"The Fiat Bosses Killed You, Ron…."
David Boaz at Cato's blog notes the Onion's Tom Joadesque elegy to the Ron Paul movement, and begins composing, in that great folk tradition of appropriation, lyrics to the tune of the old lefty anthem "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill" to honor the libertarian congressman. Note to all perpetually angry Paul fans: I quote because I care. I assume someone will soon record themselves actually performing these lyrics and have it up on YouTube.
I dreamed I saw Ron Paul last night,
Still running on TV.
Says I "But Ron, you lost 'em all"
"I'll never quit" said he,
"I'll never quit" said he."The Money Power beat you, Ron,
they beat you, Ron" says I.
"Takes more than Fox to beat ideas,"
Says Ron "I didn't quit"
Says Ron "I didn't quit.""In South Carolina, Ron," says I,
"You stood up to the war.
Then Rudy knocked you back again."
Says Ron, "But I was right."
Says Ron, "But I was right."From Baghdad back to Main Street,
In every funeral hall
Where grieving moms inter their sons,
it's there you find Ron Paul,
it's there you find Ron Paul!And taking on the Fed Reserve
and smiling with his eyes,
Says Ron, "The bailout cannot work,
It's time to privatize.
It's time to privatize."From Texas up to Washington,
in every lecture hall,
Where working men defend their gold,
it's there you find Ron Paul,
it's there you find Ron Paul!I dreamed I saw Ron Paul last night,
Still running on TV.
Says I "But Ron, you lost 'em all."
"I'll never quit" says he,
"I'll never quit" says he.
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Ron Paul filk!
OMG [T]reason magazine is making fun of Paul again!
Uh, he ain't dead yet, thank you.
Pretty good... but flawed in the rhyme scheme. "I" doesn't rhyme with "quit", nor "war" with "right". Rewrite!
I like the notion of TV being a kind of political afterlife.
I take it that these four comments represent the sum total of "perpetually angry Paul fans."
Not angry here.
This is damn creepy. What the hell is it about you wingnuts that gives you such a boner for racist Congreessmen from Texas?
Alan,
You haven't seen them? They seem to swarm at most positive mentions of his name. I wonder if mentioning them in the article gave them pause this time. And my preempting their normal place, I like to hope.
it also works to Gilligan's Island.
Except for the repetition of last line of each stanza, its fit pretty good to "Yellow Rose of Texas" as well. Emily would be proud.
Cool. I can hear Johnny Cash in those lyrics.
Most of us don't mind this, the real anger takes place when the article not-so-subtley mentions Ron Paul as being "a kook" for not liking the idea of the feds giving monopoly rights to print money to a private group of bankers.
Others get angry when someone tries to play up guys like Randy Barnett or Brinks Lindsey(McCain and Obama supporters) as "real libertarians" over the likes of Lew Rockwell who has vistually published more libertarian documents for the world to see than anyone else world history.
others get angry when Bailey pretends it is libertarian to advocate carbon taxes or Michael Young to advocate bombing brown people to "spread freedom".
All in all I think the paleo-anger directed at reason has decreased a bit during Reason's recent strong denouncement of the "rescue plan" which was little more than the organized trillion dollar theft by the banker elite. Reason has rightly resisted this massive pro-bailout propaganda offensive that 100% of the MSM has particpiated in.
One good thing about such uniform propaganda, just as the massive infowars directed against the american people in the buildup to the iraq war raised criticism of the media...the recent obvious controlled media actions has again discredited many media outlets. People then start to see the other lies that they used to miss.
Is David Boaz trying to be hip by eschewing the rhyme scheme? Or is he just too obtuse to figure it out?
I prefer to think that the non-rhyming stanzas have implicit dirty words. Otherwise, this whole thing is a big pile of sssssshhhhaving cream. Be nice and clean.
Gabe, I think Ron Paul is a fantastic guy, and probably the best thing that has happened to libertarian politics in 20 years. The fed stuff he rails against is not worth the time he gives to it. It detracts from his overall message, because the average person has no idea what the hell he is talking about. He might be right - I happen to doubt it - but his fixation on it is a detriment to the overall good he is trying to do. Getting people to vote against their pocketbooks and for Liberty is tough enough without latching on to what sounds like a conspiracy theory to most people.
I dreamed I saw Ron Paul last night,
Still running on TV.
Says I "But Ron, that racist shit?
"I'll never quit" said he,
"I'll never ever quit."
"Indifference beat you, Ron,
in spite of that shit you published
"Takes more than a yawn to beat ideas,"
Says Ron "I didn't quit"
Says Ron "I didn't quit."
"In those newsletters, Ron," says I,
"You slimed Dr. King
And called for a goddamn race war
Says Ron, "But I was right."
Says Ron, "But I was right. Far, far loony right!"
Gabe, I think Ron Paul is a fantastic guy, and probably the best thing that has happened to libertarian politics in 20 years. The fed stuff he rails against is not worth the time he gives to it. It detracts from his overall message, because the average person has no idea what the hell he is talking about. He might be right - I happen to doubt it - but his fixation on it is a detriment to the overall good he is trying to do. Getting people to vote against their pocketbooks and for Liberty is tough enough without latching on to what sounds like a conspiracy theory to most people.
Of course he's right. How on earth could anyone call themselves a libertarian if they support the right of the state monopoly power with money.
Oh, so NOW we're all "PERPETUALLY ANGRY"? Well, FUCK YOU!
j.k.
Ron Paul looks more presidential than ever these days, as the only voice of sanity in the wilderness, speaking out plainly and clearly against the ill-conceived moves to turn the banking industry (and probably a few others) into a socialist quagmire.
More than a few people are noticing, too, that the guy everyone said was a kook back in the primaries is the only one making sense these days.
I didn't expect Dr. Paul to become President. The last principled politician to become President was Grover Cleveland (and Cleveland had racial issues, too, because he was affiliated with the Democratic Party, which then as now, supported racial discrimination).
A Cleveland or Paul couldn't get elected today. What someone like that *can* do is shake up the debate.
I can say of Dr. Paul what Cleveland's supporters said about Cleveland - I love him for the enemies he has made.
"More than a few people are noticing, too, that the guy everyone said was a kook back in the primaries is the only one making sense these days."
Who do you think is suddenly deluded? What's more than a few? Can you name some names? Ron Paul still looks like a boring old kook with a racist past, a penchant for distorting the meaning of the constitution, and a fanatical fixation on gold, at least to me.
I would know all about distorting the meaning of the Constitution. I do 5 times a day, almost as often as I jerk off.
You can't trust Treason Magazine for nuttin' these days! Bunch of cosmotarian traitors to the One True Libertarian Cause! Closed borders!
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to worshipping the Holy Trinity--Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, and Ron Paul.
Typical "hit and "run" like whiny 9 year old gang member wannabe's... Mr Boaz appears to be not just whiny but a bored 9 year old whose jealousy at not getting his need for attention/justification is quite evident.
The courage CONGRESSMAN Paul who has been elected by others(AND VOTED FOR by HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS over the years) in a political Constitutional setting..NOT recess gymclass..or as Uno card shuffler(maybe Mr Boaz is still smarting from not being chosen Jr. Hall Monitor in 6th Grade???) is so alien to his/this ilk of Beltway remoras and Georgetown cocktail effette liberTINES.... their "courage" is displayed with its garish regalia in shrilly tirades and winkwink hahaha's like this.
Quoting Thoreau "There are thousands(Reason bunker dwellers) hacking away (make the Fed more conservative-support the war effort/"victory" et al)at the branches of evil(and stabbing in the back)for the one(Dr. Paul, me and thousands of NON-DC caterers)striking at the root."
Thanks for your loyal opposition to the McCain-Obama pas de duex charade......look forward(NOT) to seeing you on the front lines in the coming economic collapse and security state....with your "cut interest rates!", "Free Markets and Free Minds" and "Stop the Liberals" signs...all 3 of you.
Chris Bieber
CAL YAF State Director 1985-95 ie FRONT LINES
It really is a lot of fun to sing this to the "Gilligan's Island" tune. Thanks, rich!
I also agree about the holes inthe rhyming scheme. Brian is no Rhymin' Simon, but he did provide us with some true entertainment this day, and for that, let us give thanks! Huzzah!
Pardon. Rereading the top graf, I guess it is Boaz we have to thank for this ditty.
I take back what I said about yer Rhymin', BD. One must sing this tune after applying the correct amount o' grog, and having done so, I'm a bit ... confused... 😉
As gangster Mike Lagana (Alexander Sourby) says in Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat": Wouldn't the reformers love to see us fighting amongst ourselves?
Please tell me more about this "power leveling".
What the hell is it about you wingnuts that gives you such a boner for racist Congreessmen from Texas?
I don't know. We are simply sexually attracted to racist Congreessmen from Texas. That's right: Ron Paul is a big fat racist who hates the blacks (for example) and we all want to bone him. The reason he hates the blacks, by the way, is that they are opposed to a gold standard. This get us hot.
c.o., you've nailed us again!
No, don't.
My last comment was an answer to Marc's 9:01 pm comment.
Excerpt from an interesting pice in Salon:
"The Republican majority used to be made up of a combination of working-class whites and wealthy, educated businessmen and professionals. Now the college graduates and the professionals (who vastly outnumber the businessmen) are voting Democratic.
This isn't just an ideological shift, it's a cultural and social one. The new class is steeped in the universalist, tolerant ethos promoted not just in America's schools but in its offices. Its members are liberal on social issues and free of the cultural resentment of "elites" that Palin, in particular, used to appeal to the white working class. They are the new face of America, and for them the GOP's culture war is both irrelevant and offensive.
Above all, they're pragmatic. They want results, and they don't see the government as inherently more destructive of freedom than a multinational corporation. Labels like "liberal" and "conservative" don't mean much to them. They're skeptical about governmental programs but open to them, and they strongly favor government regulation. They support progressive taxation, and are willing to vote against their own pocketbooks as long as Washington delivers. After the Wall Street meltdown and the $700 billion government bailout pushed through by a Republican administration, the right's strident anti-governmentalism and shrill accusations of "socialism" seem ludicrous to them.
As if the rise of the professionals wasn't enough, the GOP also has to deal with the triple whammy of women, Hispanics and young people. All supported Obama, and there's no obvious way for Republicans to win them over without altering the nature of their party."
But, hey, if The GOP implodes, former members may preserve their irrelevance by beoming Libertarians. You guys might be looking a growth spurt that could propel you over the 0.01 percent mark. Things are lookin' up!
Quoting Thoreau "There are thousands(Reason bunker dwellers) hacking away (make the Fed more conservative-support the war effort/"victory" et al)at the branches of evil(and stabbing in the back)for the one(Dr. Paul, me and thousands of NON-DC caterers)striking at the root."
Those are some....excellent quoting skills...
Wow! Lefiti is really a bitter, hateful lefty wingnut! I guess this douche has no problem with Obama"s pals- Rev. Wright and Billy Ayers.