The first question asked during the first Republican presidential debate was about Oliver Anthony's surprise hit song "Rich Men North of Richmond" and how it touched something inside a lot of Americans. Anthony responded on video afterward, saying it was ironic because it was about corporate-owned politicians --including the people who were on the stage during the debate. 

That got some people on the left, and their fellow travelers like Adam Kinzinger, going. 

The MAGAS lost their Richmond singing hero, and they literally can’t even deal with it.

The shrinking magats are in denial

— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) August 26, 2023

Imagine someone who was once a Republican elected official disparaging millions of people like that, comparing them to vermin because they have a different political belief than he does. Indeed, it isn't MAGA people who are in denial; it's Kinzinger, who doesn't seem to get he's the divisive corporate Washington guy that Anthony is likely talking about. But he's exactly the kind of guy Anthony seems to be singing about when he attacks millions of Americans like this for daring to have different thoughts from him. 

Anthony responded on Saturday to some of the takeaways from his video that he thought were wrong, saying it had been "misquoted/misinterpreted." 

"Corporate news (big surprise) is now trying to twist me into being a Biden supporter," Anthony wrote with a laughing emoji. He claimed he wanted to address Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) directly, who implied that removing Biden from office "would automatically solve all the problems." 

"Biden is a big part of the issue, but it runs much deeper," Anthony said. "'Rich Men North of Richmond' is about corporate owned DC politicians on both sides. Though Biden's most certainly a problem, the lyrics aren't exclusively knocking Biden, it's bigger and broader than that. It's knocking the system collectively. Including the corporate owned conservative polticans [sic] that were on stage that night."

I get it. His point is that he isn't in a political pocket, that he's calling out the Washington-controlled system that doesn't care for the people but only about control. That's something that most Americans feel, and that's why the song resonated. He's not rejecting people; he's rejecting corporate politicians. That's why it's now number-one on the Billboard charts. In some ways, I think it's similar to what Tucker Carlson said in Hungary, calling out the uni-party. 

But even if I had different thoughts on politics than he does, that wouldn't stop me from appreciating the music. Unlike leftists, I don't have to have everyone conform to a narrative. I can appreciate that he might think differently from me, while also appreciating his great music. 

That's another thing that folks on the left and their fellow travelers don't understand. They are the ones in a cult, where everyone has to go along with whatever the prevailing narrative is. Conservatives believe in freeing the people and getting the government off the backs of the people. That includes free thought as well. I don't want to suppress thought. I want to show why conservative thought triumphs in the marketplace of ideas and has the most to offer to a free people. 

Here's some more of that good music.