Repunklicanism: A Universal Theme

I always say I'm going to write an essay or book explaining what being "Repunklican" means. I never quite follow through. Well, today I found another song that was extremely repunklican and figured now was as good a time as any. There will be controversial claims. There will also be lyrics and songs.

The idea of crossing being Republican and punk may seem odd at first, but it is no stranger than the genre that best typifies it: pop punk. In fact, one of its founders, Johnny Ramone, was a Republican/conservative. He was probably the first Repunklican and certainly atypical in a community filled with left wingers. The contradiction is though, no matter how much punk rockers scream(ed) for equality or badmouth(ed) the man, they still support(ed) and vote(d) for the parties that advocate a large federal government that runs things. They're ok with that though, as long as everyone is free to do what they want in their personal lives. (What they fail to recognize though is how deeply personal economics are and if someone has a hand in your bank account they also have one in your bedroom.)

Worse yet, being punk (which has transferred over to being hipster/scenester) carries with it an ethos of poverty, anti-success, and anti-progress...all which the main participants either don't realize or don't want to acknowledge. To explain what I mean, here are some lyrics from "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock" by MC Lars, a song in which he rails against the corporate store Hot Topic selling the punk image to teenagers:

Hot Topic is a contrived identification with youth subcultures to manufacture an anti-authoritarian identity and make millions. The $8 you paid for the Mudvayne poster would be better spent used to see your brother's friend's band.

DIY ethics are punk rock
Starting your own label is punk rock
G.G. Allin was punk rock.

But when a crass corporate vulture feeds on mass-consumer culture, this spending mommy's money is not punk rock!

My intent is not to defend Hot Topic, but to demonstrate the self contradictory nature of punk. Through MC Lars it's clear that "DIY [do it yourself] ethics" and "starting your own label" are "punk rock." You know who else used "DIY ethics" and started their own labels? Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, JP Morgan, John D Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. You know, the people they call "robber barons" because their business grew into corporations and "oppressed people." More modern examples include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch, and Sam Walton. Basically, the problem between punk and corporations is seen when you turn to MC Lars' GG Allin reference. GG Allin was known not only for his individualism, but his nihilism...and that is where the accepted contradiction of punk aligns, in the Fight-Club-Joker-in-The-Dark-Knight-the-Dude-abides spot where aggressive rebellion against the collective meets apathy towards value. In this conception, punk rock is about staying unknown, not developing your skills, and not making too much money..all while being yourself.

Repunklicanism doesn't take issue with the former. It takes issue with the latter. Fight Club and The Dark Knight raise important questions about society, but their answers are ultimately destruction and hiding in the shadows. The Big Lebowski is compelling in its main character's constant coolness, but the issue here is best summed up by the Dude's pal, Walter Sobchak:

Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

And that, for me, was the moral of that movie. Punk, at its contradictorily accepted roots, has no ethos. It is a quagmire of dudes abiding other dudes, all be it angrily to make sure you abide them as well. Why does this nihilism degenerate towards collectivism? Because a focus on wealth as status as a defining trait of the ethic is inherently focused on others. It's a misunderstanding of money that says the more money you have the more other people like you, and if other people like you, you must be conforming to their standards. Thus, the only way to be an individual is to have no money, as that shows you're not conforming to anyone else's standards.

The problem is, this view of money is not only that it's wrong, but it holds no matter if you're rich or poor, so ndividualist punks become collectivists anyway because they're so worried about what the collective is doing.mBasically, it's the non-conformist. If you're intentionally not doing what everyone else is doing, you're still basing your decisions off of them.

Enter the Republican part of of Repunklican, the party that is for economic freedom and (supposedly) supports big business. How can this mesh with a "DIY ethic" and starting your own label? Economic freedom is good precisely because it allows for, and necessitates, people starting their own labels (metaphorically) and doing it themselves. The great industrialists I named earlier are the men who did it themselves, who started their empires with only their own minds and bodies; empires which brought some of the greatest advancements in the history of mankind.

However, the Republican party also has it's own great contradiction. For as much as its members want the government to stay out of economics, it inversely wants the government to manage people's private lives by telling them what they can and can't do. Don't do drugs. Don't have abortions. Don't teach evolution. Don't come to this country unless we approve of you. It is in that approval that the problem exists. Like the Democrats in economic issues, the Republicans want the government to dictate how things ought to be (be it on a federal, state, or city level).

Enter the punk part of Repunklican. Individualism is best. Where the Republican party fails is attempting to deny the individual the ability to choose. What makes their position more tolerable and slightly less dangerous is the inherent futility of it. It is impossible to increase economic freedom and decrease social freedom. The more unregulated an economy, the more choices will be available to people, and the less a government that wants to promote a free market system can do about those choices. Democrats, on the other hand, support and enact policies that lead down the path to destruction. The less economic freedom there is, the less choices are available to people, whether you allow them to do it or not. Sure, it's nice to say people are allowed to smoke cigarettes, but when you regulate the industry through taxes and limitations, you stifle the consumers ability to choose and the producers ability to innovate by denying them their means to participate in an economy/society. I know, I know, this all sounds familiar.

You're probably thinking, "Are you just a libertarian?" Answering that question with a yes presents two problems:

1. I do tend to agree with Republicans on social issues. I think drugs are bad (mmkay). I think abortion is rarely the rational choice. I think indiscriminate sex outside of a rationale agreement is mentally unhealthy. I define marriage as between a man and a woman. However, I don't think any of these things should be mandated. They should be thought through and chosen by the individual. That's punk. (Actually, in a way, it's very straight edge...minus the veganism and celibacy.)

2. Adhering to an already available label because it is available and generally fits you is anti-individualistic. Individualism is discovering who you are (what you value and what you want to do) on your own. It's walking through a store (metaphorically) and considering each option while realizing that every single person will leave that store with a different combination of goods. Even more to the point, it's going into a bunch of stores and purchasing something from each. Finally, individualism is starting your own store (your own label, if you will) for yourself, which also happens to make you one of those options for other people to pick from, which you proclaim to them with flashing neon signs (or harsh chords and gang vocals). That's punk.

Repunklicanism is the summation of my experiences, my knowledge, and my values. It is the individual choosing freedom and values...and expressing it powerfully, passionately, and punk-ily (err, it's a word now). It is pro-reality and anti-nihilism. It is the recognition that there is a right and a wrong, but only the individual can decide that for himself or his life will be filled with suffering...and that he must express those decisions to anyone who will hear them and remain loyal to those who appreciate them. Will Repunklicanism ever be as identifiable to a large number of people in the way punk, conservatism, or liberalism are? I don't know, but if it ever is, I hope people embrace it by saying "this is what I say," not "this is what Jayemel said" like they do with Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, FDR, and a host of other figures.

So what's the song that inspired me to write all this? Does it actually have anything to do with this or was it one of those typical "random associative" moments that everyone has? My taste in music is specific and thought out, as most of my life is. My favorite genre is pop punk, as it blends individualism and value seeking in a manner appropriate to reality, all with a positive sense of life that is often missing from more "traditional" punk. (Yes, the humor in the fact that I just referred to some punk as traditional is not lost on me.)

Appropriately, the song is from pop punk band Punchiline and appears on their recently released album "Delightfully Pleased." It is called A Universal Theme, a title that is infinitely fitting, and can be heard here. The lyrics are as follows, with highlights bolded:

This is a reaction to the songs we’re forced to hear
Spread like and infection from the airwaves to our ears.
Don’t give up now kid you see.
What you’re searching for is on the tip of your tongue.
The future is here finally,
Writing an end to an open chapter.

Who you are depends on what’s inside of you.
Spin the globe and change the world.
Revolutionary.

This is a reaction to an existential state
Only a reflection throughout our sleepwalk days

How can we change what’s engraved in our psyche
Like invisible strings on the tips of our Nike’s
Pulling us faster and harder
To chase dreams that weren’t ours in the first place.

Who you are depends on what’s inside of you.
Spin the globe and change the world.
Revolutionary.
Who you are depends on what’s inside of you.
Spin the globe and change the world.
Revolutionary.
Who you are
Who you are

Who you are depends on what’s inside of you.
Spin the globe and change the world.
Revolutionary.

Who you are
Don’t wanna be by myself
Don’t wanna be by myself
No, I don’t wanna be by myself.

There are nights I can’t remember,
where I woke up on the floor.
I’ve seen friends become successful
And then be a friend, be a friend no more.

Who you are depends on what’s inside of you.
Spin the globe and change the world.
Revolutionary.

Who you are depends on what’s inside of you.
Spin the globe and change the world.
Revolutionary.

Perhaps the most powerful part of the lyrics is the plea against being alone and losing friends, a tough false choice the prevailing wind of collectivism forces the individual in: you can be you or have everyone like you, not both. Of course, this is what the song itself asks: how can I be myself in a culture that is setup to make me everyone else? Taking such an action is, at its root, revolutionary. However, the point is not is to to "spin the globe and change the world." That is merely a consequence. No, rather the point is to combat the infection and save yourself by saying the answers that are "on the tip of your tongue" and "inside of you." That is the universal theme that reverberates throughout pop punk, repunklicanism, and humanity. Here are some other examples.

In their song "Free," Allister highlights the same idea almost exactly:

Now it seems I've fallen victim to the same disease that's
eaten up the world
Our generation's gonna fall apart if we continue to be
pushed around
So now it's time to make a change
We gotta lock down and rearrange
And reject the fundamentals of society

The time has come to live my life
I'm gonna break out and do what I like
And I don't care what you say or think about me
Yeah, yeah

Say Anything points to it in their song "Do Better" in which singer/lyricist Max Bemis takes himself to task in a way that also critiques everyone else's apathy and collectivism:

Your life is always the post of something else.
Where is the present in the way that you present yourself?
It's disgusting how little that you try:
The existential equivalent of pink eye.

Drink alone and watch TV.
You're expecting harmonies
To tap your tune with silver spoons,
The anthem of impending doom.
Guiding Satan's steady hand.
Forcing Beatles to disband.
It's ego freaks and drama queens
The young at heart know what I mean.

You could do better
You could do better
You could be the greatest man in the world (woah!)
You could do better
You could do better
You could be the greatest man in the world (woah!)

In Say Anything's song "No Soul," Bemis is even harsher on the collectivists in his fight for his soul:

There's something in the way you people smell
Like you've got no soul at all
Fingers crawling with ringworm
Your sneer's a mating call
To lure in others of your breed
Spread that smug and slimy seed
Borrow quotes from the cultures you've crowded like weeds

Is your schedule sufficient tonight, you toad?
Hop another bar until the rooster crows

This song belongs to you and all your crew
This curse will sting the worst as it shall mark you

New Found Glory likewise criticizes the sloth, apathy, and ease of collectivism in their song "No News is Good News:"

I see billboards on the horizon,
I can’t imagine what they’ll tell me,
What to wear,
What to drink,
Where to eat,
It’s so easy not to think for yourself anymore,
So naive,
You don’t do anything anymore.

In another song on the same New Found Glory album, "This Disaster," lead singer Jordan Pundik sings about the difference between himself and someone an personal level:

All my life I've been looking for the answers
To the questions you never asked

These themes trace back to New Found Glory's first album where on "Better Off Dead" Pundik sings:

It's your own life
Live it for yourself

Likewise, also on that album, the New Found Glory song "Dressed to Kill" states:

And you feel like you owe it to the world
But you owe it to yourself

Perhaps best of all is recently popular Paramore on their song "Born For This," where lead singer Hayley Williams bemoans the difficulty of standing in the face of it all in order to lead the audience in a culminating chant of the title that perhaps answers Punchline's quandary about how to be an individual yet maintain relationships in today's world:

Oh no I just keep on falling
(Back to the same old…)
And where’s hope when misery comes crawling?
(Oh my way, Ay…)
With your faith you’ll trigger a landslide
(victory)
To kill off this common sense of mind

It takes acquired minds to taste, to taste, to taste this wine
You can’t down it with your eyes
So we don’t need the headlines
We don’t need the headlines
We just want…

(We want the airwaves back, we want the airwaves back)

Everybody sing like it’s the last song you will ever sing
Tell me, tell me, do you feel the pressure now?
Everybody live like it’s the last day you will ever see
Tell me, tell me, do you feel the pressure now?

Right now you’re the only reason
(I’m not letting go, oh…)
And time out if everyone’s worth pleasing
(Well ha-ha!)
You’ll trigger a landslide
(Victory)
to kill off their finite state of mind

It takes acquired minds to taste, to taste, to taste this wine
You can’t down it with your eyes
So we don’t need the headlines
No, we don’t want your headlines
We just want…

(We want the airwaves back, we want the airwaves back)

Everybody sing like it’s the last song you will ever sing
Tell me, tell me, do you feel the pressure now?
Everybody live like it’s the last day you will ever see
Tell me, tell me, do you feel the pressure now?
Everybody sing like it’s the last song you will ever sing
Tell me, tell me, do you feel the pressure?

Alright, so you think you’re ready?
Ok, then you say this with me
Go!
We were born for this
We were born for this
Alright, so you think you’re ready?
OK, then you say this with me
Go!
We were born for this
We were born for this
We were born for this
We were born for this

We were born for
We were born for

Everybody sing like it’s the last song you will ever sing
Tell me, tell me, can you feel the pressure?
Everybody live like it’s the last day you will ever see
Tell me, tell me, can you feel the pressure now?
Everybody sing like it’s the last song you will ever sing
Tell me, tell me, can you feel the pressure?
Tell me, tell me, can you feel the pressure?

We were born for this
We were born for this
We were born for this

Yes, you were, and, more importantly, so was I. That's what it means to be Repunklican. Any questions?