The Price of Vindication

In about half of the 40 or so discussions I've had this week about the economic meltdown, someone has said, in some way or another, that this will finally close the book on the GOP brand of unbridled free marketeering. Just like how Katrina would finally close the book on the idea that shrinking government down to a size where you could "drown it in the bathtub" once hundreds of people drowned along with it. And Abu Ghraib would close the book on the idea that we could win more hearts and minds in Iraq than we were repulsing. Progressive ideas have been proven right repeatedly by last straw upon last straw in the past couple thousand days, and with staggering consequences.

Our new song The Price of Vindication is about the financial crisis as the latest in a series of validations of progressive ideals that have unfortunately long-stopped being fun to get smug about.

Click the play button below to hear the song:

The Price of Vindication

I heard it meant a change was coming
When the photographs went public of degraded prison subjects
And it surely signaled off the end of something
When the Mississippi waterfalls busted through the city walls
The wringing hands of every morning after
Never turn to fists to break their nose
And that particular final chapter happened a dozen final chapters ago

Righteous indignation's rotting in the bargain bin
The credits started rolling but the jokes keep pouring in
I can't afford a smile, just a chuckle now and then
Until the price of vindication goes back down again

I haven't got a head for economics
What a take from the appearance of an awful lot of zeroes is
Just a life raft to abuse widespread and chronic
With a "Swear you won't do this again,"
"We swear we won't this is the end,"

We disappointed vultures come out often
Scatter off with nothing in our mouths
Every final nail that hits that coffin
Splits the wood and lets the corpse fall out

Righteous indignation's rotting in the bargain bin
The epilogue's been written, they keep tacking on the end
I can't afford a smile, just a chuckle now and then
Until the price of vindication goes back down again

Parachutes of platinum and silk safety nets
They made out like bandits and lost every bet
They've learned every lesson there is to forget
It ain't over 'til it's over, I guarantee it isn't over yet

I'm tired of mending fences so I'm sharpening my spine
With an appetite for vengeance and a thirst for better times
So I'll order up what's mine, and send the bill to them
Until the price of vindication goes back down again

Max and the Marginalized are a band and a blog. We do a song every week on the Huffington Post, all 50 of which are available for download here at our site. Add us on Facebook or MySpace.

Comments

[dahpunkster]

you know what really sad my best friend didnt even know about the bailout! She didnt know anything about any of this

[SpoxLogic]

That is BEYOND sad!! I'm gonna make a guess here, but I bet she knows all about her favorite reality or TV show though, right?
I hope your friend is the only one like that, but, alas, I know that isn't hte case.

[darker]

good song, folks.

What's happened to America?
NO MORE YEARS to corrupt Republican LIARS.
I can't AFFORD Republicans anymore!

REPUBLICANS PROVED they cannot govern and don't want to learn HOW TO.

My vote's for common sense management: Obama-Biden.

[fighouse]

this song is great, although it depresses me. how true it is.

[jmpurser]

I've been singing the "I told you so" song for a decade or so now. It's a bitter, bitter, song and costs WAY too much.

[ramiperlman]

Love this song!