The Boss Has Spoken

May 22, 2025

I've never been one to listen to bosses, which is probably why I'm a 47-year-old man cutting lawns for a living. But that's a whole different story for another time. All that being said, there is one boss that has had the courage to speak up, and for once, I am listening. That's right, the boss I'm speaking about is the "Boss" himself, Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce, over the weekend, was able to say the quiet parts out loud. While most of us keep our mouths shut out of fear, he spoke up. While most of us move to a different table at the neighborhood picnic when the guy in the red hat starts spewing his hate, he spoke up. While other celebrities sit on the sidelines and wait this thing out, he spoke up. And while the spineless politicians who tremble at his feet and bend at his will say nothing, he spoke up.

This was not the first time Springsteen has taken a stand, and certainly not the last. But this particular moment feels different than all the others. It was a throwback to the Nixon era when Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were so incensed by the Kent State shooting on May 4th, 1970 that they hunkered down in a studio. They wrote, recorded and released the song "Ohio" in a week...something unheard of at the time. It was an anthem, it was a rallying cry and it helped wake the country up. Nixon, his cronies, his ultra conservative mantra and his constant pandering to the 1% was nothing short of criminal....and the country had had enough.

"In my home, the America I love, the America I have written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration," the Boss said to a crowd in Manchester. "Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring."

Springsteen released the live concert that opened his Land of Hope and Dreams tour that is streaming as we speak. Meanwhile, the infantile POTUS released a meme of him hitting a golf ball at the Boss. That seems like a professional response from a grownup...especially one that currently inhabits the Whitehouse. At least Nixon, as inherently evil as he was, was professional when he did his supervillain act.

Bruce went on during the show, trying to wake up the world to this monster, and I'll let you use the Google machine yourself to have a listen. The words he said are important, have strength and I'm hoping will unite us all. Perhaps wake us up. Maybe give us the courage to tell the asshole in the red hat to shut the fuck up at the neighborhood picnic.

Fifty five years ago Kent State and CSN&Y opened our eyes and united us in the good fight against tyranny and oppression. I'm hoping the Boss will do the same. Unfortunately, I don't have much faith in the American people any more. But crazier things have happened. It might not be four dead in Ohio this time that wakes us up, it will probably be your 401k dying that will.

God Bless America. And may God have mercy on us all.

Patriotic Dog says, "We can do this people!"