The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Can’t stand the news
It’s always the same old song
Another corporate scandal
Another story of bad gone wrong
Another corporate bailout
Another piece of the pie
It’s the best democracy money can buy

They rigged the elections
And only millionaires can play
And you’ve got to be cynical
You got to look into the camera and say
“I’m serving the public”
When you know it’s a corporate lie
It’s the best democracy money can buy

Yeah there they go
Fighting for oil
‘Cause there the profits lie
Beneath that foreign soil
And they don’t know what they’ll do
When the wells run dry
It’s the best democracy money can buy

They’re filling the prisons
Their latest industry
Which lines their pockets
And helps us all be free
‘Cause you gotta do something with the unemployed
If they won’t move to Shanghai
It’s the best democracy money can buy

They’re patenting life
Selling our genes
They would patent oxygen
If they had the means
They’ll patent their drugs
And some will get you high
It’s the best democracy money can buy

But we’ve got two parties
Maybe someday we’ll have three
Maybe Tweedledumber
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
But one thing’s fairly certain
It won’t be you or I
It’s the best democracy money can buy

And when it’s finished
And they’ve finally achieved
The most corporate dollar-ocracy
That could ever be believed
The Martians will come to visit our graves
And when they go back to the sky
They’ll say it was the best democracy money could buy

“The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” appears on the Soundclick album, Beyond the Mall (2003).  It has never appeared on a CD.

I have often thought about how US democracy is really more of an auction than an election.  I read and loved Greg Palast’s book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.  But before I actually read the book, I used the title as a hook line for this song.