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Virtual Democracy

by Roosterhead

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1.
Reflecting on this halted state Of our so-called civilization Consequence of foregone events Or lack of imagination In 2016 how did it feel To be crushed by vote of mass appeal A revolution of the spinning wheel Returned to its destination While ancient columns crack and crumble Oracles misread the signs Signals of this feigned rebellion A nation scattered in decline If history is embryonic And ages past are intertwined Is this disease our own creation Or an artifact from another time? And if I put my faith In the human race Or if I try to resist I get cycles of ignorance We could blame the corporate media Who’d forsake the truth just a sell a lie Or archaic founding fathers Gazing with an all-seeing eye But media runs on advertising Subscribing us to our darkest fears And evil men are done devising Dead in the ground two hundred years We could drive out all the politicians “Those criminals are all the same” Just to wind back in the same position The only outcome of this game ‘Cause time again we’ve demonstrated How frightened sheep get led astray Tonight the wolves are fat and hungry Seems like it always ends up that way And if I put my faith In the human race If I try to resist I get cycles of ignorance Lead ‘em to the light Or give up the fight What’s the difference? Still cycles of ignorance Power leads to power leads to people taking power for the powerful people Leads to less is more than equal Leads to taking back the power revolution of the hours to ideals turning sour leads to death and destruction, to cancerous corruption An angry young man becomes a bitter old fool and a bitter old fool just perpetuates his rule, for another territory, another quest for glory Until an angry young man thinks he starts to understand leads to thirst for power and a place up in the tower, another quest for glory Leads to the same old story
2.
If campaigns are only investments by pharmaceuticals, weapons and banks Imagine the waste and their look of disgrace if all their candidates come last in the ranks They'll steal your vote and shove it down your throat, deceive and thieve to sneak to the top But we’ll spot a fake now that we're awake and our alarm is never gonna stop Just gotta follow the money, we're sharper than knives when we see who'll be getting their cut Together we'll lift Lady Liberty out of this rut Divided and distracted by soap operas posing as news Just desperate to sell us guns, liquor, cars and sweatshop shoes If they leave us with nothing, I guess we've got nothing to lose Oil and coal are gonna hit their goals, they're buying the EPA With cameras and drones and recording our phones, we're spying for the CIA They'll have the debate set up to spread their hate, promote the next resource war Blow smoke up your ass to call you middle class, when you're the 99% that's poor Just gotta follow the money, we're sharper than knives when we see who'll be getting their cut Together we'll lift Lady Liberty out of this rut Together we’ll lift Lady Liberty out of this rut
3.
Dark Money 03:42
Voter turnout is down, frustration's at a new height If you think they never listen to you, you're right Twelve thousand lobbyists a day whisper in Congress's ears And you get your say at the polls once every couple of years? Dark money, It's how you cheat when you're elite, Just be discreet, burn the receipt What can your country do for you? You know I wish I had a clue. Dreadful decisions every day, it's endless deja vu Wall Street's got bills all stashed from the last stock market crash Politicians get the cash; they give us IOUs And it's they who choose who goes behind, who gets ahead Who’s gonna be excused, who gonna end up dead And when we're fed up with the setup we could vote them out But corporate lobbyists still have their clout Dark money, It's how you cheat when you're elite Just be discreet, burn the receipt Business Roundtable keeps the working class unable US Chamber of Commerce keeps up funding for bombers Blue Cross/Blue Shield will make their patients yield The NRA will help those shooters slay Great America PAC put Donald Trump on his track The Club for Growth, for greed and privilege, both Uline and the brothers Koch make sure we're sick and broke And thanks to Citizens United it's much harder to fight it Ever since money is speech and corporations are people Then Congress has been a leech from a swamp full of evil And our voices aren't equal, they're all deaf to our moans Who gave these special interest groups those megaphones? So they can buy their drones, and they can bulldoze homes And run their pipelines up and down through Yellowstone And when we're dust and bones, historians are gonna wonder Why we ever let them wreck and plunder You’re sealed in ignorance bought by dark money Their real constituents got that dark money They’ll loot your silver and gold for dark money Your future’s already sold with dark money Dark money
4.
Ostensibly the information age Evil enemy eyes keep us engaged Preoccupied while the pivotal war is waged Shifting blame on a faceless enemy Selling rainbow bourgeois fantasy Familiar ploy, but we buy it faithfully Kleptocracy now! Hypocrisy now! Plutocracy now! Kleptocracy now! Aristocracy now! (While we’re all stuck hoping and dreaming) Dishonesty now! (Of a world with the sunlight gleaming) All I can see now! (Various dark forces are scheming) Kleptocracy now! Strip the tires off the public economy Sell the scraps to private industry Replace it with some corporate bureaucracy (It’s a company policy) High and dry and the sky fades into grey ‘Cause the ones we hoped would save the day Ransacked and hauled it all away Kleptocracy now! Hypocrisy now! Plutocracy now! Kleptocracy now! Autocracy now! (While we were all stuck hoping and dreaming) Monstrosity now! (Of a world with the sunlight gleaming) Will velocity now! (Various dark forces were scheming) Kleptocracy now! Aristocracy now! (Time is gone, old glory has faded) Brutal philosophy now! (It’s been plundered, pillaged, and raided) Doomsday prophecy now! (Appetites that will never be sated) Kleptocracy now! Mass austerity now! (Wide-eyed, blind to dysfunction) Wealth disparity now! (Lives of comfort, and consumption) For posterity now! (Looking for the root of the all this corruption) Kleptocracy now! If I can see how Kleptocracy now...
5.
I've always heard your choices carry weight in a swing state Every voter they'll accommodate in a swing state Importance no one underestimates in a swing state I live where they could all afford to ignore me since there's really no reward I'll sail my boat And cast my vote Into the deepest moat and sink my hope There's trickery they perpetrate in a swing state Caring leaders to impersonate in a swing state Votes and opinions to manipulate in a swing state There's nothing that could justify their gerrymandering, their pandering, their lies If some party's gonna brag This one’s in the bag My ballot might as well be a white flag Oh, the winner takes all It's just electoral protocol I live behind a partisan wall So my impact is infinitely small If I decide it's not my fate to reside in a swing state My drop in the bucket will evaporate by the lake of a swing state Is there another system that could innovate, or is it just too late? Each politician's gonna say, they'll make changes so the people have their way Words for the sheep put me to sleep Wake me up when it's election day
6.
I'm hearing chitter-chatter people can't shut up about Some port in Catatonic so we might go check it out Some private shindig Some swanky get-together No RSVP, secret code, membership We heard about the party Guess somebody let it slip Nobody likes us Neglected to invite us Some fascist stops me at the door Asks me what I came here for I came to crash I'm here to bash Paranoid and askin' Who let the trash in? We're here to crash Invaders in the club came uninvited, uninvested Call backup, pest control Emergency! You've been infested! Crude with an attitude Uncultured with no social graces Soldiers of Babylon put riff raff in their proper places We're here illegally Guess we have no right to be Well, I'll just excuse myself Go be a nuisance somewhere else Some fascist drags me out the door Asks me what I came here for I came to crash I'm here to bash Sirens are flashin' Handcuffed and thrashin' Just came to crash Come join the party The political party Out on the streets, a political party
7.
Have you seen the latest exit poll? The younger generations only showed up 46 to 59 percent If Millennials actually voted, Can you imagine all the ways our tax dollars could be spent? A polygraph for campaign speeches, slap bracelet cuffs for Wall Street thieves We'd Kool Aid Man through any border walls, and oil derricks we'd trade for trees Police would really be like Carl Winslow, reporters would be April O'Neil Sustainability in the economy instead of gouging us for all they steal Instead of wars, there'd just be games of Halo or Goldeneye We'd swap the military budget for healthcare's so fewer people would die If Millennials actually voted... If Millennials actually voted, Trade the welfare rage for a living wage so everyone could pay their rent If Millennials actually voted, On the day their approval rating dips too low, we could elect another President We'd have a new blue collar Congress, all the millionaires our votes would purge Ditch the Patriot Act, bring civil liberties back like we did Crystal Pepsi and Surge A new NASA mission could send the two party system to some distant dying star We could stop being stressed about being oppressed because of who and how we are If Millennials actually voted...
8.
It's time to run I'm gonna make them see Their world can change if they would vote for me These politicians full of hate and greed Can't give the people what they really need With my solutions all my bills would pass No more pollution from the corporate class They'll grind their axes and I'll cut them loose I'll put your taxes to a better use Sign my petition and I'll fight for you Give me the missions that are right to do I'm running just to keep this country sane Send contributions to my campaign Hey, running's harder than you realize You think you might be down to compromise? We'll pull some strings and we could cut some checks Get you in a meeting with our top execs Join our party and you'll never lose Not so fast, you've gotta pay your dues Sign the line, we’ll swing the votes your way But expect us back to collect someday It's time to run from everyone who thought I was the candidate who couldn't be bought Hiding somewhere up on Capitol Hill Lying to the people my decisions could kill The system's all I really need to protect It may be broken but it's not dead yet I'll blame opponents for the things I do Soon enough I will believe it's true I'm running over to my armored car Back to my mansion with my bodyguard Seems like now I need to watch my back I've become exactly who I used to attack I'll make a fortune or two in time Taking extra portions from my partners in crime Donations flowing, it'll all be mine Talk the talk and walk along that party line
9.
They promised us dreams of Technicolor But reality looks more black and white If I could make a proposition Try to sway your opposition Fragmented pieces could be nigh But first one thing you want to know about me Am I a registered voter of the GOP? Ideologically hateful, economically cruel Just another right-wing fool So if you're tracking, keeping score, this ain't 1984 Those inter-party politics are always such a bore Has it all been decided? Are we conquered and divided? Who exactly stands to gain? Who's the victor of this game? Can't count on their protection when only enemies remain Are we overdue for a sympathetic view? Yeah, conservative souls need love, too In science and electromagnetics Two opposing charges lead to mutual attraction If you decline or opt to toe the party line In a polarized world that's a typical reaction Ooh, the sensation Kaleidoscope of colors in a trillion variations All across the nation, got a prior destiny These corporate shareholder false prophets could ever see So if you're tracking, keeping score, this ain't 1984 Those inter-party politics are always such a bore I won't be a victim Caught in that party system Who exactly stands to gain? Who's the victor of this game? Can't count on their protection when only enemies remain Are we overdue for a sympathetic view? Yeah, conservative souls need love, too Conservative souls all need love, too You know your liberal soul still needs love, too All these political souls need love Every living political soul needs love
10.
Electoral College When will you be abolished? We never sent an application You just prevent our representation If you won't accept us Spare us from your ineptness You flunked out this time I'm left speechless You're a pantomime Being disenfranchised, it's a crime A twisted tree of democracy We're not allowed to climb Electoral College When will you be abolished? Move into my dorm room with my books My ballot's like a pop quiz Multiple choice of crooks Electoral College When will you be abolished? Who graduates in these United States? An Ivy League of Presidents Since nineteen eighty eight Electors' votes and ours Don't need to correlate No wonder only half of us Choose to participate Electoral College When will you be abolished? We never sent an application You just prevent our representation If you won't accept us Spare us from your ineptness Electoral College When will you be abolished?

credits

released November 6, 2018

Shawn Her Many Horses - guitars, vocals, bass guitar, synth, drum programming, percussion
Luke Johnson - drums, vocals, guitars, bass guitar, synth, percussion

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Roosterhead Los Angeles, California

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