“Bedlam Erupts In House Floor Standoff Over Gun Control”

Looks a lot like Napster, dontcha think?

Oh, the history of that file-trading service has been rewritten. Almost two decades later it’s seen as techies running roughshod over institutions, a free for all with free music for everybody. But the truth is its success was evidence of the public’s hunger for change, a populace sick of twenty dollar CDs with one good song and the inability to hear so much of what they wanted to without paying a toll.

And now the Democrats in the House are revolting.

It was a long time in coming, but the truth is Trump and Bernie scared them, proved that if you’re an insider doing business as usual your reign is time-stamped, Either stand for something or you stand for nothing at all.

Kind of like the musicians of the sixties. This is what it was like.

We emerged from a period of relative calm, back then it was the fifties, now it’s the nineties. And suddenly the seams started to crack and truths were revealed. Youngsters questioned precepts and then not only was everybody smoking dope and having sex willy-nilly, they were against the Vietnam war.

And there was chaos in the marketplace. Not only did the younger generation wipe the slate clean of Perry Como and his ilk, the heroes of yesteryear, of the establishment, the bland, safe pop music was thrown overboard too. It was all new, all the time. Almost no one before the Beatles survived after the Beatles. And there was a migration from AM to FM and Woodstock showed how strong our nation was…

And we’ve been coasting on fumes ever since.

Who knew that politics was gonna be the music of the teens?

Tech is dead. You don’t need a new phone and the new apps provide services that might be convenient, might provide titillation and distraction, but despite their ubiquity their necessity is almost nil.

But when it comes to the government…

They tell us in elementary school to believe, to trust, that anyone can become President. And then some fake barely a billionaire bozo wins the nomination and you reflect that it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

But that was after they stole your safety net and paid fealty to the rich and pulled up your supposed ladder to the top. The populace is unhappy, on the left and the right. You see their opportunity has been stolen. And they want change.

Which the Republicans don’t want. They’d rather go on a death march. Not only did they lose control of their own nominating process by being beholden to the rich and only paying lip service to the poor, they don’t understand their basic tenets are wrong. Their constituency wants not only Obamacare, but Medicare and Social Security. Republican rank and file want abortion rights and gun control. Check the statistics. But the elected officials who are supposed to represent the electorate can’t go against the NRA and the religious right, they’ve got no cojones, despite their bluster.

And the left wing Democrats have been squealing about bullies on the playground for decades, and their constituency has had enough. Not only have they given up on the working man, stood idly by while unions were eviscerated, they have refused to stand up to the Republicans whatsoever, complaining about their behavior and doing nothing about it.

Until tonight, oh, what a night.

THEY BROKE THE RULES!

Just like Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. He who refuses to stand up for what’s right, despite regulation, is destined to be overthrown.

They utilized Periscope! U2 takes cash from Meerkat when we already knew that service would be overtaken, and these anything but hip legislators who Bono thinks he has influence over but does not leapfrog the entire entertainment business and employ the streaming service in its best application ever.

I know what’s gonna happen.

We’re not gonna return to business as usual. Everybody’s too afraid. Except for the Republicans, who cannot see that by refusing to even evaluate a new Supreme Court Justice they’re just burying their chances, alienating their core. When you do nothing, you’re history.

Just ask the record labels, who’ve lost half of their recorded revenue. They could have made a deal with Napster, but NO, they’d rather teach the upstarts a lesson and lose in the process. And too many with a voice in the music sphere are on the wrong side of the issues. The youngsters use the new tools, they don’t bitch about them. If you’re not making a ton of money from streaming you’re not a hit act, sorry.

But these same youngsters grew up in an era of Mariah Carey and TRL. They never had to worry about getting their asses shot off in Nam. They think it’s all about brand and fans and cash. WRONG! It’s about the work. We’re drawn to the flame of those who testify, who lay down their truth. But there’s little truth in evidence. All we get is old farts like Tom Morello and Chuck D. making execrable music, despite their hearts being in the right place.

No, the revolution is gonna come from the young. But they idolize the moneygrubbers of the CD era, the Tommy Mottolas, they’ve got no heroes.

But now they do. A bunch of renegade representatives who know that doing what’s right is more important than maintaining decorum.

The wheels of change turn slowly. But when there’s no movement, we get frustrated, we flip out, it’s like having a dad who never lets you drive the car, who always tells you to turn down the tunes, who never gives you a break. We get sick of hearing no.

And we’re sick of mass shootings. The problem cannot be eradicated, but something can be done.

That’s what the public thinks. Forget the blowhards at Fox News and the NRA who are working the refs. The people, who control this country, who truly own it, want safety and change.

And it’s happening right now.

A bill might not be passed but business as usual is over. It will never be the same in Washington again.

The same way it was never the same after Napster.

And the Beatles.