Conservative
Punk
by Hans Zeiger
 In
1997, Michale Graves, then lead singer for the horror punk rock
group the Misfits, found himself on tour in Germany at the site
where the Berlin Wall once stood. He took home with him a piece
of that wall and with a few years' time, a bold commitment to fighting
the mindset that built it.
Punk rock is all about resisting the establishment.
But punk rock itself has an establishment that is driven by Left
wing, anti-war, anti-life, anti-faith politics. To scream, as Green
Day does in its new CD "American Idiot," "I'm not
a part of a redneck agenda" - is hardly a backlash against
the cultural establishment; it is a blaring affirmation of pop cultural
values. As a punk rocker himself, now as lead singer for Gotham
Road, 29-year old Michale Graves may seem an unusual critic of his
peers like Green Day in the genre, but he is determined to be a
voice for change. Graves is a true warrior against the establishment.
"It's important that there be a new tone set
throughout the music industry as well as the Hollywood community,"
Graves told me. "Pop culture today teaches young people that
money is the end all be all, power, greed and the degradation of
women is what is cool. The true spirit and soul of America was felt
and seen in the days after September 11, 2001."
In those days following the attacks on America,
the punk rock community pronounced great vitriol on the nation and
on President Bush. And then, as Punkvoter.com announced the day
after the 2004 election, "There's no f***ing way I am going
to come together with these homophobic, flag-waving, god-fearing,
gun-toting, uneducated, isolationist, ethnocentric REDNECKS. We
live in a country that's in a shroud of ignorance. We do not compromise
or come together with them. We fight them and everything they stand
for."
Repulsed
by the prevailing hate-America attitude within the punk rock community
that was especially stirred by Punkvoter.com, Graves was involved
in the founding of www.conservativepunk.com
last January. "Conservative punk is definitely growing in popularity,"
said Graves. "The motivation behind con-punk came from the
mobilization of bands and record companies across the board with
the radical left and the Democratic party. What about all of us
who thought differently than they did? Why couldn't we have our
own opinions on things? Why should we be outcasts just because we
don't agree? Who was going to challenge them? Who were they to define
something that they had no right to claim?"
Conservative Punk answered to a market demand that
Graves believes is growing amongst young, patriotic Americans who
find themselves alienated from Left-wing establishment punk. "More
young people are identifying themselves as conservative" because
"the left in this country now ride on the America is all bad
message. By blaming this country for all the ills and horrors of
not only domestic problems but of the entire planet they have backed
themselves into an intellectual corner that just doesn't resonate
in the hearts of many people." While Graves believes that young
people naturally tend to be more liberal, he recognizes a rapidly
growing conservatism in young America. So even punk rock (who would
have thought?) is joining the conservative movement.
While Anti-Flag belched, "die for your country?
that's sh**!" and "F*** the flag and f*** you," Michale
Graves wanted to send a different message. "I especially wanted
to combat the negative views that were being put forth concerning
our country and the men and women who were protecting it,"
he said.
And in August, Graves made his most patriotic act
of all, by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. "There
are some who believe that my choice to serve arose overnight from
some sort of publicity stunt or a desire to prove something in light
of my outspokenness concerning conservative ideals and the election."
But Graves says that there are higher ideals that inspired him to
serve. "It is the pursuit of excellence, tradition, and strength
that drives me to want to be a Marine."
Graves heads to U.S. Marine Corps basic training
in January. He is proof that America is alive and well, that even
behind the fake blood and the skulls of his old act, Michale Graves
was not beyond the grace of God and the call of his country.
Graves is using his musical talents and fan base
to reach young Americans with the message that America is worth
fighting for. "The key to this country's future is education
and inspiration," he says. "I believe it to be so important
that young people learn our country's history. We must hold on to
the moral and spiritual foundation that this country was founded
and built upon."
"We also have to inspire young people by having
role models of substance and strong ethical character," he
says. And in a conservative punk Marine named Michale Graves is
a truly substantial role model for young Americans.
Hans
Zeiger is president of the Scout Honor Coalition and a spokesman
for the Scouting Legal Defense Fund. He is a student at Hillsdale
College. www.hanszeiger.com
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