1. |
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|
It’s OK (to refer to the GOP as Fascist)
It's OK
to refer
to the GOP
as fascist.
When the truth
must be said,
don't worry about being polite
if it's accurate.
It's OK, it's OK
to refer to the GOP as fascist
Obstructing voting rights based on race, that's fascist.
Violence to impose minority rule, that's fascist.
Threatening dissenters with violence, that's fascist.
Refusing to abide by democracy, that's fascist.
Making your bid on a big, big lie, that's fascist.
Condoning lawlessness on your own side, that's fascist.
Stacking the courts with unscrupulous partisans, that's fascist.
Different legal outcomes based on skin color, that's fascist.
Extra-judicial state-approved killing, that's fascist.
Cheering on racist vigilantes, that's fascist.
It’s OK, it’s OK
To refer to the GOP as fascist.
It’s not OK, it’s not OK
That you can honestly refer to the GOP as fascist
It’ll be OK, it’ll be OK
When we defeat, marginalize, and sideline the fascists – yeah.
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2. |
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|
That’s Not Legitimate Political Discourse
Smashing windows to break into buildings, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
Battering down doors to break in, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
I don’t care what the GOP says.
They don’t mean it, anyway.
You try doing the January 6 on their headquarters.
Then we’ll listen to what they’ll say. They’ll say –
That kind of mess, that doesn’t run, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
Putting a hundred fifty cops in the hospital, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
I don’t care what the GOP says.
They don’t mean it, anyway.
You try doing any of that mess on anything that they care about,
Then we’ll listen to what they say.
Spreading feces on office walls, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
Stealing stuff just because you feel like it, No!
That’s not legitimate political discourse.
I don’t care what the GOP says.
They don’t mean it, anyway.
They don’t really care nothing about nothing.
Just making things easier for rich people and harder for everybody else.
Harder for women trying to have an abortion –
They care about that. They’re working on that.
Harder for people to vote –
They’re working on that, they care about that.
Harder for immigrants –
They care about that, they wanna make things harder for immigrants.
Harder for students.
Harder for teachers.
Harder for people who rely on safe bridges, safe roads.
They just wanna make things hard.
For almost everybody.
Are they a legitimate political party?
Are they a legitimate political party?
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3. |
I'm Afraid
03:23
|
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|
I’m Afraid
I'm afraid that the fascists want
fascism more than the democrats want democracy.
I'm afraid.
I'm afraid that the fascists will
do what they need to make fascism a reality.
I'm afraid.
I'm afraid the democrats underestimate
the danger to our democracy.
I'm afraid.
We must do something about it.
We're gonna do something about it.
|
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4. |
No Limits
03:24
|
|||
|
No Limits
When you're willing to lie, lie, lie
there's no limits.
When you're willing to commit violence
there's no limits.
When you work with terrorist groups
there's no limits.
No limits.
If the GOP returns to power
will they invent evidence
to jail their opponents?
Will people who criticize them
start to disappear
never to be seen again?
One day your co-worker
doesn't come to work.
Nobody knows why.
Whispers start to circulate,
"Maybe they did something wrong."
Maybe the co-worker is you.
When your lies inspire hate crimes
there's no limits.
When your lies inspire mass killings
there's no limits.
When you're unwilling to condemn terrorism
there's no limits.
No limits.
|
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5. |
||||
|
Let’s Not Let the Second Amendment Martyrs Die in Vain
Let's not let the Second Amendment martyrs die in vain.
They lost their lives in consequence of our failure of democracy.
The majority wants stricter gun laws.
The majority wants to rid our streets of automatic weapons.
The GOP usurpers have taken power against the will of the people,
and they make unpopular and ruinous decisions
like despots without conscience.
Let's not let the Second Amendment martyrs die in vain.
Let's reassert our democracy and drive the despots out.
So America under the stars above can have a new birth of freedom.
So all of the mass shootings shall never come again.
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6. |
||||
|
Their Names Will Live in Infamy
The GOP Supreme Court fascists claim to be originalists.
They lie so bad,
and they know
they lie.
They know
they lie.
Yes.
When the founders wrote the Constitution, abortion was legal.
Adultery was not.
Now the court
has turned things upside down
because of their
fringe, extreme religious dogma.
And please, tell me,
how did the words "a well-regulated militia"
come to have no meaning?
It makes no sense.
No.
They lie about guns,
they lie about abortion
they lie about the separation of church and state,
they lie about voting rights,
they lie about the EPA,
and besides their lies,
more important than their lies,
is that their decisions
will cause immense suffering
for millions of people.
Their names will live in infamy,
infamy, I tell you,
for the suffering they cause
and their grotesque and shameless
intellectual dishonesty.
And it is incumbent upon us
to do what we must
to overturn their decisions,
and to rectify their wrongs.
|
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7. |
Against Resignationism
02:23
|
|||
|
Against Resignationism
(wordless song)
|
||||
8. |
The Power Pop Song
03:03
|
|||
|
The Power Pop Song
Please don’t call their movement populist.
They know well that they’re unpopular.
They’re upset because their demographic’s shrinking.
Please don’t call their movement populist.
Though they act like they deserve the power
They’re not popular, no they’re not.
They’re not popular, they’re not pop.
Please don’t normalize their chronic lies.
Please don’t normalize contempt for truth.
They are trying to get rid of democracy.
This is not business as usual.
In the struggle for democracy
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
In the struggle for democracy
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
Both sides aren’t the same, no they’re not.
Populism is a misnomer,
Redolent of a nostalgia,
Nostalgic for straight, white male normativity.
Populism is misnomer.
Though they act like they deserve the power
They’re not popular, no they’re not.
They’re not popular, they’re not pop.
They’re not popular, no they’re not.
They’re not popular, they’re not pop.
|
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9. |
||||
|
Open Letter to Editors Running Stories in Polls
If you wonder why Biden’s numbers are in the tank,
We have the disinformation networks to thank.
They lie and lie about what’s going on.
They undermine success of everyone (who’s not a Republican).
And anything good the Democrats do,
They lie about or simply ignore.
It’s gotten to the point, we simply expect it.
They root against the country’s well-being
if it goes against their partisan interest.
Putting party before country isn’t patriotic.
So if you are reporting on the polls
And you’re not taking into account
The disinformation networks, you are not doing your job.
|
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10. |
||||
|
Some Kind of Social Catastrophe
If you have a job
You should be able to live comfortably.
If you’re unable to work
You should be able to live comfortably.
Anything else is barbarous.
Anything else is cruel.
And I’m afraid, my dears, that history will judge us harshly
If we don’t do something about it.
We have enough
For everybody to live comfortably.
It shouldn’t be hard to arrange
For everybody to live comfortably.
Anything else is barbarous.
Anything else is cruel.
And I’m afraid, my dears, that history will judge us harshly
If we don’t do something about it.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of social catastrophe.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of systemic failure.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of economic collapse.
Hundreds of thousands of people living on the streets.
It’s some kind of human disaster.
|
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11. |
Debt
01:21
|
|||
|
Debt
Why should I work for you because you have inherited wealth?
Why should you be able to lord it over everyone else?
Debt!
Why should I be buried in debt?
Why should I in your debt
Just because you have unearned wealth?
Why should college doom someone to enormous piles of debt?
When loans are guaranteed, the interest is
Something close to legalized theft.
Debt!
Why should I be buried in debt?
Why should I in your debt
Just because you have unearned wealth?
|
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12. |
||||
|
To Stay Kind and Connected
(wordless song)
|
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13. |
Something New
03:22
|
|||
|
Something New
I’m ready
and willing
and able too.
All gassed up
and revved up
for something new!
Dead habits,
bad patterns –
in the rearview!
And I’m taking out the garbage and throwing out the trash
And I’m ready.
And I’m opening the window and letting in the air
And I’m ready.
And my hair doesn’t need cutting, my nails don’t need a trim,
And I’m wearing the right outfit for going on a limb,
And I’m dancing on the ceiling, I’m scaling up the walls
And I’m ready
For something new.
They’re ready,
we’re ready,
and so are you.
Everyone
is ready
for something new!
So stand up
and shout out!
So much to do!
And clearing out the brambles and scattering the seed
And we’re ready.
And we’re making lots of contact and checking what we need
And we’re ready.
And we’re throwing off the shackles and stomping down the fears
And we’re opening our hearts and our minds and eyes and ears
And looking at the new day and listening for the new way
And we’re ready
For something new.
|
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14. |
We Are the Majority
03:56
|
|||
|
We Are the Majority
We believe in the dignity of all people,
And we are the majority.
We believe in fair play for everybody,
And we are the majority.
We believe in the body autonomy of everyone,
And we are the large majority.
And we believe that we’re all in this life together.
And we are the majority.
We believe that we all have much more in common than what divides us,
And we are the majority.
And we believe that we’re all in this life together.
And we are the majority.
|
||||
Polite Society Seattle, Washington
John Shaw is the author of "This Land That I Love: Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the Story of Two American Anthems," published by Public Affairs, 2013.
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