Editor’s Note: Phil Ochs’ 1966 satirical song ‘Love Me I’m a Liberal’, sharply criticized the imperialist, racist, and anti-revolutionary views of contemporary liberals. As Phil Ochs said, “In every American community, you have varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times, ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally.” This song attempts to bring Ochs’ song to our present political moment, with new verses relevant to the current political climate. We are excited to publish this song as our first piece of cultural work, and hope to expand submissions of music, art, and literature in addition to political-theoretical articles.
Lyrics:
I marched in Anti-Trump rallies
I prayed RBG would “Persist!”
I cheer when AOC gets sassy
And when Nancy Pelosi gets pissed
But don’t ask me to question the system
I’d rather tweet #Hashtag Resist
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a Liberal
The racist Republican Party
Should all bow their heads in shame
I can’t understand how their minds work
They need diversity and equity training
And if you need a DEI trainer
My fee is eighty thousand and change
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a Liberal
I demand more from the Democratic party
I support local progressive campaigns
I criticize some centrist politicians
And the status quo they maintain
But I vote for them in the General
And if you don’t, then it’s you who’s to blame
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a Liberal
I wept when I saw kids in cages
Like animals held at the zoo
Now we’re free from Trump’s cruelty and terror
The American Dream is for immigrants too
But when it comes to families in…Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan
Our drones do what they have to do
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal
I cried when the fascists stormed the Capitol
The image is seared in my mind
I mourned the attack on democracy
I still can’t leave it behind
The fascists they need to be dealt with
Hope the cops use more ammo next time
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal
I was proud when Biden solved the rail strike
And helped all the cargo push through
Bernie signed a bill for workers healthcare
Didn’t pass, but what more could we do?
I do stand with all of you workers
But the Squad is working for you!
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal
I read New Republic and Nation
And I’ve learned from WNYC:
Arming the Ukrainian army
Is worth risking nuclear catastrophe
I support the brave Azov Battalion
Even Nazis deserve to be free!
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a Liberal
I oppose the settler-colonialists
In Brooklyn and Palestine too
I founded a BDS chapter
And stopped eating hummus for you
But when it comes to the Indo-Pacific
There’s no one more Red White and Blue
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a Liberal
It’s true the U.S has made blunders
In Iraq and Afghanistan, too
But we still have a moral imperative
To protect human rights from abuse
Democracy is what we are spreading
We’ll bomb you to make it come true!
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a Liberal
