Dreaming of a Better World, I Raise my Glass to You.

Subtlety is an interesting thing. Some of us have read Machiavelli and Sun Tzu and some of us have enough grasp of history to understand how the adjective Byzantine came from Byzantium. Some of us have heard about Constantinople and some of us have seen the wheels within the wheels and the ideologies behind them. Oh... let’s not mince words. Some of us have seen the two schools of human endeavor that have been playing bloody games with one another since Cain brained Abel. One side is the good guys and one side is the bad guys and depending on who controls the information you get determines who’s being which at the time.

I didn’t get all misty eyed about Ron Paul by accident. I do what I do on purpose and not because I support a candidate or only buy Samsung and can’t stand Sony. I like to be a little byzantine myself because if you are going to get people to see things as they are you have to make it clear that it’s always changing and nothing is what it seems; nothing.

I don’t usually get involved in politics or world affairs. They don’t interest me. I’m a singer songwriter and I like to weave tales. I like to fall in love over and over again and that has led me pretty much out of the spectrum of a physically romantic love and into the realms of a romantic love of something I’m not going to get into here. I like to feel things and shine on things and I like to dance and sing and celebrate this magnificent serendipity that we call life.

It hasn’t been easy to do this. I’ve caught more shit for trying to have a good time than you can imagine. People have even tried to kill me for no other reason than celebrating life. But I take that as part of the shit you have to go through to practice what most everyone else has had stolen from them a long time ago. BUT... when it gets to the point that it is at right now... then I can’t just ease on down the road like I have done before. So then, one gets political... or at least appears to be.

I don’t know Ron Paul and I’ve had my reservations since day one. That hasn’t changed. It was never about Ron Paul anyway. It was about people waking up. Since Ron Paul has come on the scene I have finally been able to see just what a massive army of the disaffected we have. Ron Paul could be the devil. He could be a shill. He could be this and he could be that but whatever he is he has been a catalyst for us finding each other. I have met and corresponded with more good people since I started talking about Ron Paul than I have ever experienced before. Often they tell me the same thing I am telling you right now. He... or his candidacy... has made it possible for us to find each other. That’s all I care about.

I also don’t like people treading on me. I don’t like people treading on people other than me. I don’t like whores for money and power and fame. I like honest servants of human good. I like excellence and the struggle for it. Dreams of a more permanent and enduring circumstance in which all of us can have a good time turn me into Silly Putty. It’s not about Ron Paul, it’s about us.

I’ve got good feelings about John Edwards too. Except for Dennis Kucinich I don’t care for anyone else. John Edwards has got that Jimmy Carter thing and I liked Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter went down because he wouldn’t kneel down even though he does kneel down the same way that I am in love with something I don’t want to talk about. Say what you will about anything at all ...usually things happen for a reason. I would venture to say that everything happens for a reason. You can say that Jimmy Carter was incompetent and that’s why this and why that. How does that explain two terms of George W. Bush? No one has ever been as incompetent as g.w.b. I am not exaggerating when I say I would be surprised if he could find his dick with both hands. Given the degree of his personal cowardice and vicious disregard for humanity I would say that that degree of difficulty was based on a lack of physical dexterity as well as a degree of difficulty in finding something that small.

Make no mistake my friends... these are perilous times. It isn’t as clear as it should be just how treacherous are the shoals of our moment in time. This is because some kind of gas or broadcast or interferences of technology unknown are messing with the general capacity for comprehension. Few people realize how important Pakistan is to the chess table.

Underneath the glossy magazine ad of mass distraction is a percolating well of injury and outrage. You in your comfortable homes have no idea how the other half lives and another thing you may not know is that the disaffected are being daily recruited by those who know how to turn these things to their advantage. America came about in this way. Everything comes about in this way. If America can’t reach out to those in the percolating well then someone else will. It’s no surprise that most of the candidates have ambivalent positions on immigration. The size of the immigrant vote is enough to swing the election.

I believe I have said “Wake up!” a lot of times and I don’t feel like saying it right now. All of you will do what you do regardless of suggestion or guidance from me or anyone else. The truth is that the only time you ever learn anything is when you fuck up. Then you have no choice. That’s how we are. We have to be dragged kicking and screaming. It’s sad but true.

If the lights go off...if panic hits, in only a few days half the people in the cities will be dead. I’ve seen the studies and also human nature. You put people in a life survival state and you will be very surprised to see how quickly the thin veneer of civilization disappears.

Meanwhile... on the face of it... everything seems to be going on like it always did. Sure... it’s a drag to catch an airplane now. Sure... the police are scary; not just for blacks and hippies but for anyone. Sure... you can’t talk about certain things or you will lose your job. Sure... there’s a much tighter groove in which to move but... hey, the TV is doing the same thing it always does. You can get things at the store and once you’re back home you can lock your door. Same old same old right? The porno is available. The chicken wings are available and the ugly girls at 2:00AM or whenever the bar closes are still available.

I know the voting is rigged. I know that the assholes have all of the money and all of the guns. I knew that a long time ago. I’ve never been deceived about this for an instant. This shit has been going on a long time. There’s nothing new here folks... except for one thing. People are waking up. Even the most sold out shopper for useless shit is waking up. That is a big difference.

People like me and the others who have annoyed you no end woke up a long time ago. Now you are waking up. If I could stand at the bedside of every one of you right now and slam trash can lids together I would. I don’t mind your annoyance. One of the things your indifference has taught me is how to fight, so I can take you even if you do wake up. I won’t kick your ass. I’ll hold you in my arms until the gossamer spider web of the dream passes. Then I might kick your ass but only because I love you.

This is a sound-out to all of you who are joining into the massive human display of resistance against a handful of assholes who have had it their own way at our expense. This one is for and to you. I raise a toast to you. It’s not nearly as lonely out here as it used to be and I’m not angry at you for not having known any better. None of us knew any better but we do now. To you I raise this glass. To you I make this toast. You have finally found your minds when we needed it the most.

I don’t want my dogs to see me cry. It would be too much like you seeing me cry back when I was just an annoyance. Some of us care and there are a lot more of us now. To you I raise my glass and wish you good fortune as the world tilts on its axis. The times they always talked about are coming on us now. Do what you can to help. I know you will and may love encircle and protect you all the way home.

Visible sings: ♫ On A Night Like This ♫
'Night Like This' is track no. 11 of 12 on Visible's 2007 album 'Almost A Capella'


happy new here... one can always hope.