With the elections right around the corner, it’s worth reminding ourselves that politics is about much more than voting.

Given the public statements he’s made in support of Barack Obama, and his presence at some of the candidate’s fundraisers, Billie Joe has been listed among Obama’s endorsers. And there’s no doubt he supports Obama. But if you read his own words, Billie Joe’s take on politics isn’t about throwing support behind a candidate and then praying and hoping that he or she will somehow fix things, it’s a much broader philosophy that encompasses caring about the world that we, and others acting outside our control, and often against our wishes, have collectively created. And it includes each of us becoming active and inspired to make it a better place.

What Billie Joe said about Obama in June was: “I don’t want it to turn into a cult of personality. He’s not Magic Man. The great thing would be if he could lead by example and inspire people to get their own shit together.”

Getting our own shit together is not about blindly following a leader, but about understanding the broader issues that shape the world and figuring out our own take on them and what we can do. One of my favorite political quotes from Billie Joe — and they don’t come often; he’s pretty cagey about coming out with overt, specific political statements — is this one: “If you’re going to stop terrorism, you don’t attack countries. You keep them from going into poverty and famine and you relieve them of debt. You don’t look at yourself as the greatest country in the world, but the greatest asset to the world. That’s how you build a stronger country here and stronger allies, instead of people that have no respect for Western culture.” In a very succinct and subtle way, he comes right to the point: helping nations instead of attacking them — or saddling them with crushing debt, which is another, quieter type of attack — builds respect and solidarity, and helps all of us become stronger and safer. This is the crisp, lucid analysis of someone who has a tight grasp on the issues, and it’s what makes me wonder when people say Billie Joe doesn’t understand politics.

What he has said time and again is that to him it’s a personal thing. His political views are dictated by his conscience and by the world he would like to see for his kids. In 2000, he said he voted his conscience and pulled the lever for Ralph Nader: “I voted for Nader this time. I was sort of torn between that and the lesser of two evils argument. I don’t know, I got there and I was going to vote for Gore, and as soon as I got inside the booth, I couldn’t do it, so.”

I think this time, Obama may represent more to him than just the lesser of two evils. “After his acceptance speech,” Billie Joe said, “I have to admit, it took me an hour to get the lump out of my throat. Obama inspires people, and this country needs inspiration. People are jaded, pissed off and embarrassed.”

Billie Joe says he got his early political education from punk rock: “I talked to Aaron Cometbus about this once, and he was of the opinion that not only can people work out their aggressions through punk rock, but they can become really educated on top of that. Going to Gilman, and seeing how militant the politics were about racism and sexism, that was the first time I’d thought about some of that stuff.” [This quote and the quote about Nader are from a really great 2001 interview by Larry Livermore.]

The political aspects of punk rock are too big an issue to go into here. They’re always present, in my opinion, but the message can get diluted when it comes to very-popular bands, like Green Day. Fans tend to perceive the music as being about their own personal liberation: doing what you want, not accepting falsehoods or unjust authority in your own life. But the logical extension to that is refusing to accept that anyone else should be put upon or lied to either. Punks have always believed that we’re all in it together. This quote by Marc Bayard from the introduction to the book The Philosophy of Punk sums it up nicely: “With all of the records, books, films, and other punk stuff out there we sometimes forget that our movement is a leap of faith. A belief that life matters, so don’t fuck it up, and if someone else is fucking it up, do something about it. It’s these intangibles that bind punks together who have never met or spoken. It’s these beliefs that are expressed in our music and our culture.”

Whether you share those beliefs or not, look for your inspiration in whatever is meaningful to you, and take action.