For my 50th birthday, the noble Jason Brennan gave me Do What You Want: The Story of Bad Religion, signed by the whole band. I love their music. I listen to it all the time. Greg Graffin, the lead singer, clearly has excellent knowledge of natural science. Yet Bad Religion’s lyrics are sadly infused with economic illiteracy, one cliche of populist green leftism after another. Listen to “10 in 2010,” “Modern Man,” or “Department of False Hope.” It’s tempting to read “American Jesus” as an open borders anthem, but I’m afraid that’s wishful thinking.
I feel sorry for the earth’s population
‘Cause so few live in the USA
At least the foreigners can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay
At the same time, however, Bad Religion is a business. When you read the biography of the band, it’s especially clear that Brett Gurewitz, the main song-writer and founder of Epitaph Records, is a shrewd capitalist despite his official ideology. I’m 98% sure that Brett supports the minimum wage. If you warned about the disemployment effects, I have no doubt he would scoff. Yet this happened:
Lee wasn’t the first official Epitaph employee; that distinction belonged to Jeff Abarta, who literally knocked on the door at Westbeach. He had just gotten off his shift at the drug store where he worked and was still wearing a collared shirt and tie.
JEFF: Is this Epitaph? I’m looking for a job.
BRETT: Yeah, but I’m the only employee and I’m not even paying myself yet.
JEFF: I’ll work for free.
BRETT: You’re hired!
Before long, Jeff becomes a critical employee – and has a job far better than working at a drug store. That’s what I call “the joy of market-clearing wages” in action. And while you could demur, “It’s just an anecdote,” it’s an anecdote that should give every populist leftist pause. If working for free can easily be mutually beneficial, why are outsiders so quick to to see employment and cry “exploitation”?
P.S. If any members of Bad Religion ever read this, I love you guys. I would happily teach you economics for free. I visit LA often, and there’s always Zoom.
And you wouldn’t be exploiting me any more than Brett exploited Jeff when he knocked on the door at Westbeach.
READER COMMENTS
Jonathan Culp
May 27 2021 at 12:06pm
When I was a teenager, punk was my life, and I was *very* left wing. In later years, this has puzzled me, because when I look back on the punk scene (at least of the 80s and 90s), it seems like punk were natural libertarians: the voluntary association, the mutualism, the DIY efforts of starting your own bands, zines, clubs, etc. The vitality of local punks scenes seems like a vindication of libertarianism–and yet you hardly find that at all. A strange case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. If you watch “Turn it Around,” about the Gilman scene and Lookout Records, you’ll find more the same lessons in the anecdote you quote–and yet for a time Gilman was presided over by a hardcore Communist (Tim Yo). Odd.
I don’t think Bad Religion ever topped “Suffer.” What is your favorite album of theirs?
Jonathan Culp
May 27 2021 at 12:07pm
Ack! So many typos. Sorry!
Alex Viladot
May 28 2021 at 1:46am
Suffer is definitely their masterpiece, from beginning to end. I can’t listen to that album without singing along, doing air-guitar or air-drumming the whole time.
It is true that most punks have very left-wing tendencies but I think this is due more to ignorance than actual economics or political knowledge (I consider myself also a case in point).
But if you look and listen around you can hear some libertarian anthems here and there. For example: Cock Sparrer’s Working (about working cash in hand), the Angelic Upstarts’ Solidarity (about the struggle of the Polish Solidarnosc movement), or Agnostic Front’s Public Assistance.
I went to a Jello Biafra Spoken Word show once and he started off mentioning “Ayn Rand” as someone you’d have a poster of hanging on the wall when you’re an individual who thinks for yourself and ended up in Q&A defining himself as a bit of a communist.
Definitely, economics and political philosophy are not the punks’ forte.
Todd Ramsey
May 28 2021 at 10:37am
Not only immoral, but also illegal : volunteering at a for-profit entity is likely a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, depending on the size of the entity and whether they engage in interstate activities. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/whdfs14a.pdf
A Country Farmer
May 28 2021 at 11:58am
The song “Modern Day Catastrophists” is a counter-example.
Comments are closed.