So just to get it cleared up - I love musicals, absolutely love them. I am a classically trained musician and music is a big part of my life. And I am a proud musical geek (favorites are Wicked and Mary Poppins).
So understandably I devour any piece from a new musical that comes my way.
But I am also a thinker and an observer with a great interest in international matters and media. And learning new things. And I have a tendency to get extremely interested in certain things and try learning about them as much as possible (this includes my long standing love affair with Russian culture and the language). And last autumn was an absolute field day for a nerd like me. The American presidential election was on!
I dove into it with enthusiasm and started following Romney and Obama and enlightening myself on their policies on various matters, the most interesting one being taxes, health care reform and international matters. And was I in for a "treat" (written with great sarcasm). or what. From the beginning of the campaigns, I sat in shock in front of my computer as I watched video after video, read article after article with misconceptions and slander about Europe as a whole. Mind you, the entire continent was spoken about as if we were one collective country (which we are NOT!).
Europe as a whole continent was called a socialist state and candidates promised they would NOT have a socialist government like Europe.
Because yes, we are all socialist pigs and all belong to the same country and all have the same government
Russia was declared as USA's main enemy
The Cold War and WWII are still going on apparently and Russia still aims to destroy USA - the rest of Europe did not get the memo apparently
European health care was described as terrible over and over again
Yes, our hospitals are ran by government agent with the sole purpose of killing people, you found us out USA sadly
European governments control everything people do and have their nose in people´s personal affairs
Yes the government watches my every action and even has a camera in my bedroom
I can tell you that my jaw fell to the floor over and over again and I ranted again and again about the insanity of this. And Romney was at the top of his game when it came to international policy and Europe.
His Europe trip was England, Poland and Israel. Apparently Europe only consists of three countries.
His vice president candidate declared Russia to be USA's number one enemy and talked about it being communist
He spoke in his foreign policy (and I read this with my own eyes) of having people come over to USA from Russia to get ideas on democracy and such things and then they cold go back home to Russia and educate people on it.
And Europe was time and again declared a socialist place (nice putting us all under one hat)
And to cap it off he had international policy towards all continents except Africa and Europe. he had a specific international policy towards Russia (so quite clearly we do not exist as a continent).
So I was feeling like losing my head. You might say I was letting this get too much to me but I care dearly about where I come from and seeing it talked about like that annoyed me to no end. It was as if the world had gone mad for a while. And I was not okay with it.
So when I found the gem of a song that is Barett Foa singing as Mitt Romney it meant a lot to me. I know it sounds incredibly silly (and it is) but the song instantly got to me. I loved it so much and still do. It made sense to me in so many ways and considering the politic situation it was perfect. I listened to it over and over again and each time I laughed my head off. I learned it by heart and started singing it when on my way to work. I realize how dorky this is but I arrived in good spirit at work every time. I still listen to it regularly and it makes me grin each and every time.
And here is why
-The song is a very good musical number - like really good
-Barrett Foa sings it really well - he has an excellent voice and you can tell he is a trained singer
-The lyrics - all my opinions and thoughts on Romney and politics in general expressed in fund and thoughtful lyrics - it expressed everything but also had valid political concerns
-It was fun - I love things that make me happy and make me laugh and this did and still does
It was such a relief to get this song and it came at the right time. I have played it for friends and family and they all think it's great. Barrett Foa managed to address the concerns and thoughts of pretty much all Scandinavians (save a few) in one song when it came to politics and Romney.
Music is something I respond very strongly to (I am a classically trained musician and have been a music nerd since infancy) and it helps me make sense of things. And this song did.
So thank you Mr. Foa for saving the political sanity of a Scandinavian :) And for making me laugh time and again!
And here is the gem on a youtube link - Click here!
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