In honor of the American election day I would like to share a song by one of my favorite anarchist folk punk musicians - Pat the Bunny / Ramshackle Glory. This song - Ballots and Barricades deals with the emptiness of voting and hoping for change.
Here are the Lyrics:
RAMSHACKLE GLORY LYRICS
"On Ballots And Barricades"
I got Arizona residency one day too late
To vote on this election day.
And every year before I’ve been too drunk to register.
I’d say “I don’t believe in it anyway.”
I still shake my head at ballots cast for elephants.
I shake my head at ballots cast for donkeys,
'Cause I swear to god our leaders, they will be death of us.
There’s no ballot we can cast to set us free.
But there’s no brick we can throw that will end poverty,
You can’t blow up SB1070.
Things will never be as simple as when I was twelve years old
Reading Karl Marx in my bedroom alone.
And since there have been laws, there have been criminals.
There have been thieves since there’s been property.
And the day will come again when none of those things are around,
I just hope it’s before people go extinct.
So vote November 2nd if it seems right to you,
Don’t vote if you think it just holds us down.
Just tell me what we’re gonna do on November 3rd
To make sure there’s no government left to elect two years from now.
Just tell me what we're gonna do on November 3rd
To make sure there's no government left to elect two years from now.