I Used to Believe Them

I used to wave the flag they gave me,
Wore the colors, knew the score,
Believed the other side was crazy,
That's what the television's for.

I had my team, I had my talking points,
I had my enemies all lined up neat,
Never asked who drew the lines
Or why the same folks never lose their seat.

I used to believe them,
Every word they said was true.
I used to believe them
Till I looked at what they do.
The words were always different,
The results were always the same —
I used to believe them,
But I finally learned the game.

My daddy voted one way all his life,
My mama voted the other side,
They argued every Thanksgiving dinner
While the factory closed and the jobs all died.

Both parties took the money,
Both parties wrote the rules,
Both parties kept on winning
While the rest of us played fools.

I'm not saying nothing matters,
I'm not saying give up and go home,
I'm saying the map that they gave us
Was never meant to lead us home.

There's a different kind of politics,
Built on what we actually need,
Not the theater of outrage
Designed to make us bleed.

I used to believe them,
Every word they said was true.
I used to believe them
But now I'm looking through.
The words were always different,
The results were always the same —
I used to believe them,
Now I'm changing the game.

I used to... I used to...
Now I know better.
Now I know better.