A Party Political Punk Service Announcement

With the passing of a bill that, even if it clears all the Reconciliation hurdles, is still four years from being implemented, your typical "go to work and get paid" Americans are starting to find their voice. This is never a good thing. This also just so happens to be a a mid-term election year - and health care just so happens to be the mother load of all hot-button issues. So what's happening? The tendency to opine has reached brave new heights. Sound Bites abound. And as usual, the first thing to go is our willingness to see all sides of the argument. We have reached the ultimate plateau: an Ultra Mega Hyper "My Way Or Go Fuck Yourself" political mindset. When all is said and done, I predict the congressional grand standing and posturing will make the Terri Schiavo fiasco look like a Disney After School Special in comparison.

So what do you do? You can't afford a politician, which means you can't afford a Supreme Court Justice either - and a little voice in the back of your head tells you that if you could afford these things then you probably wouldn't care about the issue anyway. Options seem rather slim, don't they? Well I'm here to help, friends. By going back in our time machine to 1983, I offer you the 206-Grind Three Step Punk Program.

Step One - Get Pissed

MDC - Millions Of Dead Cops / More Dead Cops

And I mean that in a specific way. No "Anarchy In The UK" or "Let's Start A War" ambiguity. I'm talking about collecting a list of anything you can remotely associate with being an arm of the establishment and releasing the fury. Stretch out that web as broad as possible. Play the Six Degrees Of Separation game.

The music is fast, the lyrics cut to the bone and no one is spared. It's raw anger, and it's directed at anything and everything. Call John Wayne a Nazi. Rail against the government for torture (yes, it was "legal" then, too), interrupt Sunday sermons with shouts that "there is no God so get off your knees." All things are hated equal but some things are more equal than others.

Step Two - Focus

Sub|Hum|Ans - Time Flies But Aeroplanes Crash + Rats

You've got all your aggression out, now comes the time to take a step back - change the Google Earth view from "Cracks in the sidewalk" to "Topographical" - and seek out the root cause. The music slims down a notch. Not as distorted, not as chaotic, much cleaner. All the more bandwidth for the lyrics - which still cut right to the chase. Five time zones west and twenty-seven years ago, Subhumans spent considerable time being pretty pissed about this entity called "National Health." They were rather upset about a few useless wars with no end in sight and the prospect of another. Funny how some things never change, innit?

But here's where things start to get tricky. The Powers That Be have all the money, all the media outlets and the ultimate power: distraction. They have enough neon lights, street signs and billboards on the Road Of Life to ensure you always take the off-ramp at the end of Step 2. This only leads you endlessly back to Step 1, setting up a cycle that jades you into a perpetual state of incurable cynicism. And no one needs that.

So after you've been pissed, after you've stepped back and placed everything in perspective, the solution is to drive straight past Jaded AVE and look for an unlit, unmarked alley. The type of road you will miss if you blink. This leads you to:

Step Three - Satire

Suicidal Tendencies - S/T

Because, seriously, you gotta laugh. Otherwise you'd go crazy (IN-sti-TU-tion!)