This is an editorial piece that does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Live For Live Music.  

Seth Miller

Earlier today dubstep producer Bassnectar went on a tear on Facebook with multiple status updates that were directly political in nature.  The world reknown artist took his viewpoints to a new level, threatening to “banish” trolls who wanted to start shit on his Facebook page instead of having civil conversation.

Here is the status that he used to spark up debate, at the bottom of the post there are links to the conversation but we’d like you to read our take below.

Everyone should think about the election, and research and learn and discuss. It makes no sense not to. Here are some thoughts to start you off (TROLLS: YOU WILL BE DELETED AND BANISHED SO DO NOT EVEN START. Smart words only, other wise just hush and listen/read) BOOM: THE MAIN ISSUES IN THIS RACE:
ALL THE $ OF THE MIDDLE CLASS WENT TO FUND 2 HORRIBLE WARS, AND THEN BILLIONS WERE STOLEN BY THE BANKS & WALL STREET. That just happened. No debates.
SO: TAX THE RICH! 🙂 Corporations aren’t people, & must not get sleazy special treatment. Improve quality of life for all citizens 🙂
ITS NOT POLITICAL> Nothing to do with Democrats (who are disoirganized, petty, inneffective, and lame) or Republicans (who are sinister, dishonest, and serve the 1% with extreme efficiency). THIS ISNT POLITICAL:
Don’t get sidetracked by the politics. This election is about human issues: good schools for your kids, good doctors for gramma, jobs4all.
People need access to fair social services. tax$ shouldnt go to war & banks, our grammas need health care, focus on the 99% take from the 1%
this shit is so simple and cut and dry when yu get rid of Romney’s fake ass hair do, Sarah Palin’s bullshit accent, & all the talking heads
WHO TO VOTE FOR:
Both of our options suck. it would be AWESOME if we had an amazing Candidate with a real chance of winning. Since we don’t, we need to keep crooks like Romney out. Bush/Cheney nearly destroyed our economy, and Romney/Palin/Rove/FoxNews are all on that same team. Fuck Them.
I know Obama sucks but he isnt as bad as Romney. Plain and simple.
Romney isnt gonna use his “business experience” to solve our problems (your problems, your parents problems) he is going to continue stealing your tax money and giving it to the ultra rich.
Even though Obama has flailed and failed to fix every problem created by Bush. He ain’t great. But he isn’t a HORRENDOUS MISTAKE like Romney

This election is all about avoiding a tragic mistake (a crook like Romney) and choosing the lesser of two evils. There are always rad/obscure third parties, but they won’t win this election. EITHER Obama or Romney will win. And in this case Obama is a much better choice.

I won’t be voting FOR Obama….

I will be voting AGAINST Romney/Rove/Fox/Murdoch/Bush/Cheney

Again, anyone who says “Shut up, stick to music” will just get banned from this page.

And anyone who trolls, this will be your last troll on my page, i will literally carpet bomb your account from my page, because I only want intelligent, friendly discussion on this very important issue. Bring it on:

A breakdown of the issues

Wars, Greed and the Wild Wild West Investment Scheme that is Wall Street

ALL THE $ OF THE MIDDLE CLASS WENT TO FUND 2 HORRIBLE WARS, AND THEN BILLIONS WERE STOLEN BY THE BANKS & WALL STREET

On the Wars

While arguably right, many people from the Middle Class also went on to be able to care for their children and families by fighting in these wars.  We were able to eradicate the Taliban, and showed that we were not going to be attacked by terrorist and not respond.  But was it worth the cost?  We’re going to have to go -1 Romney/GOP for starting the war and -1 Obama and the Democratic Party for continuing it.

Banks

The banks made it out great!  Many top level executives only had to accept the fact that they would be getting a $1.5mln bonus instead of $2.5mln.  Sounds tough.  Although, we’re going to have to go -1 Obama for making it so easy for these wranglers to continue what they were doing, which in essence is gambling on the Stock Market and turning Wall Street into the Wild Wild West of investment.  One thing that Obama did change was to make it so that credit card companies couldn’t send College Freshmen applications to their school P.O. Box, which was a win.

Taxes

SO: TAX THE RICH!

Note: later in the conversation Bassnectar goes on to admit he is part of the 1%.

The Word:  “Tax”

The word “Tax” has been used by the Republican Party for over 50 years to overgeneralize the Democratic Party and portray them as big spenders.  This is nothing new, and although I agree with Lorin that taxing the rich (top 1-2% of income earners) a little bit more is a good idea, I don’t think that goes far enough.  Personally, I think that everyone, from the lowest income earners, the Middle Class, and especially the top earners need to pay more.  After all, we’re trillions  in debt, with a T, you can’t shoulder that burden on a small percentage of the population.

Although the Republican Party has pinned the tail on the donkey, the Dems, saying they are tax raisers- Obama upheld the Bush Tax Cuts -despite heavy opposition from his base.  This means he was not willing to raise taxes, at least starting his second term in office.  However, to put the other side out there, Romney’s phantom tax plan makes no sense.  He wants to give everyone a tax cut, which is statistically impossible.  Someone is going to have to pick up the difference.

On this we’re going to just go with an even fail  – neither side has taken steps to fix the problem.

Freedom of Speech

Lorin goes rambling on about a handfull of other issues, but he really hits the nail on the head with one.  A lot of times, people are afraid to speak up, because they think they may get fired, ridiculed, “trolled”/etc.  This country was founded on the ability to say what you want, within reason.  When it comes to elections, being hushed by friends, family or your boss is not acceptable, although it happens every day.

An Assessment

Based on his statement of not wanting to vote for Obama or Romney, we think that Lorin may be hinting that he’ll be going Gary Johnson this year.  Gary Johnson is a Libertarian candidate that is running on a third party ticket (something Ron Paul didn’t have the stones to do) – who is primarily known for his support for the legalization of marijuana.  However, Lorin made it obvious that if he had to pick between the two, he’d go Obama (but that he doesn’t like the Two Party system.)

Either way, he brought up some interesting points in that educating yourself and voting is the most important thing.  Go to the candidates websites, watch some of their videos, find which speaks to you the most.  Ultimately, they will all end up not telling the truth in the end, but I believe they do all love America and want to see us be successful.

Voting Information

If you are looking for voting info, head on over to HeadCount where you can find out about registerring to vote, voting by absentee and a whole lot more.

Status Updates:

Image courtesy of Bassnectar’s Facebook/Fall Tour 2012 Photo