Man, what has happened to (UPDATE)

Punk rockers in Texas?

But, before we address that question I would like to share a couple of stories w/ you.


First, remember early in Slacker, when the random folks converge on the dead Mother in the street? Well, in the background, in the parking lot, next to the old pizza place, across the street from the now (sadly) deceased Les Amis cafe is a truck w/ a huge banner on it that reads:  Ron Paul for President.  That was 1989.  


Second, when I was in boo-ti-ful Austim, Texas, last, w/ my Sweetie, on the day I decided to show her the Capitol building there was a semi-large rally of mostly, if not all Ron Paul supporters, railing against toll-roads or some new state highway tax, I do not know, we did not stick around long enough to get the real scoop.


The thing was, though, that a very large majority of these Paul-ites, if you will, were punk rockers in their twenties and thirties.  


Now, I have followed politics near my whole life, and honestly, most of the punk rockers I know prefer super micro-/local politics and are not big for rallies or voting, even, for that matter.


(I know, I know.  No letters, please.  It is a generalization, a big one, but I am talking aboot my personal experience, too.)


So, what happened?


How did this

 become this?

Or, even worse, this?

You know, she never went Galt.  She died, living under federal assistance.

What the fuck happened, man?

When were punk rock slogans like "Anarchy" or "Never Work" or "Beneath the Paving Stones, the Beach!" or "What Are the Politics of Boredom?" or "Rent Is Theft" or "The More You Consume the Less You Live" get replaced with slogans like "Taxed Enough Already" or "Government is the Problem, Not the Solution" or "Who is John Galt?" or like the one above on Paul's desk?

Is it like Death and Glory by The Clash? "Every cheap hood makes a bargain with the world/Ends up making payments on a sofa or a girl."  Is it because Bill Hicks died? Did Malcolm McLaren drug Johnny Rotten and force him to do backmasking on God Save the Queen? So when you play it backwards Rotten says, "Greenspan is God.  Trickle down.  Laffer Curve.  The Market rules all and fixes itself.  Read Atlas Shrugged"?

Man, ain't there any anarchy left out there in Texas? Do I need to haul all your asses up to the Info Shop in Berkeley? Did you guys ever see The Lord High Fixers in Austim, or what?

Punk Rock hates politicians.  It hates liberals and conservatives.  It hates Capitalism and Socialism.  It hates TV.  It hates going on holiday.  It hates working for a living.  It hates the subway.  Punk Rock hates just about everything (or at least the Sex Pistols did) except its' brothers and sisters.  The Clash made it plain that if we could forget about The Man and get together without fear, or racial hatred, or war, with love and brotherhood, we would see a type of DIY/Anarcho heaven on earth.  


Could we not all use a piece of that? 


Alright, enough ranting.  


Here's some  Clash:

And some Lord High Fixers:

Apologies and thanks to Nick C.  Apologies cause he already heard this post at work today and thanks for contributing the Death and Glory explanation.


************


UPDATE:  I have a big correction to make.  I watched Slacker last night to remind me of Austim's wonderful anarchic, libertarian, conspiracy-theorist ways and the Ron Paul truck appears not early but half way through, between the Capitol building and the infamous "Whitman" UT Tower in the scene between the anarchist professor and the strange burglar.  That means it appears right before the professor disses Libertarians and praises Whitman as the ultimate anarchist true Austim crazy.  Sweet.  Paul was running as a Libertarian in 1988, by the way, not a member of the GOP.


Kisses, ...