The image above is titled "Afterma[N]th" and is my impressions of the aftermath - what the world will look like after man unleashes the full fury of it's hate against each other and the world in general.   An apocalyptic vision to be sure - bloodied, bruised, broken, eviscerated.

The soundtrack for this has to be an album recorded more than 30 years ago by the militaristic and industrial sounding techno group Laibach.    Their album NATO (released 1994) features covers of songs with a theme of war.  Today's post will be different due to the number of videos posted I will not include the original versions but you can find them on YouTube if you wish. 

It opens, perhaps appropriately with Gustav Holst's MARS, BRINGER OF WAR.  In the hands of Laibach this classical masterpiece is vivisected by a techno beat dragging it bloodied and screaming into the 21st Century.  

History will remember 2025 as the year America abandoned democracy, first by waging economic war on its democractic allies (“I always say tariffs are the most beautiful words to me in the dictionary.” - blah blah blah).  Secondly by literally siding with authoritarians (Russia) against a democratic nation (Ukraine) and literally abandoning the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that it helped found after WWII. 

WAR by the temptations is wonderfully re-invented here.   Featuring the familiar "war chant"  and goes on to list corporations and organizations that have helped prop up the US military machine.    Obviously war is good for profits - the economic engine -  even as it destroys humanity and the planet.  The very antithesis of "values" and "morality". 
Capitalist claptrap.   

Next we have a track that I have never liked in it's original form.   Final Countdown by Europe.    Here Laibach  re-imagines it as the final countdown to human extinction - which feels more contemporary than the original ever did.    Maybe because of the times we live in - with the world at large embracing - "strong man" far right politics.    It just feels like we are in the final countdown to oblivion.   

While the NATO album only has 9 tracks - the tracks form a concise document behind the theme.  
Track 5 is Pink Floyd's DOGS OF WAR from their Animals album.    As mentioned earlier, the US and the world have lurched into an aggressive, militaristic stance.    We should not be surprised.  

"...Our currency is flesh and bone... one world and we will smash it down".   Really describes what we are living through now.   Our political leaders value military strength fomenting a dark misguided vision of masculinity that seeks control.    Our political leaders were elected to "serve" but service is not part of their vocabulary of understanding.   They only seek control.   They court votes strictly for this purpose  even though they mislead the electorate in their campaigns.  The masses are deceived and because they are not able to discern or think long term they vote with their hearts instead of their minds.

“If man is still alive, if woman can survive….” Finally we look toward the future with Laibach’s cover of Zager & Evans 2525. Which looks at the future of humanity in light of what has happened, and is happening. Will humanity survive? is the question of the hour. My belief in “remnant theology” tells me that humanity will survive even if extremely diminished numbers and devolved back into a pre-industrial state of existence. Humanity will evolve. Technology may also survive in part but progress, as we know it, may be irreparably damaged. Can we stop it? I want to say “yes” but honestly have to say “no”. Those that would make a concerted effort to bring long term change will always be beat down by the dogs of war – strong men who value strength over service. They only care to press others into servitude to themselves and their cause.

I said earlier – we should not be surprised. Speaking specifically for America. We have been on this trend every since August 9, 1974 when Nixon resigned in disgrace on got on the helicopter to get the hell out of dodge. Politics was broken. It was at that time that people first started saying things like, “Our government needs to be run more like a business” which is exactly what happened. Business interests took over politics and the influence of wealthy and powerful businessmen gradually and slowly took over governing. Until now we have a president who is a business man with the wealthiest man at his side doing to government what they would do in their own businesses. And while A person may get away with being dictatorial in business it should NEVER be applied to government.

Wealth is worshipped in America. I know many that would argue that and say they “respect” wealth and wealthy people but that’s a disingenuous admission as they themselves wish to rub elbows with the wealth and see wealth as a means to get what they want. When we look at the billions of dollars poured into political campaigns and see so many options for that money to be used for the betterment of humanity – we can assert that something is very wrong with America.

The other thing is the electorate itself that have voted these people in charge and given them free reign to do what they will. The electorate is unwilling, and therefore incapable of making a good informed vote. Why is that? One thing I noted during the Reagan years, when I became of voting age, was that the vast majority of people voted with their feelings not their minds. They relied entirely on the media to provide them with information that turned out to be biased, and as election advertising gained exponential momentum, information became insurmountable. So people have, ever since, just voted with their hearts – their feelings. People have voted on the most surface of things, a candidates looks, the way he carries himself, his age, does he/she say things I want to hear? People have taken the narrowest of views and limited their thinking wanting easy decisions. Well we have what we voted for. I’m amazed to hear stories of people that voted for this are shocked by what has happened to their jobs, our country’s status in the world, individual rights and the economy.

Let’s face it we wanted it, we voted for it and we got what we deserve. Goodbye democracy.

On a final note.   I mentioned earlier that the american electorate votes with it's heart instead of it's mind.  This is something the Republicans have masterfully adapted to.   They understand that they can tell as many lives, spew as much misinformation and mischaracterization of their opponents and it will not matter.  What matters is how their voters feel.   Unfortunately Democrats are on track to lose the midterms because they have completely failed to understand the american voter.   Democrats are spending ALL their time playing defense trying to refute the lies, misinformation, character assassination (which they NEED to do - it cannot go unanswered) but they need to find a way to do that and still reach the hearts of the electorate.    If they can do that they can win the midterms to wrestle back control of the senate and possibly the house of representatives.    Right now they are talking impeachment (again) and honestly they need to let that go because If Donald Trump survived the two impeachments in his first term he will survive any impeachment attempt now when his actions are even more egregious than when he first took office after 2016.    I fully believe he needs to be removed from office but it will not happen when he won the popular and the electoral vote.   It's time to "get real" Democrats.  

Is resistance futile?   The way everything is set up currently - it is futile.  But if Democrats, media and populace change their tact - resistance may pay off.   Time will tell.   LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE!!!!!