Interesting things happen when you break down the fandoms of different musical genre.
When the Dixie Chicks spoke out against George W. Bush they became pariahs of their genre. Their right wing listeners took offense, their music was removed from the radio and the band was ruined.
Now we can compare that to pop rock. P!nk came out with the scathing song Dear Mr. President. She completely ripped Dubya a new one.
You'll notice P!nk Is still selling out arenas today.
The song is an open letter to Dubya, but it's chilling when you listen to it now and realize that twelve years and two presidents later, it still applies.
You can listen to the song here.
Or, here are the lyrics.
Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people
And you're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions
If we can speak honestly...
What do you feel when you see
All the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night
Before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
And tell me why?
Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say, no child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell...
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
What kind of father might hate his own daugther if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way, from whiskey and cocaine!
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
Let me tell you about hard work!
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you about hard work!
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you about hard work!
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you about hard work
Hard work, hard work, you don't know nothing about hard work!
Hard work, hard work!
How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'll never take a walk with me...
The songwriters areo Alecia Moore and Billy Mann.
Obviously I own no rights to this song and take no credit in the writing of it.
I do not personally pretend to have the answers. But it is so clear that the system is broken. Three hundred million people reside in the United States and THIS was what was put before us to pick from.
So much needs to change.
Thank you for reading.
Love to you all!