We told you, dude. A slow-motion coup that began with a stolen election and a war ginned up to stifle dissent has come to full fruition. Corruption in the highest courts and offices of the land has gone unpunished. The law and the social contract are now simply optional for the wealthy and powerful, bringing us to what can only be characterized as a fascist regime—an unholy alliance of business interests, racist revanchists, and fringe theological jagbags—hellbent on making America and the American people poorer, stupider, less healthy, and less free, with the gleeful compliance of the media. Because they’d rather reign over a nation in ruins than share in a just and equitable society.
Since this new regime took power, they’ve been acting as if a reckoning will never come. It will, of course; the thousand-year Reich was always a mirage. And they know it, on some level. So they’re playing for time, speedrunning the decline and fall of American civilization and gambling that an impoverished, demoralized, constantly surveilled populace will be less likely to organize and rise up.
But still we have an election. They haven’t outlawed that yet. We’re no longer voting to prevent fascism; that ship has sailed. We’re not even voting to resist fascism, no—we’re voting to survive it. It still matters. For now. If voting didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to make it impossible, or to delegitimize the outcomes.
Early voting is open now, in many places, so vote your conscience. But know that voting alone will not save us. Organize locally. Be mindful of your security. Have a plan for what happens next.
If that sounds alarmist or paranoid to you, you haven’t been paying attention for the last 25 years. We fucking warned you, bro. And we’re warning you still. Listen this time.
Download the full 2026 mix (1:17:17)
Download the full 2024 mix (1:17:10). Read the 2024 essay here.
Download the full 2020 mix (1:21:00). Read the 2020 essay here.
Download the full 2018 mix (1:20:20). Read the 2018 essay here.
Download the full 2016 mix (1:18:37). Read the 2016 essay here.
Download the full 2012 mix (1:20:51). Read the 2012 essay here.
(a wind is rising…)
Year of the Patriot (unreleased, excerpt) – John Cale
Do It Again – The Kinks
Baby, I Can’t Please You – Sam Phillips
Warning – Green Day
Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones
Living With the Law – Chris Whitley
Liberation’s Song – Manu Dibango
Time of the Assassins – Charlotte Gainsbourg
Get Up Jonah – Bruce Cockburn
The Walls Came Down – The Call
Church and State – Brandi Carlile
Ali in the Jungle – The Hours
Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke? – The Alarm
Rat in Mi Kitchen – UB40
Power – Danielle Ponder
Acrobat – U2
Don’t Carry It All – The Decemberists
Life During Wartime – Talking Heads
Looking For Lewis and Clark – The Long Ryders
The Patriot – Jackson Cavalier
coda: Sometimes You Win – Chic
If you like what you hear, we encourage you to support the individual artists to whatever extent you can.
Comments