GET OFF ROUTE 88

Songtextadaption: VicNK
Musik / Musikproduktion: VicNK

Text:

Once there was a land of open roads.
A land of motion
Of open Mind and Hands
Of many voices.
Of friction – and of hope.

Its symbol?
Route 66.

But we switched lanes.
They won't name it.
But we know the number.
We see the sign:
Route 88.
Two digits.
A shameless greeting.
A code for power,
stripped of masks.
The old nightmare,
dressed in stars and stripes.
Fascism reborn.

"Presidents should have authority to remove all executive branch personnel."
— Agenda twenty twenty fife, Chapter 2, Page 17

Not a leader.
A ruler.
Agencies become henchmen.
Checks and balances?
Obstacles.
"Shut down USAID."
No more aid.
No global partnerships.
No shared peace.
Partnership means equality.
But those on top
hate equality.

"End enforcement of environmental regulations by the EPA."

Clean air?
Not profitable.
Drinkable water?
Now a privilege.

Route 88 is not a road.
It's a plan.
A web of decrees,
written in darkness,
enforced in daylight.
Exit now.
Before you're part of it.
Exit now.
Back to Route 66.

"The Department of Education should be abolished."

Children?
Not to think —
To obey.
Science is "woke."
Truth is "Marxist."
Curriculums must be "patriotic."
What they mean:
Useful lies.
No doubt.
No guilt.
No diversity.

"Gender ideology must be removed from every federal agency."

Their fear of identity
writes laws.
The self becomes a threat.
And the state?
It doesn't protect —
It molds.

Route 88 is regression.
Route 88 is return.
A step backward
in custom suits.
For the suited.
Exit!
Before your child asks
why you stayed silent.
Exit!
Back to Route 66.

"Deploy the military in response to urban disorder."

They say: order.
They mean: suppression.
Protest becomes terror.
Resistance becomes threat.
And silence?
Complicity.

But we remember.
We've sung this before.
We'll sing it again.
We'll stand again.
With the voices that moved us.
For justice.
For equality.
For peace.
For freedom.

Arlo Guthrie.
Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Kris Kristofferson

Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Bob Dylan.

Gil Scott-Heron.
Joan Baez.
Johnny Cash.

Jimi Hendrix.
Jim Croce.
Odetta.

Frank Zappa.
Marvin Gaye.
Sly & the Family Stone.
Neil Young.
Phil Ochs.
Woodie Guthrie!

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters
This land was made for you and me

This land was made for you and me

Route 88 leads nowhere.
It ends in silence.
In orders barked.
In freedom banned.

But there's an exit.
Route 66 is still there.
Dusty.
Flawed.
But open.
For you.
For us.
For our future.

They talk about "restoring greatness."
But we talk about dignity.
About breath.
About roads
that lead to real freedom.
Route 88?
Leave it.
While you still can.

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters
This land was made for you and me

I have a dream
I have a dream

Stand up and fight!
Stand up and fight!