The Value of Campaign Music:
Music Is One Way Democrats Can Build A Cultural Connection To America's Working Class Again, Plus Another Major News Recap
Feel free to check the past Biden Era archives and follow the editions to come in the Trump Era on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn, including those on the 2024 Autopsy, Bench-Building, DOGE News, Project 2025 Authoritarianism, Progressive Populism, and more (First Come, First Serve!).
11 years ago just about today, a Princeton-Northwestern study warned us America was already becoming an oligarchy. Something to consider in this moment…
The study partly explains the popularity of Bernie Sanders’s Fight Oligarchy Tour and the vision he has been promoting from Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin & Michigan, to Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California, and even Utah, Idaho, and Montana.
Also, a clarification note from my last post, courtesy of a prominent rural strategist. Thank you for correcting the record for me: “The Dems didn’t disinvest in rural desks after 2010 because they never had them at DNC, DCCC or DSCC. They pulled the plug on the House Democratic Rural Working Group and Senate Rural Outreach which were messaging units housed in the respective House and Senate Dem policy and communications shops.”
Here’s another startling quote from former IL Congressman (and a loose acquaintance of mine) Glenn Poshard: ““I’ll tell you what I hear going around that district, which is predominantly rural. ‘OK,’ they tell me, ‘What are you guys talking about? All we’re hearing is cultural issues coming out of the Democratic Party,” Poshard said, citing the lack of child care, health care and grocery stores in rural areas.
“Why isn’t the Democratic Party talking about those issues again, which we used to address? But now we’ve become so urban-centric that the Democratic Party has forgotten rural America?” he asked.”
By the way, the DNC currently has 0 rural directors or advisors as of this past week.
I also want to cover the headlines of the week:
Actually, I missed this early story, but it’s very important. A global watchdog has put the United States on the Human Rights Watchlist, in sync with countries like Serbia, Pakistan, and the Congo
Fareed Zakaria nailed it: the Trump Tariffs are a tool for oligarchic corruption and special deals. They are not equipped to bring back American manufacturing, and they will only raise prices on working Americans in the process
Want to help fight the Trump agenda? Check out Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s Resistance Labs and Congressman Jamie Raskin’s Democracy Summer programs
Anxious about Trump? So are many therapists via Texas Monthly
Speaking of mental health, the Trump-Musk DOGE cuts are jeopardizing mental healthcare in the VA system, and affecting every federal employee across the board
Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor are being targeted by Trump simply for criticizing him. Their only crime was to dispute what Don said either about the 2020 election or otherwise. It is pure and simple lawfare at stake
Trump is also refusing to return a Maryland man who was deported to the infamous El Salvador prison. If due process departs for that one man, think of who else might lose due process as an American citizen.
How about a Columbia student who just became a naturalized citizen?
The mass deportation plan is a boon for the private prison industry and surveillance tech companies, even if Americans citizens are detained in the process
And a piece on how the gerontocracy problem is plaguing Democrats via The Liberal Patriot
OK. There are some things that don’t get enough attention in politics. One of them is campaign music.
Sure, some music may merely be a set up to build good feelings. But there is more than just that in many different cases.
Music builds a sense of community and commonality for many. In a lot of cases, the music on the campaign trail often matches the tone and message of the candidate’s message.
John F. Kennedy had a quirky campaign music video back in 1960 that caught notable fire at the perfect time.
That was what Jimmy Carter was able to do with an outsider persona matched in country and rock & roll music, featuring the likes of the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, and Willie Nelson.
Bill Clinton’s change message was a hopeful that talked about the future. It is no wonder his theme song was Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop.
Barack Obama’s hope and change message used the likes of Stevie Wonder (as well as campaign songs of his own).
Even Kamala Harris followed Beyonce’s track of Freedom, a symbol of the focus on reproductive access and other civil rights & liberties cherished in this country.
Democrats are commonly branded as the coastal, highly-educated, elitist party. There is a little truth to that based on the 2024 election numbers. And it won’t be solved entirely by music. But a little bit of melody and tune can help mend fences and construct the first steps towards regaining the trust of the working class.
It also can offer a sign of hope to the despair out there, acknowledging the challenges we face as a country, but not to make people fall into dread and hopelessness over Trump’s authoritarianism, the pitfalls of neoliberal inequality and globalization, the building of an American Tech Oligarchy, or the resorting to divisive culture wars over solving the key economic issues of the century.
So my job today is to offer some campaign songs (all of which are easily found on YouTube) that can define the times we are in, offering Democrats a voice of both reality and hope to an electorate that looks for change, that has desires for better days, and that aspires to do better:
Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising
Michael Jackson’s Man In The Mirror
Moody Blues’ Your Wildest Dreams
The Eagles’ Take It To The Limit
Panic! at the Disco’s Ready to Go
Glenn Frey’s The Heat Is On
Bob Seger’s Against the Wind
Rick Astley’s Together Forever
One Republic’s I Lived
Glenn Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy
Huey Lewis’ If This Is It
Tina Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero
Bill Withers’ Lovely Day
Whitney Houston’s So Emotional
Shaggy’s Hope
Bill Conti’s Gonna Fly Now
Bill Conti’s Going The Distance
Survivor’s Burning Heart
Starship’s We Built This City
Prince’s 1999
Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling
Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk
Steppenwolf’s Born to Be Wild
Bobby Brown’s On Our Own
Joe Esposito’s You’re The Best
Pink’s Try
And if you have other recommendations to help Democrats boost their musical connection, please send them along in comments below this post.
Peter Paul & Mary's cover of "If I Had a Hammer," as presented as a prelude to Dr. Martin Luther KIng's historic "I Have A Dream" speech on the Capitol Mall to conclude the March on Washington in August 1966.
As always, great post, Mike!