Red State Blues

I wrote this angry song in a state of disgust in 2005…

Red State Blues

With our prisons exploding and colleges shrinking,
America’s tops in the whole goddamn world!
We love to punish, we’ve no use for thinking
We’ll do what we want when our flag is unfurled.

If there’s one thing we’ve lots of, it’s weapons and nukes.
We need ‘em, you know, so we can make toast
Out of evil Iraqis and ragheads and gooks.
There’s no need for treaties when we’ve got the most.

If you are a Muslim, we wish you were dead;
If you’re male, you’re a danger and should be in jail.
An Arab’s a menace, just like a Red—
Oh, we’re on a witch hunt that never gets stale!

We’ll make sure no gay lovers can ever get married;
Oh, we’re morally pure, we are upright and good!
All those who question are threatened and harried.
We make sure all the teachers say just what they should.

African children are dying like flies
Along with their mommas, from AIDS and no drugs
And hunger, bad water and untreated lies.
Such things cannot touch us. We turn with a shrug.

The skies are all sooty, the rivers are choking
The smog is abysmal whenever it’s sunny
The factories here and in China are smoking
Magically turning the Earth into money.

Yes, the glitterati are doing so well now
Their dinners are served on signed crystal plate.
Poor people’s children can all go to hell now
The sick and insane, they deserve their sad fate.

The heat and the oceans are steadily rising
As forests are cut and new coal plants are built.
But our vehicles always continue upsizing
We’re virtuous Christians with no need for guilt.

Once middle-class people are now such big debtors,
To channel their anger, new scapegoats are needed,
Lest they rise up against their ruling-class betters
Lest the shmucks come to see just how bad they’ve been cheated.

Our boys are out killing once more far away.
This makes us feel proud, like the king of the hill.
We want the oil here far from the fray.
But they’re killing for freedom I meant to say.

We’re the good guys of course, we will always be best.
Soon we will rule over all outer space!
None can hide from our deathrays, on their terminal quest
Then our lords will control all that’s left of our race.