to death in the womb. In “We Can’t Win” she kills an unborn Visitor just to make a point in a personal conversation.

The media’s role in pushing for big government is also prominent in the show. Newsman Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), for example, offers to do a story about the Fifth Column, the small group of humans who distrust the visitors. “Just point me in the right direction,” he tells Anna. Later, he meets Father Jack in the latter’s rectory and asks him for information about the Fifth Column. Jack says he doesn’t know anything, and this and a subsequent scene leave it ambiguous as to whether Chad is really cooperating with the visitors or acting as a double agent.

As the season progresses we find that the resistance, have been falsely branded as terrorists, and FBI agent Erica is assigned to head task force to find fifth columnists, Visitors who oppose their leaders’ plan to exploit humanity.

All of that leads to “Red Sky,” the finale of season one. The Vs are about to attack the earth openly and take over. A fifth columnist willingly gives up his own life to save all of mankind and his fellow Fifth Columnists, in a Christlike sacrifice. Tellingly, the Fifth Columnist is named Joshua, the Old Testament translation of the Jewish name translated as Jesus in the New Testament. Later in the episode, Joshua is resurrected, literally brought back to life.

After Joshua’s killing, Father Jack preaches a sermon in which he tells his congregation, “You are going to have to choose who you’re going to follow: the V’s or God. Because you can’t serve two masters. . . . There is a war upon us: a war for our souls.”

The war resumes tonight.

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Co-produced by Big Hollywood contributor Larry Schweikart, who first wrote about this issue in his book 7 Events That Made America America, and narrated by Adam Baldwin, Rockin’ the Wall gives viewers an intimate look into life in East Berlin, where citizens were restricted by a literal concrete wall from the same free enterprise and thought that their neighbors in the Western half of the city enjoyed.  Commentators in the film range from bow tie-wearing historians to shaggy-haired rock musicians, with the most interesting tidbits coming from individuals who had lived under Soviet rule in East Berlin (some of whom escaped before the wall fell).  Noting that this was the first time in history where walls were used to keep citizens in rather than invaders out, the film conveys a palpable feeling of the quiet rebellion simmering against a regime so petty as to restrict women from putting their hair in ponytails.

The film’s thesis, that rock and roll music brought down the wall, seems spurious at first.  After its fast-paced introduction, we’re treated to a montage of aged musicians opining on the nature of rock and roll, how it embodies liberty and rebellion, and we’re thinking, “Okay, but how does this relate to–” right as director Marc Leif unleashes a barrage of information that convincingly portrays rock music as the driving force of anti-Communist subversion.  We learn about Radio Free Europe, whose modern music penetrated the wall and was forbidden by the Soviets.  We learn about the black market for Western records, where demand was so high that a single LP could cost 1/10th of a week’s wages.  We learn about the conferences for young people warning them of the physical and mental dangers of rock and roll.

We hear the testimony of artists who lived behind the Wall, how Western music represented the freedom they desired and confirmed the inauthentic nature of state-subsidized music (and therefore, the state itself).  We hear how the messages of social change (sometimes incarnated in the bands themselves, such as the interracial Southern blues-rock group “Mother’s Finest”) resonated deeply with the East Berliners.  Finally, we get the perspective of Western musicians who were able to tour behind the Iron Curtain, including one funny incident involving Mother’s Finest and a policeman fan.  When you think that the film can’t take its argument any further, there’s an anecdote involving Leslie Mandoki, a Hungarian music producer, and Mikhail Gorbachev that lays a triumphant capstone on the wall of evidence that had been previously prevented.

The film is well-produced and chock full of all sorts of modern videography flourishes:  split-screen, shallow focus, re-enactment B-roll footage, and the like.  The split-screen can get a little distracting and displays varying degrees of polish throughout the film’s run-time, but thankfully there’s always a steady shot of the interviewees.  Even when the subject shifts to the depressing conditions of Soviet life, the talking heads keep the tone light-hearted, so the climax of the film, chronicling the fall of the wall, isn’t quite the catharsis it could be, but it’s still poignant if not powerful.  The soundtrack features a nice mix of classic and retro rock that thankfully doesn’t distract from the information being presented.

Rockin' it.

Rockin’ the Wall is not partisan in any way. No mention is made of Democrats or Republicans.  The only dichotomy at play is Freedom and Communism.  Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down this wall” quote gets its due, but the most rousing line comes from the Democrat John F. Kennedy:  ”Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”  If anyone finds the film hyper-partisan, simple-minded, jingoistic– any of the typical leftist canards– that person will never understand the difference between freedom and tyranny or why it’s important to know it.  How anyone can carry water for an ideology that, without exception, has led ruthless violence, and draconian control over the minutiae of personal lives is totally beyond me.

It’s ironic how some Westerners labeled rock and roll as degeneracy when it became, in essence, a liberating force for the Soviet world.  It’s a reminder that art and society can interact in extremely unexpected ways.  Whether it’s Chinese musicians risking muggings from the police to play Handel’s Messiah as defiant public worship; whether it’s North Korean peasants discovering that their government’s propaganda is false through old VHS copies of 1980s American soaps; or whether it’s a young man who finds out that Stasi have been in his apartment because his Yes record is scratched; there’s a very clear reason why those who seek to restrict liberty also seek to restrict art.  And as of right now, there’s no reminder of that truth that’s quite as informative and entertaining as Rockin’ the Wall.

Last week my wife and I took our kids, 13 and 11, to see Petty and the Heartbreakers. Having seen them a few times before, they put on a predictably tremendous show, (though doing “Jammin’ Me” and “Change of Heart” would have been great). Mike Campbell, Petty, and crew belted out raw, old fashion rock and direct, soulful, no nonsense lyrics. Awesome.

As the band played “Refugee” I couldn’t help but focus on the audience, including my children, singing in unison “everybody’s got to fight to be free.” Like many Petty lyrics, its a simple, direct, powerful line; easily repeated but probably rarely internalized.

—–

We, as Americans, do have to fight to be free.

The upcoming generations need to understand that. Our grandparents had to fight to be free of Nazism. Our parents and my generation (though we can discuss The Who at another time) fought to be free of Soviet style communism.

But for this generation and the at least the next, not only do we have to fight to be free of radical Islam but more insidiously we have to fight to be free from the tyranny of our own federal and even local governments’ designs on our liberty. We, who are parents, have a responsibility to educate our children. Our freedoms are threatened by those within and without.

We must teach our children about the Declaration, the Constitution, our God given individual rights, the brilliance, morality, sacrifice, and bravery of our forefathers and instill in our kids the motivation to become active participants in guaranteeing their own freedoms. Pink Floyd asked, “Mother, should I trust the government?” The answer is “no.” It is filled with too many people who would gladly step in and decide our freedoms for us.

The best rock and roll has always brought inspiration. Its time we took Petty’s advice; stand our ground, not get turned around and don’t back down or we may all be living like refugees.