Henry Rollins: DIY Life

Running for Office- Episode 5: Budgeting

Campaigns are crazy expensive.

Man Bulldozes his own home rather than face forclosure

I like this guys attitude.

"When I see that I owe $160,000 on almost a $350,000 home and somebody decides they want to take it -- I wasn't gonna stand for that so I took it down." -- Terry Hoskins, Moscow, Ohio

To translate from midwestern politeness into a language that people from NYC might understand:

Fuck me? Oh no, my friend, fuck YOU.

Banks forclose on homes in the hopes of reselling them and regaining their losses. By leveling his home, the bank has essentially nothing but the dirt it stood on. I applaud you sir.

Occupy Ninjas Take Manhattan

Make the difference.

Everybody is important enough to do big things.

[Music] The Whole F**king Thing Is Coming Down

Lyrics:

Hedge funds, derivatives, tea pot dome
wall street gambling, using your home
congress isn't gonna do a single fucking thing
because their campaign contributions all come attached to strings
The Democratic Party is a failing institution
what we need now is a real revolution

The United States is a global empire
The Factory owner is a fucking vampire
sucking wealth from the poor
committing wage theft
who will work for you when we've starved to death?

CHORUS: And the whole fucking thing is coming down x4

I work full time in a factory
but that doesn't mean I can afford to eat
I've got student loans, but no degree
so I'm gonna die working at a machine
No health insurance, we're all temporary hires
so if we get sick we'll just hurry up and die

wages so low we can't afford the rent
so we have to rely on the government
but the rich man doesn't want to pay his taxes
so the social programs, they'll all get the axe
we don't complain, we don't bitch
the only thing we've got left to eat is the rich

CHORUS: and the whole fucking thing is coming down x4

DIY Democracy

Some say that the mural in Maine is a non-issue, a distraction from the actual policy-based war on the working person.

I disagree that this is a distraction. I see this as the poetic embodiment of exactly what is wrong with our country today.

When the fascist Roman empire invaded and occupied another nation, the first thing they do is tear down symbols of national identity and replace them-- with their own. They do this to say "we've won, stop fighting."

When the nazi's invaded and occupied another nation, the first thing they did was tear down symbols of national identity and replace them with their own. They did this to say, "we've won, stop fighting."

When the USA invaded and occupied Iraq, the first thing we did was tear down symbols of national identity and replace them with american flags. We did this to say, "we've won. Stop fighting."

In the war on the working class, that is exactly what Paul LePage has done, whether he realizes it or not.

One must realize, however, that Paul LePage isn't a calculating psychological tactician. He isn't thinking about ways to crush the will and injure the psyche of the working class. He is nothing more than an obedient attack dog for the Koch Brothers. He is a useful idiot, who has found his way to the seat of power through a broken winner-take-all electoral system that gives a person with 38% of the vote, the seat of power.

We must be careful not to let this vitriol for the GOP turn into pro-democrat sentiment by default. They are just as guilty, and have just as much blood on their hands in this perpetual war against working people. Here in Maine, it wasn’t even a year ago that we fought against the Democratic Party leadership for their attempt to push through a bill that would restructure taxes to accelerate wealth upwards, and subsidize cuts to the rich by taking even more from poor and working class people.

What’s more, we have, by assuming that political parties offer alternatives, put ourselves in the infantile position of begging the political parties for our dignity, to give us social justice, to give us our rights. These are not things that are theirs to give to begin with. These are things we own, and must realize ourselves. If we want them to be realized in policy, we need to stop begging, and start running for office and making it happen.

It was not Democratic Party who gave us women’s sufferage, it was women.
It was not Democratic Party who gave us civil rights, it was civil libertarians.
It was not Democratic Party who gave us the right to organize, it was unions.
It was not the Democratic Party who gave us the worker’s rights, it was working people.
If we want something, we must do it ourselves.
It’s not that we’re left without any other option, it’s that there never has been any other option. If we want to live in a better country, we must do it ourselves. If you want to get rid of laissez-faire economic policies, where corporations run roughshod over human beings and we do nothing to stop it, then you need to get rid of laissez-faire politics, where corporations run roughshod over human beings and we do nothing to stop it. Stop voting for Wall Street’s candidates!

Right now Obama is appointing Wall Street goon after Wall Street good to his cabinet. He has kept most of George W Bush's staff. Obama, with the difference of a few talking points, has been a seamless continuation of George W Bush's administration.

So long as we keep bouncing alternating between two heads of a Wall Street monster, we are doomed to continue, by our own compliance, the economic violence against ourselves and others, both here at home, and around the world, at the hands of the monied elite of Wall Street. When we continue to vote for the alternative faces of Wall Street, and we are doing nothing but pressing the knife more tightly against our own throat.

A better world is possible. We must make it real.

Do it yourself! I’m the punk patriot: to life, liberty, and pursuit of a less fucked up government.