A Power Governments Cannot Suppress

[Intro: Howard Zinn]
One of the things we might learn from history, is that the government's interests are not necessarily the same as ours
In fact, are rarely the same as ours. Because if you think the government's interests are the same as yours, then you think - "Well if something is going wrong it must be that they made a mistake 'cause they really care about us"
They don't care about us!

[Verse 1: Vinnie Paz]
The greatest beneficiary of Reagan years was corporations
Wealthy businessmen and ministers of foreign nations
Bush promised that he would save the environment
Signed the Clean Air Act and had the public buyin' it
Two years after that, we see it as imprudence
The EPA allowed tons of hazardous pollutants
Little money was allocated for the enforcement
Contaminated drinkin' water, everywhere was dormant
But business worries override the safety of the public
Ecological breakdowns and nobody would publish
When Reagan got elected and he finally took to office
He spent a quarter million dollars on his livin' quarters
He built the military even more, and paid for it with cuts and benefits for the poor
He made 140 billion cuts in social programs
Human consequences wasn't justified to no man
He said that he still balanced the budget
Wassily Leontief guaranteed that he wouldn't
The 80's were the triumph of upperclass America
Ascendancy of the rich, the poor he would bury ya

[Verse 2: Vinnie Paz]
The gap between the rich and the poor grew dramatically
Black families were hit the hardest, be emphatically
Lack of resources, and racial discrimination
Broken homes, drug addiction, incarceration
Instead of trying to help the people out of this position, politicians called for the building of more prisons
Reagan lied about Iran, lied to Nicaragua, lied about the Soviets and lied about the Contras
He sold arms to Iran, all of it was cited but plausible denial is why he ain't get indicted
Oli North stood trial, the jury found him guilty but he ain't do no time because the motherfucker's filthy
Reagan sent Marines into a crazy situation
Two hundred died in Lebanon 'cause it was dangerous
After that he sent forces into Grenada, congress was notified but not consulted, that's a horror
What good's a show of force if you never use it?
That's the way that Reagan's mind worked and he abused it
Why do people die in countries we invading? So we can make it clear that violence was understated

[Verse 3: Vinnie Paz]
Reagan's raid on Libya, that was terrorist
Bombs fell on a crowded city, a hundred victims
The Cold War? Let me relay you the facts
The foreign policy just delayed the collapse
The U.S. policy motivated by Fed, to justify the suppression of independent care
The military budget was 280 billion, Colin Powell said he wanna scare the world's civilians
In order to boost his popularity with voters
Bush went to war with Iraq and hid the motives
He abandoned sanctions and said it was for protection
He only chose war because the presidential elections
Who believed that we would liberate Kuwait?
When we invaded other countries every single week
You think that they could build a nuclear bomb?
They was 10 years away from having nuclear bombs
Less than half of us favored military action
No blood for oil was the citizen's reaction
Officials lied about small bombs, American reporters were kept from the war's harm

[Verse 4: Vinnie Paz]
Clinton got in and appointed people of color
But he abandoned them when they started working together
He spoke of a new government for a new century
Invoked Dr. King's name, compared their philosophy
Recalled Dr. King's dream of racial equality
But put more blacks in prison than anybody in history
Continued the military budget in Cold War levels
It doesn't matter the party, homie, they all devils
Approved the FBI attack on Koresh
Fire swept through the whole building burning flesh
His crime bill got a lot of attention but it emphasized punishment, not prevention
Persuaded voters he was tough on crime
But tougher is dumber when you give 'em double the time
Clinton removed welfare benefits from immigrants
Legal or illegal, most of y'all don't know the difference
Who did the Free Trade Agreement really preserve?
Why the number of prisoners doubled when Clinton served?
Domination of the media was there to vaccinate
If god intended us to vote, he would've gave us candidates

[Verse 5: Vinnie Paz]
Bush verse Gore, that was your decision
Both support the death penalty and broke the prisons
Nader ran too but the media denyin' it
He emphasized education, healthcare environment
Half the country didn't even vote and that's a sign
Appealin' to class warfare that no one's buying
Gore received hundreds of thousands or more votes
Proof the electoral process is a joke
Bush took office and pushed tax cuts for the wealthy
Opposed environmental regulations for the money
Nine months into his presidency, 9/11
Immediately declared a war on terrorism
He said that they were Saudi, said it was the Taliban
Then he ordered the bombing of Afghanistan
You kill our civilians, we kill y'all civilians
How the fuck that make sense when we all civilians?
Wartime presidents do wartime shit
That's why wartime presidents can suck my dick
There were minority voices that were criticizing war
You can't match violence or violence should be the law
We stationed troops in Saudi on the holiest of shrines
Military aid for occupying Palestine
Killing innocents Arabs would come back to haunt us
And stupid motherfuckers sit and wonder why they bomb us

[Outro]
If you're like me, you have a lot of friends who are depressed
A lot of friends who go around very gloomy, think the world is coming to an end
You can understand people feeling depressed, you can understand people feeling desperate
Because the truth is, we're faced with evil
There's an enormous number of people who care about the world and about the country, wanna do something about it
And those numbers are going to grow, so long as people persist and don't give up