This is exactly what happened in 1964.

Elvis was king.

And then the Beatles wiped him off the map.

We had a decade of rock and roll. It had been whittled down to a formula. Sure, Bobby Darin had talent, but Fabian and the other Bobby, Rydell, were marginal players. But that was music, a sideshow.

And then…

A band with roots who didn’t believe in convention, who’d honed their sound off the radar, delivered an honest wallop that was undeniable.

And overnight the youth switched allegiance.

Could happen again. Probably will if Bernie Sanders is an indicator.

You know it’s not your mother’s world anymore when Gloria Steinem is on the wrong side of the issue. She famously told Bill Maher that young women were supporting Bernie because that’s where the young men were. Talk about no respect, Rodney Dangerfield’s rolling in his grave. When paragons of envelope-pushing are tone deaf as to what is going on you know you’re in the midst of a revolution.

The millennials were supposed to be pussies, whiners, coddled for life by their parents to the point they couldn’t survive on their own.

But with all that attention and education the youth became wise, and they realized their future was stolen. That whatever opportunity there was was slim, that the odds were stacked against them. And finally they found someone speaking the truth. Albeit a septuagenarian. But one who never wavered from his message, and didn’t put money first, but quality of life.

Tell that to the movie studios making endless comic book flicks.

Tell that to the record companies releasing paint by number, made by committee music.

They think the public wants it.

But the truth is people don’t.

They want honesty, credibility, something they can believe in.

And people believe in Bernie Sanders.

I was in the car with my octogenarian mother. Who took Steinem’s side, saying all young women should line up for Hillary. But when Hillary came on the radio she was fake and duplicitous and now spewing Bernie’s speech about coming down on Wall Street, like a rocker making a disco record in the late seventies. Her statements were unbelievable, there was no thread, she was saying what’s expedient, and that never resonates.

How did we get here? Where the entire nation believes money trumps everything?

As for Trump himself… He’s speaking to anger and unrest, but to a Luddite crowd with the fantasy that we can jet back to the past, where America is lily white and independent from the rest of the world. Whereas Bernie is talking about climate change and college debt and listening to him after Hillary even my mother had to smile, for he’s telling the truth.

Remember the truth?

That’s why Bob Dylan became so big, not because his voice was so good, not because his records were so slick.

For decades we all knew the truth but couldn’t say it. We lived in a land of fakery, everybody swore but you couldn’t in the newspaper, or on television. We knew the game was rigged, but we felt the best thing was to buy in and try to play.

But that was before all the seats were taken from the table. Come on, if you want me to play musical chairs at least leave some chairs. But now they’re gone. And the rich have all the money and tell us they create all the jobs and they’re entitled to their lifestyle and if we just worked a little harder we could be just like them.

Hogwash.

Donald Trump was born on third base.

Hillary Clinton went to Wellesley when a middle class person could pay for it.

We need heroes. We need leaders. And to be either you have to hew to your own drummer, you must know which way the wind blows, you must be honest.

It’s the best policy, honesty that is. That’s what they taught you in school. Back before you learned everything in school was a lie. But it’s not. Our nation is built on trust. No wonder it’s crapping out, there’s none left!

I don’t know what’s gonna happen. Supposedly Bernie’s gonna nose dive down south, where blacks are solid for Hillary. But why would that be, because they’ve been lied to and sold a bill of goods for their entire lives? No wonder Killer Mike supports Sanders.

And Trump was helped by Marco Rubio’s inane debate performance, wherein he repeated the same talking point again and again. Like a robot.

We don’t want robots, we want people, warts and all.

They say beauty is king, but if that’s so shouldn’t Bernie lose?

No, the truth is it’s about what’s inside, the nougat is everything. We all know the come on is fake, that the Kardashians are plumped up by plastic surgery. We’ll buy a ticket to the circus but when it comes to our own lives…

This is the beginning. This is what happens when you take it to the limit too many times. The underclass, the repressed, get angina. And when enough people get screwed a groundswell takes over the nation.

Which side are you on?

Are you kissing butt on the Koch gravy train?

Are you begging for a seat on the tech star’s plane?

Are you busy moving on up or are you looking back, to where your people are, to where you came from.

We’re all in this together. And if you’re fighting to get ahead and have forgotten this…

You’re gonna be left behind.