George W Bush: Punk icon?

It sounds unlikely, but there is a surprising new subculture emerging in the United States: Republican punk rockers.

In his knee-high Dr Martens and with his head shaved, Michale Graves is the Bush-friendly face of punk rock. He is the front man for the band Gotham Road, which has just kicked off its US tour. On stage he belts out angry, obscure lyrics, but offstage he is also known for his conservative rants and raves.

"The leftist radical agenda seems to be resonating loudly from within pop culture and we are at war on many different levels," he wrote in one of his columns at conservativepunk.com - one of several new web sites for Republican punk rockers.

Gotham Road is one a roster of bands who are anti-anti-establishment - though they represent a small percentage of the punk scene. They are not raging against the machine - they are raging for it.

Although Graves does not fit the image of a young Republican, he makes no apologies for his politics.

"I support this government because of our president's core values," Graves says. "I think he's bringing the country in a right direction. "Is there a better man for the job? There definitely might be, but from the candidates that we have to choose from in America right now, there's no better man than George Bush."

Nick Rizzuto is another self-styled conservative punk, and the founder of conservativepunk.com. The 22-year-old is a fan of the New York City punk band Bouncing Souls, and has the tattoos to prove it. But he identifies himself as capitalist punk, railing against the left.

"I don't find anything punk about promoting higher taxes and more handouts to people," Rizzuto says. "I would see the conservative viewpoint as being more punk than a liberal one, because a conservative viewpoint places a lot of emphasis on personal responsibility."

When Punk Rock emerged in the 1970s, it identified with youthful rage and rebellion. It was an anti-establishment subculture whose politics often tended to the left. The Sex Pistols embraced nihilism and anarchy, whilst bands like The Clash espoused leftist views.

It is not surprising that most punk bands in America today continue that legacy. Around 200 liberal and left-leaning bands, including crossover groups like Green Day and Foo Fighters, have teamed up under the banner of punkvoter.com with the goal of ousting President Bush in the November election.

Punkvoter has just released a compilation album of punk bands who are out to attack George W Bush as a liar with their music.

At the heart of this activism is voter registration. "One of the messages we're trying to get to people is please go out and vote against George Bush," says Justin Sane, the lead singer of a group called Anti-Flag. "But also we're trying to say to people, it's important to be involved in politics so you know what's going on, or one day you might wake up and realise that it affects you."

Not to be left out, conservative punks also want to inspire their share of the youth vote. Some critics see the emergence of conservative punk as a symptom of just how polarised the US has become in this election year.

"This country is as politically attuned as it has ever been," says Anthony DeCurtis, a rock critic for Rolling Stone Magazine. "Often there's a kind of wilful lack of awareness about political issues in the United States - a sense of 'What difference does it make?' "But that attitude does not really seem to be applying right now and punk rock is reflecting that."

There is little precedent in the US for Republican punk rock, though there are some exceptions.

Johnny Ramone, the guitarist for The Ramones, has fiercely supported the Republican Party for years. When the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, Johnny took to the microphone to offer his thanks, saying "God Bless President Bush, and God Bless America."

For many the idea of George W Bush being supported by punk rockers is a contradiction in terms. But for others, there is something about this phenomenon that makes a perverse kind of sense because of the Bush administration's hawkish posture.

"In a lot of ways in the United States, the Republicans have gotten much more punk rock than the Democrats," DeCurtis says. "The right has become more punk than the left : they're much more pugnacious, much more aggressive and much more forceful about putting out their ideas and drawing a line in the sand."

Still, punk rockers like Michale Graves sometimes feel alienated from the rest of punk rock scene, admitting that he receives a tremendous amount of hate mail. "Sometimes I do feel pretty uncool," he says.

You can find a Free Republic thread on just about any issue (and we while don't all share the same perspectives, we generally agree on the basic views).

You can search FR by clicking on the keywords (won't bring up every thread on a subject but generally it meant enough to somebody to help classify the issues contained within the article or thread body).

You can also search FR by using google (site:www.freerepublic.com abcd...) where abcd... is your search terms.

The best defense is a good offense. Many of us arrived at our opinions through our own observations. The more you read and experience, the more you will have to form your opinions. I've read the autobiographies of some people I didn't agree with politically (some of the books weren't entirely political, some were) so I got some of my "opposition research" directly from the horse's mouth.

Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression are principles our government was founded on. If your fellow classmates are going to tell you that it is "always wrong" to be a Republican then tell them they have just supported some conservatives claim that they oppose the American way (our constitution).

You have the right to be wrong (this is why we permit the open practice of communism and nazism). Even in the 1940s-1960s people openly joined communist organizations. When some of the rhetoric crosses from word to deed (tearing down the constitutional democratic republic, inciting violence) they do NOT have free speech protection (look up sedition; provoked violence; and yelling "fire" in a crowded theater).

A person may have the right to free speech but the defense department has an obligation to protect the government. Anything you may be used against you in a court of law.

The left likes to claim that the government infiltrated lefist organizations. Timothy Leary (LSU advocate/Harvard professor) acknowledge this. He also says that he could tell that these organizations were infiltrated by antiAmerican communists.

The KGB files bear out these operations.

We no longer face a threat from the Soviet Union but we still face a threat from global socialism. It is creeping into all governments. I hope we don't make the same mistake in our battle against Islamofascism. Both are ideologies we fight, they extend across borders.

Learn the worth of a man. It's not about a cliche of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps". It is about having respect for yourself (some girls tramp around because they think that giving sex will get them some love/attention). Look where you are in life. Have some dignity. Even Timothy Leary said that America was a free society where you could be whoever you wanted to be (not necessarily hold ANY profession you want). Some nations have a history of guilds and family traditions. Members of a class or race should not even try to better themselves. Some of these cultures believe in reincarnation (if life sucks this time around, maybe it will be better next time, no need to try to change things).

Don't surrender your individuality. It doesn't mean deliberately making yourself different, but you don't have to follow a herd (and that includes bowing to liberalism just because everyone else does).

"FYI, punk was WELL underway before the Sex Pistols and the Clash were ever formed. Punk Magazine began its' publication January 1st 1976, it was formed in response to a growing scene in New York. The Ramones played (along with the Stranglers and the Damned) at a July 4, 1976 concert in England. In the audience where future members of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and other bands (Billy Idol's Generation X?)."

To correct your inaccurate information so that others are not ill informed... The Sex Pistols first gig was

06/11/75 @ St Martin's School Of Art, London

Source: http://www.thefilthandthefury.co.uk/pistols/gigs/sp_gigs.html

The Damned had their first gig no July 6, 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club in London.

Also, The Clash was formed afterwards as well.

Furthermore, information about Jon Lydon being a teacher is incorrect. He did work with children at a daycare like facility but was definatly not a teacher as at the time before he was a singer he was only 19. he did however state that if he hadn't become a singer that he would have liked to have been a teacher instead.

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