MADISON, Wis. - The punk rock band Dropkick Murphys is asking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to stop playing one of their songs, saying on Twitter that “We literally hate you.”…. Walker took the stage Saturday at the Iowa Freedom Summit to its song “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” The band then tweeted at Walker’s official and personal accounts, “please stop using our music in any way…we literally hate you!!! Love, Dropkick Murphys.”…. The band has been vocally supportive of union rights and critical of Walker’s steps to effectively end collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin. In 2012, the band also asked then-Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald not to play the song after he used it at the state GOP convention.
I never cease to marvel at the chutzpah of Republicans who try to co-opt the music of artists who wouldn’t support them if you put a gun to their heads. Ronald Reagan used to enter his campaign rallies to “Born in the USA,” a particularly ironic choice given that the lyrics decried the state of an America destroyed by GOP policies. Reagan stopped using the song when Bruce Springsteen requested that he cease, because it implied that Springsteen supported him, something that was not even close to being true. Springsteen despised what Reagan stood for, and the idea of one of his songs being used by a politician whose philosophy was antithetical to everything he believed in was too much.
The Dropkick Murphys, one of my favorite bands, was not nearly as diplomatic as Springsteen. Realizing that Scott Walker was using one of their songs had to be a difficult thing to swallow. Walker stands for virtually everything most artists and musicians despise, and he’d create an America in which only the strong survive and income inequality would be considered a social good. I love the fact that the band decided to forego niceties and go straight to the “we literally hate you!!!” card. So often, the Left is concerned with kindness and politeness. While those are certainly good things, there are times when being honest about your feelings is the best and most authentic move.
Some might consider it hyperbole to state that Walker’s agenda is the embodiment of pure evil, but it’s not. He really is the embodiment of all that’s evil about the Republican agenda. Walker has worked hard to destroy unions, defund the middle class, and create a political system favorable to the oligarchy and their interests. He’s a favorite of Charles and David Koch, and he’s proved himself ready, willing, and able to embrace and advance their agenda.
That Walker was elected, re-elected, and survived a recall says far more about the collective intelligence of Wisconsin voters than it does about him…and there’s not much good to say about Scott Walker. Voters in the Badger State have willingly, even eagerly, embraced their own disenfranchisement because they couldn’t be bothered to pay attention. They’ve allowed Walker to turn their state in to a laboratory for those eager to engage in union-busting and create a two-tier society split between the haves and the have-nots.
Congratulations, Wisconsin; you have EXACTLY the quality of leadership you deserve. Scott Walker? Really? Who knew your standards were so abysmally low? Or that you’d so willingly and eagerly acquiesce to a Governor who Prime Directive is to destroy the middle class?
