RICKIE LEE JONES AND THE GUYS FROM THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS TELL WHY THEY RECORDED HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH?

Today is the official "release day" for Blue America's campaign song, "Have You Had Enough?" which features Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Maxwell and Ken Mosher (formerly of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, currently of... Maxwell Mosher). I got a chance to give my perspective on the whole project yesterday but something tells me there are a lot more people who might be interested in what the musicians have to say about their song.

Rickie Lee Jones wrote me a note about her own feelings and gave me permission to share it. If you haven't listened to the song yet, I urge you to do it now, before you read what Rickie has to say about it. John's got it up for free downloads here at Crooks and Liars.

At this point, it might be easy for someone like me to say 'why bother? He got his two terms (albeit illegally), the damage is done, our economy is wrecked, our ecology is three steps backwards, our domestic policy is "every man for himself," and our foreign policy reads something like "how do say that in English, buster?" Our standing as a military power is forever tainted, and our flag, as a beckon for freedom if only to ourselves, is tattered and sad.' 

So why kick them out now? Because, they can still do a lot of damage. Because, they deserve to be expelled. Because, they have committed crimes far more grievous than the last guy, with his 80% approval rating, whom they scalded, bewildered and ultimately defeated with a relentless media campaign. I mean, looking back, it wasn't Clinton who was defeated. It was us, the Americans who elected him, who stood up to the bullies. So they impeached him because we, the people, just wouldn't go along with it. Where is the media now, when there are REAL criminals in office? 

You can hear the voices of the people on the Internet. Where is one echo in the media? Imagine, if a sweet little song rallied the folks to storm their local newspaper or TV station and say "HEY, how about putting our point of view on now? Except that there would be no one there, since Clear Channel bought up most of the radio stations and has a clear right wing agenda. How about the newspaper? No, Rupert Murdock, an Australian, seems to own most of the American news organizations. No, whatever fear you have of his regime, it cannot stop you from letting Bush know you that are furious with him and his criminal entourage.

Tom Maxwell is probably best known as a musician and songwriter for the Squirrel Nut Zippers. But at Firedoglake he was just one of us, a dedicated netroots community member, Tommy Yum. It was Tom's excitement about our Blue America chat with homestate candidate/fellow Tarheel Larry Kissell that led to the creation of "Have You Had Enough?"

The goal, obviously, is for this song to get a lot of attention and air play. We want to use the machine to further our political goal of minimizing, if not annihilating, the comprehensive assault on our institutions of government. Although I can admit to a certain parochial thrill at the attention, it’s far more reassuring to be part of a much larger gestalt. Certainly, by working with such powerhouses as Rickie Lee and Howie Klein, I have stayed true to my operating principle of being the weakest link in the musical chain!
 
And so this song is dedicated to you: the politicians whom we support, who have decided it can and must be done better, the bloggers, who helped me articulate my inchoate rage and frustration and thus informed these lyrics, the selfless volunteers "in the trenches," who do the most important but decidedly unglamorous GOTV work, and the all of those "who hunger and thirst for righteousness' sake," who may have resigned themselves to valid, but ultimately illusory, feelings of despair and powerlessness.
 
Our name is legion, and we have had enough.

The other half of Maxwell Mosher, Ken Mosher like so many of us, is both hoping for a leader to help us change direction and, simultaneously, taking matters into his own hands in the hope of pushing that along.

I honestly thought back in November of 1988, when I worked for MoPIRG and did volunteer work for the now-defeated Michael Dukakis and the Democratic Party, that things couldn't be worse for our country.

Then in 1997, when the Squirrel Nut Zippers played one of the Clinton Inaugural Balls, I thought that things couldn't be better.

Now in 2006, we have truly reached a bottom for this country and our international relations. We need leaders to turn this nation around, and to get there, we need all citizens to come out of the woodwork, activate and demand that we change the direction of the country.

Have YOU had enough?