Posted January 19, 2012
March of Folly
We talk of taking back our Country.
But you can’t take back
what was never really yours.
And of working to fix the system.
But what is left worth fixing?
We lay claim to freedom and equality,
government by and for the people,
fodder of war,
commodities of industry,
for the privileged class
to plunder and squander
for profit and amusement.
Pathetic delusions of democracy
where the will of the many
lay trampled beneath the
unbridled power of the few.
Can you understand now
why the powerless,
the oppressed,
and disenfranchised people
strap explosives to their bodies
and seek release and redemption
in martyrdom and bloody slaughter?
Or maybe you believe,
they ought to follow our example,
the path of moral responsibility,
that violence is never the answer,
that patience is a virtue
and right the only weapon
against gun, and tank, and drone.
Or maybe you believe
they ought follow our example,
the path of civic responsibility.
First to avail themselves
of courts and legislatures,
and then, when all else fails
take to the streets
in quiet protest and dissent,
under the watchful eye of the military,
the police, or Homeland Security thugs,
tear gas and cannon at the ready,
to parade politely and nonviolently,
through the capitals of power,
appealing to corrupted consciences
with signs of witty sayings,
chanting hackneyed slogans
from the barbed wire confines of free speech pens,
pigs fattened with moral hubris
compliantly herded for the slaughter
acquiescing to principled sacrifice
while pretending to make a difference.
