‘cept to sing for a rock and roll band

Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
‘Cause summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
But what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band
‘Cause in sleepy London town
There’s just no place for a street fighting man

Hey! Think the time is right for palace revolution
But where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well, what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band
‘Cause in sleepy London town
There’s no place for a street fighting man

Hey! Said my name is called Disturbance
I’ll shout and scream, I’ll kill the king, I’ll rail at all his servants
Well, what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock ‘n’ roll band
‘Cause in sleepy London town
There’s no place for a street fighting man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SuazgWSV1Y&feature=related

So how do you bring about meaningful political change? You can vote of course, But that only works collectively, it means little on a personal level. Besides, even if your man wins, that doesn’t mean anything is really going to change. and the change may not be to your liking.

You can work politically in a partisan role, either as an amateur volunteer, a professional, or a contributor, and multiply your vote with money and effort. You can join the political press, as either a propagandist or a journalist. You can even devote your life to public service, join the bureaucracy or even run for office. But things will work out in ways you don’t expect no matter what you try.

You can bring about change through violence, but that is not only foolish and dangerous, but perhaps, as Mick suggests, ultimately futile. His choice is to work on the public consciousness directly, through art. At least this can give some personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment and leave some kind of enduring statement, a legacy of some intrinsic value, even if it leads nowhere politically.

But what CAN a poor boy do? Most of us can’t sing for a rock and roll band. Most of us find the moral compromises of real political action distasteful, or have careers and families of our own which must take precedence.

What you can always do is to apply your ideology and your political intuition to your own life. You can’t necessarily change the future, but you can make some shrewd guesses as to where it is ultimately leading us. Use this knowledge to plan your life to be in harmony with that future. You can control your education, your career, how you choose to live and work. You can control the level of committment and acceptance to the ethos the society is imposing on you, to critically question the assumptions it makes, and the demands it imposes. You be the one who decides where to draw the line between doing your fair share and putting up with their crap. You can decide ahead of time which moral compromises you are willing to make, and which ethical lines you will not cross. There are no guarantees, and disaster can strike at any time, but there is no need to be helpless. Freedom is something you do, not something that happens to you.