Billy Bragg: Mr. Love and Justice

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Mr. Bragg said in an interview with Christine Smallwood for The Nation: "Since the last album, around 2002, I've come to view politics in broader terms. Obviously we live in a post-Marxist, post-ideological period, so we have to rethink how we articulate the things we believe in. That process has led me to talk to my audience not about the evils of capitalism and conservatism and racism, but to focus on what I see as the thing they have in common, which is cynicism. The worst aspects of capitalism, the worst impulses of conservatives and every inch of racism is driven by cynicism. And our problem, for those of us who want to make a better world, is that we're prone to that as well. I helped to get Tony Blair elected, so you can imagine how I feel sometimes. But I also remain committed to the process. [Smallwood:] What's it like to be rocking past 50? [Bragg:] I still have that same energy, that same excitement. I don't have any urge to look back at what we did in the twentieth century and say, I wish it was like that. I'm still excited to take part in things" ("Back Talk: Billy Bragg," 6/16/08, p. 54).