Manifesto

I don't believe in junk mail
low fat
or talk radio.
I don't believe in democracy.
I don't believe in grudges
but I applaud burning bridges.
I don't believe in busing
or forced integration
but I believe in racial harmony.
I don't believe in affirmative action,
an insult to people of color,
and I think the best way to get a job
is through perseverence and education.
I don't believe in networking
bureaucracy
catholicism
jurisdiction
mass production
stipulations
institutions
corporations
sly and covert operations.
I don't believe in the psychic hot line.
I don't believe in the welfare system.
I don't believe in trial by jury.
In these days of exploding populations,
I don't believe it's anyone's right to have as many children as they can bear.
I don't believe in anti-choice.
I don't believe in public schools.
I don't believe in smoke-free anything.
I don't believe country music
should have been allowed to escape from Nashville.
I don't believe in personal violence
but I believe in violent change and violent art.
I don't believe in television or recreational vehicles
or Oprah Winfrey and I believe
that both military intelligence and rap music
are contradictions in terms.
I don't believe in drugs but I do believe in
drug addicts.
I don't believe in marriage and have my doubts about monogamy.
I don't believe in lying, I don't believe in blaming your childhood,
I don't believe in saying "I can't" because I've found that
I can.
I don't believe in Florida or littering,
although littering in Florida isn't quite so bad.
I don't believe we were all created equal
but that doesn't stop me from wishing we were.
I don't believe in Black rage, White supremacy,
or Indian casinos.
I believe in William Burroughs, Hunter Thompson, Allen Ginsberg
and life imitating art.
I believe in rocking the boat
and upsetting the apple cart.
I believe in truth, kindness, books, and
solitude.
I believe in freedom of the press, freedom of speech
and freedom of movement.
I believe our only salvation lies in rock and roll
and a complete change in the way
we view the world.
I believe
in going home.