Where have all the protest songs gone?
"In the sixties, when I was growing up, one of the greatest elements of American culture was the protest song. There were songs about the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, the antiwar movement... Now you can only find two or three bands that'll do that. I think it's just part of the corporate world."
--George Clooney (Nov.2005)
Maybe America has outsourced its protest songs, or just become apathetic. Perhaps Mr.Clooney should listen to more Reggae music. Bob Marley set the standard for protest songs, and now a second generation has come forward. Ziggy Marley's "Love is My Religion" is an excellent anthem. Prince Malachi has a great message in "So Wrong", stating "Put down your weapons brother man, divide and rule is the wicked man's plan."
When we elected Barack Obama as our first African-American President of the USA, I expected him to try to use the support of a Democratic controlled Congress to try to push through as much of his Blueprint for America as he could. Instead he got trapped in a Healthcare debate with a very uncooperative Republican party, I like to call them the Republican't party. Congress became embroiled in arguing every petty issue from opposite sides, instead of trying to follow a liberal agenda to try to rebuild America after the economic downturn, and the Republican'ts used the perceived opposition of their base created by the "Birthers" and outright racists, whose only goals have been to stop anything Obama tried to do.
I had hoped to see a President who was interested in restoring America's image, and role as an ally to peaceful nations. By ending the conflicts in the Middle East, shutting down Guantanamo Bay, and stopping torture of prisoners, we could have held ourselves to a higher standard of morality, and set an example to follow worldwide. Our goals should be to protect life on Earth, stop global conflicts, and destruction of our Planet, People, and the Ecosystem. We should be rebuilding our countries to live in a sustainable manner, with clean energy, water and food supplies, and cooperation among nations. As Ziggy Marley sings, "I don't condemn, I don't convert. Yeah, this is a calling, have you heard? Bring all the lovers to the fort. 'Cause no one is gonna lose their soul. Hey, love is my religion...
Most-likely this is coming from my naivety set in by my youth, but I honestly feel that Obama has been trying to many of the changes that you mentioned within your post. It is easy for us to critique, however, none of us have ever run a nation with close to half the population in opposition. Even liberals supported Bush's actions after 9/11, yet there has not been a moment where both sides haven't squabbled over the details. Many of Obama's achievements have been overlooked. With the help of Obama all medical records are now (or will be soon) digitized. As simple as it sounds this is an amazing step forward to socialized health. The free and easy exchange of health information, policy, and practices is the cornerstone of creating a domestic social healthcare program. Also, Obama's Treasury Department has created policy that allows students a $2,500 tax credit to students, so that they may offset tuition and textbook costs. As a nation we have fallen behind our European and Asian counterparts in terms of education and as tuition rises due to state cutbacks it is somewhat comforting to know that as a lower-middle class citizen that I still possess the ability to get a degree because of policy implemented by Obama. It definitely beats Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' program, which allowed our educational system to all but cease to exist with easy standardized testing, cut funding, and the firing of qualified teachers. Obama has also completely restructured NCLB (for Bi-Partisan sake), and refused to reauthorize it after it's five-year term. As far as the automotive industry is concerned Obama allocated over two-billion dollars to advanced battery systems, which had numerous European Union officials claiming that advanced battery systems were "the next big frontier" and that the U.S. could regain their footing as a premier car manufacture within the next fifteen years. And to top it all off Obama also spurred forward the largest conservation effort in fifteen years (since Clinton's early days in office) by signing the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 which placed more than two million acres of forest, thousand upon thousands of miles rivers, and a plethora of national parks and trails under federal protection. This are but a handful of accomplishments that are swept under the rug and lost due to the squabbling on the hill. I think that Obama is doing what he set out to do within the confines of the cards that he has been dealt. Everything is a constant battle and to be unhappy because every single promise hasn't been kept and perfectly made within three-and-a-half years seems unrealistic. Major progresses have been made, but mistakes twenty-years in the making can't be undone in four. I don't blame Obama. I don't blame America. I blame Americans. I blame Americans for allowing Tea Parties to exist in order to promote anarchy, I blame Americans for being apathetic, and I blame Americans for being greedy.
ReplyDeleteToo much like Jackie Robinson, not enough like Malcolm X.
ReplyDeleteObama has made some gains, but conceded too much.
No public option health care, and now giving in to Corporate polluters instead of pushing for clean energy jobs.