Dear Lord, Our Fractious Nation Does NOT Need More 'Hamilton'

Who is this even for?

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Of all the genuinely awful cultural artifacts from the past decade or so of American politics, the one that annoys me the most, without question, is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s unfathomably popular musical, Hamilton.

While perhaps not quite as acutely harmful as some of its #resistance era peers (by “acutely harmful” I mean “if I hear ‘Fight Song’ one more time I will commit acts of unspeakable violence”) Hamilton remains my personal bugbear for its role in extending and perhaps even intensifying the Sorkin-ization of politics. Although it’s not solely responsible, the cult of Hamilton has unquestionably been a major factor in the resurgence of people who treat politics and power as stakes-free entertainment, which is ironic considering it’s a musical about shooting a political rival to death.

“But Rafi,” you ask. “Why are you complaining about a musical that came out nearly a decade ago?”

Well, for one thing, there’s no statute of limitations on being annoyed. If there were, I’d probably have to seriously reexamine a significant part of my life. Thank god for grudges, and the personalities forged in their relentless fires.

More immediately though, I’m complaining about Hamilton and its deleterious effect because

To commemorate this week’s “National Voter Registration Day,” the Broadway cast of Hamilton announced on Twitter that they were “headed into the booth to record ‘The Election of 2024,” — a riff on the play’s second-act number “The Election of 1800.” This now marks the second election in which Hamilton decided to get involved. (The first time was in 2016, when Miranda and friends opened a portal to hell by rapping the words “Tim Kaine in the membrane.”)

Screenshot / Twitter

It’s important (to me) to note here that nowhere in this tweet is there an actual direct link to a voter registration site (here’s one if you’re interested!), nor did they bother to correct the fact that they incorrectly tagged one of the groups they’re so “proud” to partner with. But I digress. Because what’s really at issue here is not the bad tweet, it’s the bad song. And oh man, is it ever bad. Follow me if you dare.