WE the People vs ME the People - A3

[This song is about the tension between individual success and shared responsibility—and the idea that those who have accumulated extraordinary wealth should pay more in taxes to help maintain the country and the systems that made that success possible.]

[It argues that no one becomes successful entirely on their own. We may earn our money, build our homes, and protect what we have, but we do it on top of roads, schools, courts, infrastructure, public institutions, and the countless people who keep society functioning.]

[At the center of the song is the question: Are we “We the People,” building and maintaining a country together, or “Me the People,” where everyone primarily looks after their own interests?]

[The song isn’t arguing that people shouldn’t keep what they’ve earned. It’s arguing that the wealthiest among us can afford to contribute a larger share through taxes, helping pay for the roads, schools, courts, infrastructure, and public systems that everyone—including the wealthy—depends on.]

[At its heart, the message is: You can keep what you’ve earned. But if you’ve gained extraordinary wealth from a society we all help build and maintain, should you also pay more to keep that society strong?]

[That’s the question the song puts on the table.]

There’s a house on every street
With a fence around the yard
A little piece of heaven
With a little piece to guard

Everybody keeps their treasure
Everybody locks their doors
But somewhere underneath it all
We’re standing on the same floor

Verse 1

Your money makes a zillion
While you’re sleeping in your bed
Climbing like ivy
Feeding your piggy bank sky-high

You say, “I earned every penny
Why should you take more away?”
I say, “Who built the roads beneath you
That carried you here today?”

Who trained the hands that built them?
Who keeps the courts in line?
Who keeps the lights from flickering
When the markets implode?

You can call it independence
You can call it what you please
But nobody gets rich alone
In a forest full of trees

Pre-Chorus

We all want to keep our freedom
We all want to keep our share
But freedom isn’t just the space
Between you and your neighbor’s chair

Chorus

Are WE the People or ME the People
Which one are WE gonna be?
You may own the biggest slice
But WE all helped bake the pie

Are WE the People or ME the People
Standing underneath one sky
You can build yourself a kingdom
But you can’t build another earth
When this is all we’ve got

Verse 2

I don’t have any children
So why should I help pay
For somebody else’s classroom
Somebody else’s school day?

Because someday that little kid
Might be the nurse who saves my life
The engineer who fixes the bridge
The cop who stops the fight

The teacher who teaches your grandson
The stranger who pulls you through
The person who keeps this whole damn thing
From falling down on you

That’s the funny thing about us
We never know who we need
Until the day we need somebody
Who once needed us

Pre-Chorus

It’s easy to love the freedom
When the freedom’s paying you
It’s harder to remember
There’s a thousand hands behind you

Chorus

Are WE the People or ME the People
Which one are we gonna be?
You may own the biggest slice
But we all helped bake the pie

Are WE the People or ME the People
Standing underneath one sky
You can count every dollar
You can measure every gain
But you can’t put a price
On keeping the whole thing alive

[Bridge: drums build, electric guitar enters]

We’re a melting pot
We’re a powder keg
We’re a thousand different dreams
Standing on the same ground

Different gods
Different names
Different roads
Different games

But when the fire starts burning
And the water starts rising
Nobody gets to say

“That’s not my side of town.”

Breakdown: almost spoken

So keep your money.
Keep your house.
Keep the things you earned.

Just don’t forget—

The road was already there.
The school was already there.
The courts were already there.
The country was already there.

You’re using a platform.
WE all built.
WE all paid.
Is this a Republic or a ME Public?

Final Chorus: full band

Are WE the People NOT ME the People
That’s the question underneath
How much can one person build
Without a thousand hands?

WE the People NOT ME the People
You can take what you have earned
You may think you paid your share
But you can’t put a price on keeping our Republic alive

It’s something we return.
It’s giving back,

Outro: acoustic guitar returns

Are WE the people…

Not ME the people…

Your fortune isn’t floating
In a vacuum in the sky

It grew here.
But who really grew it?
And did only the few grow with it?
Who built this American Apple Platform?

I’ll tell you
WE THE PEOPLE DID
NOT ME THE PEOPLE
Not just you.
So Multi Millionaires
you are not paying enough
To support the American Platform
That allows you to make these millions

OUR SYSTEM!!!!!
NOT YOUR RULES!!!!!