Education Quote by Jello Biafra

Biafra’s genius here is how he sneaks a civic lecture into the cadence of a punk rant: blunt, impatient, and aimed at the people most likely to roll their eyes at politics. The opening jab - “hardly anybody pays attention” - isn’t neutral observation. It’s an accusation, delivered with the weary clarity of someone who’s watched “national politics” become a spectator sport while the real, daily power moves happen down the block.

The intent is mobilization, but not the glossy, get-out-the-vote kind. He’s pointing to the machinery of coercion and care: sheriffs and DAs decide who gets arrested, charged, plea-bargained into oblivion; county commissioners shape budgets that determine whether “public safety” means mental health services or more jail beds; school boards curate culture, deciding which histories are teachable and which identities are “controversial.” In Biafra’s world, these offices aren’t boring; they’re where ideology cashes out in handcuffs, curricula, and zoning maps.

The subtext is also a critique of attention itself. If democracy is supposed to be consent, local elections are where consent is easiest to manufacture because turnout is low and the voting public skews older, whiter, and more organized. That’s why the list matters: it’s a roll call of positions that rarely trend online but reliably determine whose life gets harder.

Contextually, it tracks with Biafra’s long-running project: punk as civic alarm system. He’s not asking for faith in institutions; he’s warning that if you ignore them, they’ll still govern you - just on someone else’s terms.