As the unveiling of the ten opening songs continues, two classics are next on tap:

6. Like a Rolling Stone—Bob Dylan

This Dylan classic is a good illustration of why we always should treat others the way we would want to be treated and consider how things look from their vantage point. Or put another way, what goes around comes around.

Looking at it through the lens of politics, this is one to always keep in mind.

When the party with the upper hand governs in an inclusive way, there is a much better chance the same will happen when the shoe is on the other foot. When the party in control tries to govern in pure partisan fashion (as we are seeing now at the federal level), it sets up a very different dynamic. When power inevitably shifts again, the “revenge quotient” will be high, and the net result over time is more gridlock and less lasting progress. We all will do better by keeping that golden rule in mind.

7. After the Gold Rush—Neil Young

While in many ways we’ve made a lot of environmental progress since the great Neil Young released this classic back in the 1970’s, climate change and other man-made environmental troubles may be an even bigger challenge for us today, a challenge made that much greater by our current President and his Administration’s backwards views on environmental policy.

Protecting the environment should be an obvious goal for people of all political persuasions to come together and get something done, for our own good and the good of future generations. While the strategies for achieving that goal may vary depending on your political vantage point, the need for action should be the ultimate no-brainer. We managed to do that in the 1970’s and make some real progress on a range of environmental issues in bipartisan fashion, and we should look back on that time for some inspiration today.

Neil’s words continue to be a great call for action in 2018, and sadly, replacing “1970’s” with “the two thousand teens” could even work pretty well lyrically.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned as we hit the homestretch on the musical opener later this week.