This episode is a bit of an odd duck. I was scanning a bunch of tunes I had saved up for future episodes of Tales From The Drop Box after enjoying a fine thanksgiving day with my family. After listening to several catchy tunes in a row, I just cobbled together this episode from that playlist. Tales From The Drop BoxEpisode 130 is a slightly mellow affair, but perhaps it was the big meal.
This episode will also help you remain calm while you digest the full 4th National Climate Assessment Report. Truly a distressing read but at least your feet will be tapping.
My takeaway after reading the full report is that climate change is real. But you already knew that. What you also know as a fact and the report confirms that unless very aggressive action is taken to reduce and eliminate carbon emissions that life is going to change for all of us. One of those changes is that on a global basis humans are going to suffer. Many will die from famine, disease and catastrophic weather events.
Another takeaway garnered from the response to the report by Trump is that we need to eliminate impediments to change. i.e. eliminate the noise created by climate change deniers that prevent action directed to reduce the impact of these events. We also need to stop fake presidents.
Tomorrows Tulips – “Certain Frantic Quality” (Harnessed To Flesh)
The Littlest Viking – “Deathdrop For Jesus” (Feelings & Stuff)
Color TV – “Pale & Vicious” (Color TV)
Workin’ Man Noise Unit – “Turn It Off” (It’s Not Nothin’)
Harlan T. Bobo – “Spiders” (A History Of Violence)
Gold Star – “This Is The Year” (Uppers & Downers)
Night Shop – “I Was Alone” (In The Break)
Hippo Campus – “Anxious” (Bambi)
Middle Class Rut – “Swimmin’ outta L.A.” (Strangler Days)
We Hate You Please Die – “Minimal Function” (Kids Are Lo-Fi)
Radio Birdman – “I-94” (The Essential Radio Birdman 1974-1978)
Escondido – “Bullet” (Warning Bells)
Je cherche le cerveau dans mon chemin et dans ma fête c’est la tête je fous plus rien mon dieu, mon dieu là c’est demain réalité la nier, ça m’f’rait du bien . . . I could say it right now but it’s not the time I see those friendly faces but they only make me anxious . . .
Not sure where I was going with this episode, Tales From The Drop Box Episode 119, if you are keeping track. I have spent some time thinking about elections and voting as my lovely wife is running for re-election for the school board in the city where I live. We are a little more than 6 weeks away from November 6 – a date that should be on everyone’s calendar. Voting is a privilege of citizenship. I say privilege because, although citizens enjoy the right to vote, a surprisingly large number of those eligible to vote, do not. Even more surprising, at least to me, are the number of citizens who are not able to vote because they are not eligible. That last statement should absolutely shock your conscience.
Your “right to vote” was earned through the service of the brave women and men who have defended our nation, fought in our wars, and died in preserving our freedoms. The “right to vote” appears 5 times in the Constitution but nowhere in the Constitution does it specifically state that “all individuals have the right to vote.” The Constitution merely rules out specific limitations on “the right to vote.” A right not guaranteed in affirmative terms isn’t really a “right” in a fundamental sense. How do we know that the right to vote is not a right and not a privilege then? Because the right to vote is often taken away by the State. The most egregious problem is that different states have imposed different “burdens” on the right to vote effectively creating a class of citizens who are deemed “worthy” of the privilege.
A privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people. All citizens should have the right to vote, but they do not. We have permitted our elected officials to chip away and to usurp the right to vote by enacting legislation designed to remove or unduly burden the ability of certain groups/classes of individuals to vote. In so doing, the privileged class converted a right appearing in the Constitution to a mere “privilege” through the permanent disenfranchisement of citizens with felony convictions, superfluous voter identification requirements and complex voter registration laws that are designed to eliminate the right to vote of the poor, the uneducated, and those who do not conform to the politics of a particular state. That is, we live in a country that has permitted voting as a privilege to be enjoyed by “worthy” people and not by others.
Without uniform election laws, the prevalent patch-work election rules and regulations that vary state-by-state will continue to disenfranchise millions of voters countrywide. This disenfranchisement will continue to target those persons who have committed a felony in the past, do not possess government issued identification, or lack a fixed residence. Finally, as is becoming obvious, more persons will be disenfranchised because States run elections as cheaply as possible. This lack of funding makes it more difficult to vote as States respond by placing polling places in remote locations or simply by not having ballots for registered voters. This is shameful in a Country that prides itself in “free” elections. As States place more burdens on voting, we lose our rights. If we fail to vote when we are able, then we shouldn’t complain that we didn’t get te government we wanted. However, if we wrongfully prevent our citizens from voting then we destroy our democracy.
So, as the midterm elections approach, exercise your privilege because you are voting for those citizens our government says shouldn’t vote. Perhaps in time, voting will be a right… and not a privilege.
Mystic Braves – “Under Control” (The Great Unknown)
Hank Wood and the Hammerheads – “Love is a Cold White Tile” (Hank Wood and the Hammerheads)
Loose Tooth – “Asteroid” (Keep Up)
Megative – “Can’t Get Away” (Megative)
The Blank Tapes – “Paradise” (Candy)
Culture Abuse – “Dip” (Bay Dream)
Boston Manor – “Flowers in Your Dustbin” (Welcome To The Neighborhood)
As It Is – “The Wounded World” (The Great Depression)
WSTR – “Fling” (Identity Crisis)
The Beggars – “Game” (The Day I Lost My Head)
Illuminati Hotties – “Paying Off The Happiness” (Kiss Yr Frenemies)
Public Image Limited – “Flowers of Romance” (Public Image Is Rotten)
Amy Shark – “Mess Her Up” (Love Monster)
Et quand je trippe, j’ai tort sous cannabis, je dors et quand je bois j’ai tort quand je me bats j’ai tort . . . it’s the brush of my hand in a wide hallway, it’s the long goodbyes that give us away, it’s the song that comes on and hurts the most.
