Politics and Music

@artemus_5 Which only makes my point, good or bad, the rule of man holds as final arbiter for law.

@bdp24

A lot of Democrats were Reagan Democrats, so don’t hold that against Neil. Reagan won 49 states in the 1984 election and you don’t do that without a lot of support from the opposite side. Why did so many Democrats like Reagan even though they disliked his economic policies? Because he was an effective communicator and he was wiling to compromise to get things done. He and Tip O’Neill worked together and both compromised, something which since the days of Newt Gingrich you no longer see. Reagan also started us down the path of ending the Cold War and kept inflation low. If you want to pick out a villain, Gingrich is the one to choose.

Politics and art are nearly inextricably linked.  Witness what happened when people did not stand at attention during the playing of the National Anthem.

Context is important, but any song can be politicized.  A few examples:

Dolly Parton "9 to 5"

Bruce Springsteen "Born In the USA"

Billie Holiday "Strange Fruit"

The Clash "London Calling"

Duke Ellington "Black, Brown And Beige"

Bob Dylan "Blowing In the Wind"

George Cohan "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

Aretha Franklin "Respect"

Stevie Wonder "Livin' In the City"

The Who "My Generation"

The Band "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down"

Marvin Gaye "Inner City Blues"

Village People "Y.M.C.A."

Jimi Hendrix "Machine Gun"

Rolling Stones "Under Cover Of the Night"

Gang Of Four "Call Me Up"

They even politicized "A Whiter Shade Of Pale".

Clearly, history has shown music and politics cannot be separated.  In that case, I agree with Frogman's above comments.

Please remember to add that the Democratic party of the 1800s was constituted by Andrew Jackson's Nativist/populist coalition, and the GOP was a brand new party devoted to abolition, with its base in the industrial North.  In today's world, the polical roles of the parties has flipped 180 degrees.  The GOP turned into its current alignment when it sought to improve its electoral performance by capturing George Wallace's voters.  The Democrats came to be what they are now after the Dixiecrats switched their alliegance to the newly re-positioned GOP.  Under FDR and LBJ, Democrats  championed of an activist Government promoting societal progress and strengthening the safety net.  The GOP opposes this, and favors nothing but reducing taxation.

The issue of stare decisis today is fraught with political overtones.  The SCOTUS with its new Republican appointed majority can lay waste to many progressive achievemants of the past by applying their tortured "originalist" logic.  Stare Decisis for Thee, Judicial Activism for Me.

@crustycoot + 100 - excellent description of what happened.

At 70 years of age and from MD, I certainly remember the Dixiecrats; Spiro Agnew got to be governor of Maryland because he ran as the liberal Republican, believe it or not; the Democrat running against him was a Dixiecrat....