Anarchophy - The Tone of Our Oppression Lyrics

It's easy to say they're all the same
Same ideologies under a slightly different name
And I remember, as a kid, thinking Bill Hicks was so deft
With his "puppet on the right" and his "puppet on the left"
I'm just as guilty as him as I sang "vote for change"
Implying the choice is fiction when you're choosing from a range
Of options limited from pretty bad to even worse
I sang democracy's eulogy and packed it in a hearse
Because it's evident to all of us that we're not truly represented
And if voting could change anything they'd have made a law against it
But while I confess we are being oppressed, I think that history's shown
When it comes to our oppression each election sets the tone

Because there's a tone to our oppression
We choose the tone of our oppression
What is the tone of our oppression?
There is a tone to our oppression

Each campaign sets parameters of what we should debate
Do we pick the puppet who speaks of love or the puppet who speaks of hate?
Each candidate has a worldview of what problems we all face
And this worldview is instructive of where priorities will be placed
For while utopia remains a goal, we're not in utopia yet
And we can't afford idealistic gambles with our social safety net
Because people actually live and die based on policy decisions
We might agree they're not perfect but don't tell me all politicians
Are all basically the same when that is blatantly untrue
The lesser of two evils entails a better of the two
It's not a lot but it's not nothing and it's time we heed this lesson
Their rhetoric sets a mandate for the tone of our oppression

We choose the tone of our oppression

Real lives will be affected by who is and isn't elected