Bucking the trend when it comes to political music in an era where such things seem wildly lopsided, "Human Action" by Aaron Koenig grins broadly while taking a firm step to the right. It is no ordinary protest song, a reggae-rock-jazz cocktail peeking out from under the glass at you with an understanding smile and a history lesson.
"Human Action" sounds like a sunlit street parade that coincidentally marches against socialism. Again, Koenig is not one to skirt controversy, he rushes headlong into the maw. The lyrics pay homage to Argentine President Javier Milei as well as the towering figures of the Austrian School of Economics, such as Friedrich August von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Murray Rothbard, none of whom are typically referenced outside economics classrooms or in a danceable song.
It's a casual reggae groove that makes you want to smile, an eruption of rock intensity bursts down your front door, before saxophone flares and jazzy acrobatics keep anyone on their toes. The genre-hopping mirrors a refusal to be pigeonholed, Koenig is not about to settle into anyone else's preconceived notions of how his music should sound. This is not an homage to the revolutionary icon, it is a fully costumed satire. It is a sly, winking reversal, taking what would otherwise be a leftist meme and transforming it into the libertarian version of their manifesto. The video drives that point home with even more irony, piling on the essence of the song.
This Grove book beckons what a renewal like "Human Action" by Mises brings to anyone. Even as it targets socialism of all stripes, the song steers free from the dour, all-too-serious tone of so many polemical anthems. Koenig wants you to ponder these, but also wants you to have fun while you're doing so. This is protest music with a smile.