You Say You Want a Revolution?

That line is from the Beatles' classic, "Revolution," which appeared on the incredibly innovative White Album.  For the youngsters out there, the White Album, the band's ninth (recorded in 1968) was actually titled, "The Beatles"; it was dubbed the White Album due to its all-white cover, with no graphics.  It consisted of a two-record set (again, for the youngsters, you can google what a record album was - it was the precursor to the eight-track tape, which was followed by the cassette tape, then the CD, all of which pre-dated iTunes, Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify).

The Beatles wrote the album after extensive experimentation with LSD and transcendental meditation, and it shows in their music.  The band was not shy about making political statements, and the album contains a number of them.  "Revolution" is foremost among them, though.  While the Beatles' politics were liberal, the song takes a jab at the protesters of the day, admonishing them to avoid going to extremes to try and achieve their ends.  More on those protests later.

The New Left movement, which was an extreme radical movement in the late '60s and '70s, decried the song as being a "betrayal."  But the Beatles were speaking truth, and their words still ring true today.  The lyrics include these lines:

"You say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all want the world to change ... But when you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out ... You say you got a real solution, well, you know, we'd all love to see the plan ... You ask me for a contribution, well, you know, we're all doing what we can ... But if you want money for people with minds that hate [the Beatles recognized that there was at least as much hatred on the part of the radical New Left as on the part of those they opposed, a truism that still holds today], all I can tell you is brother you'll have to wait ..."

The lyrics go on:  "You say you'll change the Constitution, well, you know, we all want to change your head [the Beatles recognized that the Constitution is not the problem; it exists for sound reasons if people would only understand its genesis and meaning] ... You tell me it's the institution, well, you know, you better free your mind instead [in other words, let go of your biases and try to achieve understanding] ..."

And this:  "But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao [again, for the youngsters, Chairman Mao was the leader of the brutal and oppressive Chinese Revolution], you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow."

In other words, the Beatles were saying that if you're going to go to extremes, placing on pedestals leaders like Mao and Che Guevara and Castro - leaders revered by the left, but who were far more oppressive than the perceived oppression of Donald Trump or George W. Bush or Richard Nixon, the President back then - nobody will pay attention to you.

And that, boys and girls, is the real subject of this post.

We've seen political protests in this country before - real protests, over real issues.  The Civil Rights movement, which was led by Martin Luther King.  He overcame bigotry and inequality with love - not empty slogans like "Love Trumps Hate," but truly preaching resistance by loving those who would oppress you, and then practicing what he preached.  You can't win hearts and minds by preaching love while spewing hate.

The Vietnam War protests, with leaders like Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, the Black Panthers.  Today's protesters are but mere pikers by comparison.  These weren't latte-sipping, celebrity-worshiping wannabes who carried signs with misspelled words and posted memes from Occupy Democrats on Facebook.  These were revolutionaries.  And they weren't hired guns, paid by the likes of George Soros.  They organized themselves, and acted on principle.

Yes, there was violence, but they didn't smash Starbucks windows or punch police horses.  Four protesters were killed by state police at Kent State University, and that incident was immortalized by Crosby, Stills and Nash in the song, "Ohio," with the refrain, "Four dead in Ohio."  Even the musical artists of the day made the likes of Madonna, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus look like pikers (and those early artists had a lot more talent) - CSN, the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Country Joe and the Fish.

Yeah, I know, Madonna said she's thought about blowing up the White House, but no one actually believes that she'd actually do it, or that she could even figure out how if she wanted to.  (Interestingly, after her comments, she said they were "taken out of context."  Hmmm.  "I've thought a lot about blowing up the White House" leaves little room for ambiguity.  She added that she "spoke in metaphor and shared two ways of looking at things."  Hey - is that like an "alternative fact?")

Here's what's interesting: the radical revolutionaries of the late '60s and early '70s became the establishment of the '80s - entrepreneurs who turned capitalist, realizing that they could do more to change the world by actually contributing to it, generating capital to foment meaningful change, than by toting an incomprehensible sign or busting out a Starbucks window or verbally abusing someone on an airplane.

Consider Jerry Rubin.  After leading the Yippie movement (google away, youngsters), he became a stockbroker, saying, "I know that I can be more effective today wearing a suit and tie and working on Wall Street than I can be dancing outside the walls of power."

He also said, "Wealth creation is the real American revolution.  What we need is an infusion of capital into the depressed areas of our country."  (Rubin was one of the early investors in Apple, and became a multimillionaire.  By the way, Steve Jobs chose the Apple brand and logo based on the Beatles' record label of the same name.  Counterculture turned into massive market cap.)

In other words, Rubin was saying, get off your ass and do something about the problems, don't just bitch about them and expect someone else to fix them in the way you think they ought to be fixed, when you can't even articulate what those solutions are.  Mobilize your ideals (if you truly have ideals) into something tangible - with a capital $.

So will today's young "radicals" become the establishment, the leaders of future generations of capitalist entrepreneurs?  I'm not seeing it.  But who knows?

Back to the Beatles' song.  What they're saying is very nicely summed up by what a very smart friend of mine posted on Facebook, but first, let's look at what he was talking about (and what the Beatles were talking about).

Everything Donald Trump has done since being elected President has been protested.  The electoral college vs. the popular vote (even though, if the shoe were on the other foot, those opposing the electoral system would be defending it).  Every appointment he's made, sometimes for no reason at all.  (Trump could have appointed Barack Obama to the Supreme Court and the left would have been outraged).  Every executive order, even the ones that were essentially the same as orders signed by Obama and Bill Clinton.  Even his visit to the return of the body of a fallen Navy Seal didn't earn him a pass with the left.

At some point, all that noise becomes nothing more than so much crying wolf.  And what did the fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf teach us?

If you cry wolf at every turn, people stop listening.  And then, when the wolf does appear and you try to alert everyone, you've lost all credibility.

We're fast approaching that point, a scant two weeks since Trump's inauguration.  What my friend posted on Facebook is this (and I paraphrase):

"When there is no nuance between nothing and nuclear, pretty soon the nuclear response is treated as nothing.  And then, when something is done that is truly egregious, no one will listen to the response."  (By the way, this friend is not a Trump supporter, but is an astute observer.)

So what the left risks is being tuned out, which is already beginning to happen.  And when they are tuned out, that will only mobilize the rest of the country - moderate to right - to vote in opposition come 2020.  In other words, the left is well on its way to virtually guaranteeing Donald Trump's re-election, as a visceral response to their own nuclear lunacy.  Just as his initial election was a visceral response to eight years of the same.

In parting, let's recall the final refrain of the choruses from "Revolution":

"Don't you know it's gonna be all right."

It was in the '60s and '70s, and it will be in the years to come.

So rest easy, snowflakes.  Go to your safe space and have a hot cocoa if you must.  But please, just be sure and buy it from Starbucks.

Why would I say that, when I don't like their overpriced mediocre coffee and I don't agree with their management's liberal views?

I'm a shareholder.  Jerry Rubin would be so proud.