I love The Dixie Chicks. They have got to be my favorite Country musicians. Period. I would not consider this my favorite song by them, but I felt like it this morning. A perfect opening to an album named "Home".
As you all may recall in 2003 Natalie Maines spoke out against Bush and his impending invasion of Iraq and Iraq War… "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." Now I don't know if throwing the entire state of Texas under the bus was necessary (I mean Eisley and The Polyphonic Spree are from Texas …perhaps parts of it could be thrown under), but otherwise I agreed and still agree with them. I was and still am ashamed of President Bush and ashamed of the war. I was against it from the start. I am still against it. Every argument for it then and now is either a two-faced lie or not good enough to justify the human and economic costs.
Then Natalie Maines apologized within 4 DAYS. But still people were throwing away, burning, bulldozing, etc. their Dixie Chicks CDs. I have 2 words for all those people who ever did that:
FUCK YOU
You people are forever on my shit list. Anyone who supports the government (or one particular political party) 100% of the time is on there too. I do not want any of you as my leaders or representatives or in the government at all because YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!!!
If "we the people", famous or not, do not have the freedom to express our opinions without others taking violent action, then we might well forget out that first amendment "Freedom of Speech" thing. If we are not allowed to disagree with our President or the government then the government is not really serving us, we are serving them. The Declaration of Independence says clearly that governments are "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed", so it is our duty to express our disagreement or agreement to guide THEM, not to follow the President blindly. (And yes… that goes for all you Obama lovers too.) The President, government, Republicans, or Democrats do not dictate our opinions. We the people should dictate theirs. Bush even said a month after the comment "The Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind. They can say what they want to say." but still they were dragged through the mud for years because of that one comment. It disgusts me.
And to all of you who do not like the Dixie Chicks for artistic non-political reasons… I'm cool with that. Their sound is definitely not for everyone. If you still want some country though, may I suggest some Alan Jackson?
UPDATE 2009-06-08:
Since writing this post, I cannot help but think of the bulldozing of the Dixie Chicks CDs as being synonymous with the Nazi book burning. Not cool man. Not cool.
Click here for more info on The Dixie Chicks – Home – "Long Time Gone".
The MP3 may be purchased here… The Dixie Chicks - Home
