In the world of Rock and Roll, in the words of Neil Young, “it’s better to burn out than fade away”.<\/p>\n
In the world of Bruce Springsteen’s music, when characters screw up, they flame out big-time – and usually take other people down with ’em.<\/p>\n
In “Johnny 99”, from Nebraska, the protagonist – “Ralph” – gets laid off from a job at a car plant. He gets “too drunk from mixing Tangueray and Wine” – itself a major botch – and shoots a night clerk. It instantly changes his life; he goes from being a regular guy to a lifer overnight. His life is completely screwed, he declares as he’s sentenced.<\/p>\n
Now judge I had debts no honest man could pay<\/p>\n
The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they were gonna take my house away<\/p>\n
Now I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man<\/p>\n
But it was more `n all this that put that gun in my hand<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Well your honor I do believe I’d be better off dead<\/p>\n
So if you can take a man’s life for the thoughts that’s in his head<\/p>\n
Then sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time<\/p>\n
And let `em shave off my hair and put me on that killin’ line<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Clearly, the character of Ralph\/Johnny didn’t preconsider his actions according to the long-term consequences one might expect from them – but then if Mr. 99 had merely thrown up and gone to bed, the song would be a pretty mundane commentary on the human condition. People do act in ways that ignore their actions’ long-term consequences, in ways big and small, all the time.<\/p>\n
And there’s the point.<\/p>\n
Another of conservatism’s key tenets is the idea of prudence; a conservative measures actions against their likely long-term consequences,\u00a0<\/strong>and tries to decide and act accordingly.<\/p>\n
They also recognize – as Johnny 99 did not, until the end of the song – the consequences of failing at this.<\/p>\n
And among the many reasons Springsteen’s music resonates with conservatives is that the characters, for decades, illustrated the princple, in ways positive and negative, in a way that sounds like…<\/p>\n
…well, real life.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“Breakaway” is a song written for Darkness on the Edge of Town<\/em>, but not released until it was exhumed for the documentary “The Promise”. \u00a0Amid a song that sounds like it came from a Roy Orbison outtake, the characters make all sorts of choices – most of them lousy ones:<\/p>\n