John Mellecamp's Political Discontent

John Mellencamp, one of the first to oppose the war in Iraq, has an interview in the LA Times talking about his new music and his political discontent while promoting his new album "Life Death Love and Freedom:

"I have felt that the government has betrayed most people in turning their back on the working class." He said, "Deregulation has destroyed so many things that worked so well, destroyed the airlines, destroyed trucking, destroyed, as we see now, Wall Street. . . .

"We've got to have guidelines, and strict guidelines, that are enforced by the government. That's the government's job. Now, their idea of making law is 'We're allowed to tap your phone, we're allowed to enter your house without a search and seizure.' That's wrong."

He blames the strong nationalism that clenched the country after Sept. 11.

"When people are for the country right or wrong, America right or wrong, it's a lot like Germany. Nationalism is a bad thing. And when you have a mob mentality over a country, over a swastika, over the Führer, over the Iraq war, the outcome is not going to be good."

He said he played a show in Boston two days after Sept. 11 that "frightened" him.

"I write a lot of songs that could be interpreted as big patriotic songs, but in reality they're questioning the direction the country is going," he said. "After every song in Boston, 20,000 people were going, 'USA, USA.' I thought, man. I almost asked them to stop, stop doing that. I don't like it. I don't like hearing that chant."

He decided not to and kept on singing.

"I know why they were doing it," he said. "There's a part, a small part of me that understands that we all need to rally together after a tremendous disaster. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that that's the only time this country rallies together."

READ WHOLE INTERVIEW

-OR-

READ WHAT OTHER CELEBRITIES SAY ABOUT POLITICS

Comments

[research]

THIS is the value of artists.

Thank you.

[MoeSart]

Just wait until we see the Imperialism Obama, his rubber stamp Congress and their cult followers try to set up in America.

We already see how they react to anyone that doesn't pledge allegiance to Obama.

All of it will make post-911 America look like a picnic.

[research]

You really believe that? You have to watch more than FOX, try KO, Daily Show, Colbert, and Maddow.

Enough with the Bogus "socialism" argument.

That's the your GOP conservative meme.

Anything that helps society is "socialism",

Anything that helps community is "communism".

Roads, schools, police, ...the GOP says:

Privatize and deregulate!

To the GOP anything that is not unregulated robber baron corporatism is bad.

Can't you see that it doesn't work? It's not even "Enlightened Selfishness", it's blind greed.

[TakingBackTheUSA]

Guess what Moe, every time you GOP fanatics scream "socialist" you stupidly refuse to realize that the polar opposite of socialism is communism. So with your argument you pretty well declare yourself and your fellow righties to be communists. Keep yelling "free market", we see how well that worked in communist Russia. For crying out loud your VP candidate quoted Jo Stalin in her RNC speech and nobody called her on it.

[sodium]

"Imperialism"

"rubber stamp"

"cult"

" pledge allegiance to Obama."

Just wondering, isnt there some software tha can recognise and filter out this sort of obvious Rush/Hannity/GOP talking points?

Such meaningless and empty words.

[smokehouse10]

Here we go again. Who gives a country CRAP what John Mellencanp thinks, I mean really. Isn't he a singer, I think I will get my facts and figures from a more credible source then someone who sings, and writes songs for a living.
Call me crazy but that the way I think.

[TakingBackTheUSA]

He's as entitled to his opinion as anyone else, even you. He's just lucky enough to have a platform and recognition to give it a louder voice.

He may "sing and write songs for a living" but the fact that he's had two decades of success at it proves that he at least is a thinker. Something that this country has sorely lacked being in the spotlight over the last several years.

[sodium]

"Here we go again. Who gives a country CRAP what John Mellencanp thinks"

A hell of a lot of people actually.

"Call me crazy but that the way I think."

You're not crazy, you're just intellectually lazy.

[ellawensmom]

I imagine that all the farmers who've been helped by the tremendous work he's done for Farm Aid over the years care what he thinks.

I knew I liked you, John.

[MarceloAbans]

Nice. Good call John, had no idea he was this way.. good for him..

[grayforester]

Would Germany be our FA sponsor?

[bwaynester]

good guy , that melon man

[MajorKong]

I saw him in 1980 when he was still going by "Johnny Cougar" and I couldn't stand him. I didn't like him at all throughout the "Jack and Diane" days.

Then, in 1985, I heard Scarecrow. I thought "Man, I like this guy a whole lot better when he's pissed off". It seemed like he had found his true voice and I've liked him ever since.

[AlexNYC]

John's record company (Riva Records) manufactured the John Cougar persona for him. He played along for 2-3 albums, then changed back to hsi real name Mellencamp and began writign songs that mattered to him. Thus songs like Scarecrow and Pink Houses came about.

[NationalTreasure]

John Mellencamp is Mr. America

[PeepingTom]

I. Love. John. Mellencamp.
So much more American than John McCain.

[HenryDavid]

I agree on both counts.

Deregulation has been good for devious people--those who would exploit working people at any and every opportunity. I remember seeing President Reagan in a news videoclip in the mid-1980s when he got his phase of deregulation approved. He smiled smugly and said, "Now we've got the whole ball of wax." The deregulators exploited voraciously, and the decade ended with the S&L scandal which cost American taxpayers a fortune--a "nice" chunk went to John McCain who got off easy with a reprimand by the Senate Ethics Committee for using "poor judgment."

However, Reagan was small-time compared to what the Bushes have done. Now, there's a family who have made incredible fortunes through deregulation, war profiteering, and exploiting nationalism.

Nationalism is a rallying cry which can easily be exploited by "the wrong elements." The Nazis got a lot of mileage out of it. Haven't we seen a good example in our own country through "The Patriot Act"?

[Hare]

And then they got together to deregulate healthcare and the mess is just about to hit the fan! I hope Obama can do something quick about those HMOs crooks

[walk0nwalls]

Thanks John, nice to see that I wasn't alone in my opinions of the state of the country after 9-11

[Lexica]

"Somehow the Golden Rule has been shuffled to the bottom of the deck," he said. "I don't always live by the Golden Rule, but I am always trying to be mindful of that. And respect and manners have been shuffled even lower. I guess just in that we all need to be mindful of how we want to be treated, and what goes around comes around."

Mr. Mellencamp, you give voice to the feelings of so many Americans. We MUST get ourselves straight or this country faces a Roman Empire-like demise.

The first time you played Madison Square Garden the sound system was problematic. I remember you told us, "If you've got a ticket, you've got your money back." I'd like to think no one took you up on that; the show turned out to be pehnomenal! In that moment you showed us who you are, and in this interview you show us you still hold fast to your ideals. Thank you.

[cengizfromoc]

The type of nationalism that has risen in this country after 9/11 is scary. So is the accepted bigotry against muslims and arabs. I think it is amazing that a lady at John McCain's rally accused Obama of being an arab and McCain came to Obama's defense to say he is not an arab. How about sticking up for Arab Americans? Accepted bigotry is disgusting.

Also - great point. We have deregulated corporations but we now tap the phones of our citizens and no longer require a warrant for searching the home of an American? When the hell did we decide to regulate people but not business? That is just stupid.

John Mellencamp just got a lot cooler in my book.

[zepfan81]

"Nationalism is a bad thing. And when you have a mob mentality over a country, over a swastika, over the Führer, over the Iraq war, the outcome is not going to be good."

Mob mentality over country is not Nationalism, it's the opposite. I'm not totally disagreeing with what he's saying, but Nationalism isn't our problem, LACK of it is. Nationalism can be a great thing. We're more divided than we've been in years, companies continue to ship jobs overseas. How are we Nationalistic? We're just stupid and greedy and ignorant and want everything while making no sacrifices to get it. That's not Bush's fault or the Republicans. They gave us just what most Americans wanted...e­verything, but now we see "everything" comes with a price we're not prepared to pay.

[editorjuno]

You're confusing nationalism with patriotism -- they're not the same phenomenon.

[Bitsko]

I like John Mellencamp, but the article saying he was "one of the first to oppose the war in Iraq" is a bit of hyperbole.

[robotfog]

yeah. I opposed it well before he did, yet no one speaks of me.