Well, the first thing I want to say is…”Mandate my ass!” 

Because it seems as though we’ve been convinced that 26% of the registered voters, not even 26% of the American people, but 26% of the registered voters form a mandate – or a landslide.  21% voted for Skippy and 3, 4% voted for somebody else who might have been running.

But, oh yeah, I remember.  In this year that we have now declared the year from Shogun to Reagan, I remember what I said about Ray-gun…meant it.  Acted like an actor…Hollyweird.  Acted like a liberal.  Acted like General Franco when he acted like governor of California, then he acted like a republican.  Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for president.  And now we act like 26% of the registered voters is actually a mandate.  We’re all actors in this I suppose.

What has happened is that in the last 20 years, America has changed from a producer to a consumer.  And all consumers know that when the producer names the tune…the consumer has got to dance.  That’s the way it is.  We used to be a producer – very inflexible at that, and now we are consumers and, finding it difficult to understand.  Natural resources and minerals will change your world. The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World.  They have bought the 2nd World and put a firm down payment on the 1st one.  Controlling your resources will control your world.  This country has been surprised by the way the world looks now.  They don’t know if they want to be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan.  They don’t know if they want to be diplomats or continue the same policy – of nuclear nightmare diplomacy.  John Foster Dulles ain’t nothing but the name of an airport now.

The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia.  They want to go back as far as they can – even if it’s only as far as last week.  Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards.  And yesterday was the day of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at the last possible moment.  The day of the man in the white hat or the man on the white horse – or the man who always came to save America at the last moment – someone always came to save America at the last moment – especially in “B” movies.  And when America found itself having a hard time facing the future, they looked for people like John Wayne.  But since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald the Raygun – and it has placed us in a situation that we can only look at – like a “B” movie.”

Gil Scott-Heron, “B Movie,” 1981