ON THE REAL

The actual story behind Funky America 9/38 Apologies in advance for being so wordy....

The most unlikely person to make this record, sing on it and promote it...that would be me. I'm an old hippie basically retired from the music business for years. What could possibly tempt me to fire up my antediluvian recording gear, write this song, recruit another old guy to play some psychedelic guitar on it, and spend about a hundred hours doing what I spent so many years doing, but this time with no expectation of any reward at the end of the process?

Well, the short answer is...Hypocrisy and Stupid.

Understand that I've seen this before, the country at each others' throats. My generation had Vietnam, a clusterfuck of a situation if I've ever seen one. We were never supposed to be in that war. After Pearl Harbor things were not looking all that good for the United States. The OSS (precursor to the CIA) knew all about Ho Chi Minh from his student days in Paris. They went to him offering guns, money, whatever he needed to help the war effort. Ho, who didn't like the Japanese either, said...”OK”....

There was one condition...”After the war, don't let the French back in my country” Vietnam was known as French Indo-China back then. Needless to say, we sold him out. He made the deal with FDR, who died during the last months of the war. VP Harry Truman was not trusted by the Washington insiders, and kept away from a lot of information, and when the time came to honor the commitment, we didn't.  

So here's the first part of “stupid”....

We didn't know anything about Vietnam. To the Washington political class, they were just some funny little people with coolie hats. In typical political fashion (cover your ass) we tried to have it both ways. We tried to keep the French happy, and Ho Chi Minh. So we partitioned the country. Now there's North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist. He wanted one country, one flag...if anyone had bothered to read about the history of that country, they would have understood that the Vietnamese people resisted every attempt anyone ever made to rule them.

The Chinese, Siamese, Laotians, Cambodians...all had their little moments in the sun and tried to rule Vietnam. It never worked. The Vietnamese fought until they won and kept their independence. But after World War II, we had new military ideas. We had weapons never seen before. Carpet bombing, mines, new machine guns capable of tremendous rates of fire...not to mention nukes.

Over 2 million people died in that war. On our side, their side....it was brutal. And as usual, the Vietnamese were victorious and kept their freedom. So what was the point? An hour in a library (no Google back then) would have shown anyone in charge why we should have kept our word to Uncle Ho.

Here's the hypocrisy part of it....

The operating theory at the time was known as the “Domino Theory”. In other words, one country falling to communism would be the first in a series of countries in the region going commie until that region of the world would be a Marxist fortress all aligned against the West....Except...Very few countries were all that interested in becoming planets in the Soviet orbit. Why? Because the countries that WERE in the Soviet orbit were very poor and other countries aren't stupid.

So we were going to force capitalism down their throats at the point of a sword?

Looking back from now one can see how bad an idea this was. But at the time, people believed it and totally missed how much better it would be for everyone to have trade, markets, economic development, and cultural exchanges that benefit all. But fear is an important sales tool if used the right way....”If we don't stop them in Hanoi, we'll have to fight them in Cleveland..."

​

Which is why, when I see them using the same techniques about Liberals taking over the schools, Republicans taking over the schools, climate change, telling us we'll be eating insects soon...Al Gore, who used to be the vice president of America, won a Nobel Prize for making a movie that predicted climate catastrophe. Except none of those predictions came true, and many were supposed to have happened by now. So does that tell you something about his research, the science he used, his ability as a film maker, or the Nobel Prize Committee? And is the film “Misinformation?” And should he give it back?

Needless to say he still has his Nobel Prize, and keeps flying around to “Green Energy” conferences in his private jet leaving a carbon footprint the size of Kansas. At this point in time, there are only two solutions available to the human race...

​

1. Fewer People

2. Prepare to go back to living like it's the 1800's

As to the first solution, the new spin is that we're reaching a crisis point of there not being ENOUGH people. They're saying it will create a generational crisis similar to what China is experiencing at the moment. Wrong...I'm calling bullshit on that one. My guess is that they don't want to run out of customers to sell their products to. Less people will take the stress off so many things...wildlife, CO2, plastic in the ocean...Just the amount of garbage we wouldn't have to deal with would be significant.

So I'll be selling a line of Tee shirts thru the website soon that will say “Save the planet – Kill Yourself”

First one goes to Greta Thunberg.

As to solution # 2, it can't happen. Even if First world countries were going to go down that road, China and India would laugh hysterically at us and continue to burn coal. Because you see, they're going in the other direction. Large parts of both countries live in the 1800's right now, and they want to get to live in the 20th century before you can convince them to go backward.

But the song...stay focused here.....

​

I've been noticing for some time that America has been engaged in what I like to call the “War of the Adjectives”. It's never “Republican”, it's always “MAGA- Republican.” It's never “Liberal”, it's always “Ultra-Liberal Democrat”. What used to be a useful descriptive word has become a badge of scorn. I don't care who's doing it. I don't like it.

The stress that this has created in our ability to have dialog with each other may help garner eyeballs, but is nonetheless hurting us deeply. I'm sure you likely know this already and are as upset as I am by the sight of a grown woman (typically a college student or professor) shrieking hysterically at someone because they didn't address her using the proper pronoun.

Really???....Fifty years ago we were putting people on the moon. Now you're telling me that this is the most important thing in the new America? So many things around us seem to be dysfunctional. When it comes to our government I feel it twice as much. Why do we elect people who can't do the job we hired them to do? We would treat no other employee this way. If we hire a contractor, a mechanic, a cook...if they couldn't (or wouldn't) do the job we would replace them with someone that could do the job pretty quickly.

​

So what's the difference?

Is it because TV is so image conscious? And they need to be glib enough not to embarrass themselves when they appear on some talking heads show? So that when they then lie to us we believe them? The sad fact is we don't have leaders...we have politicians.

What I know is that this is a new America. It's filled with people who really are clueless. I see them sometimes saying the most hateful things about this country without a glimmer of how lucky they are to live here. Where people still put their lives on the line to protect the rights of those idiots to spout off all of that garbage. They are so delusional that they think that this is just the way it's supposed to be and take those rights for granted.

They have no idea that most other places they'd be silenced, arrested, or just taken out and shot.

They have no idea of the struggles our forebears went thru to secure those rights, and no idea of what it may take to keep them, even while they watch them erode. They live in a very rich country but hate people who are REALLY rich, who they think should pay off their student loans, provide free housing to them, free medical care, free public transportation....and share their wealth more directly by giving them free money just because they have a lot of it.

Think about that...they want to establish a right for them to put their hand in YOUR pocket. Sound like a good idea? Where does it stop? We actually know because we've seen it before. It was the Kulak Revolt...when Stalin tried to collectivize farms in the Ukraine. Interesting reading, because none of these are new ideas, really. We've seen them before and they mostly amount to restructuring the totem pole with themselves being on top without having had to accomplish anything to get there.

So why did I write this song? I dunno...I guess it's a combination of things. I'm a child of the 60's. It's what we did. It's how we made our voices heard. No, that's not why. A reaction to seeing 3 generations of our kids raised on getting participation trophies with their self-esteem valued way above demanding that they learn anything useful? I watch in horror how that's turning out, but that's not it either.

I guess I don't know why. One day it popped into my head. Where does a melody come from? I don't have a clue, and this after studying music for my entire adult life. Maybe it's a reaction to watching congress not being able to come up with a budget once again, or being told that the interest on the national debt is costing us a trillion dollars a year...just the interest!!!...Imagine what we could do with an extra trillion dollars every year?

Some people will want to blame Democrats or Republicans or Donald Trump (of course), but they all did it. Maybe there's just this unpleasant aroma emanating from Washington...and more and more of us are starting to catch a whiff of it too, and it does smell kind of funky and it smells like we're being played for chumps.

One thing is certain....we were given a great gift by the people who figured this country out. Our constitution is unique in the annals of history. It's the only document ever designed to protect the people from the government. Those who want more and bigger government have no idea what they're asking for. But those guys knew. They knew what an all powerful government is capable of. And we can thank those White Supremacist, slave holder, exploiters, who are accused of setting up a system to ensure they stayed on top. With their privilege. Right. Privilege. White male privilege. Yeah, privilege. So privileged they didn't even have indoor plumbing. Think before you speak, dummy...you don't get it.

Some people believe that the country that has provided more opportunity to more people across more of the social spectrum than any other country on the face of the earth or in history...they believe this country is an evil, imperialistic colonizer of pure native cultures who lived in peace with each other and in harmony with nature...using pure, green, recycled energy to farm their fair-traded, organic coffee beans and cacao, which they bring to market in hydrogen powered carts on low impact dirt roads.

They believe that the country that saved Europe from the Nazis and then Joe Stalin, saved Japan from military dictatorship, saved swaths of South and Central America from socialist dictatorship, and is standing with Ukraine as they resist Vladimir Putin...the latest in a long line of thugs who have a hankering to dominate the world political stage..they believe this country is evil because they have been taught this by what they believe are really, really smart people.

They've been taught economics by people who have never run a business, taught political science by people who have never held office. They've been taught journalism by journalists who have only known social media, and mathematics by people who believe that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is more important than deriving the correct answer...otherwise math is racist. Obviously.

They've never learned the difference between microaggression and the kind of aggression that happens when someone shoves a bayonet into your gut and demands you board the train to the “re-education” camp. Think it can't happen? Read about the Cultural Revolution in China. When well-meaning people with the very best of intentions take over the system there are no limits to what they can do because they believe their motives are pure.

But the biggest evil they've been taught is this...that you, the ordinary American, are without blame for anything life may throw at you. It will always be someone's else's fault. That if you are not White, Male, Straight, you are oppressed by them. If you are WMS, you are an oppressor and you owe something to someone. Who exactly, is unclear, but nonetheless . .You never did anything on your own, no matter how meager the circumstances you came from, no matter how hard you had to work for anything you have...you oppressed someone to get it.

If you are of the oppressed class (everyone who isn't Straight/White/Male) the “system” will ensure you never can amount to anything. This in spite of the evidence all around you of Americans of every ethnic persuasion owning successful businesses, having good jobs, having normal happy lives... They have tried to convince us that economics is a “zero-sum” game, one which requires that for me to make money I have to take it from someone else. I can't create wealth because the “system” is rigged against me. So for me to be successful, you have to be less successful. Anyone see the problem with this type of reasoning? Right. Neither did Attila the Hun. Pure thug mentality.

But they like that. We squabble over the crumbs while they get the cake...

It's as old as the human race and you would think we might have caught on to it by now.

But it's probably why they try to keep us stupid and I guess it's why I wrote this song....