RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Curse of the Founders
The founders had a clever idea
Embrace the concept of democracy
But toss the reality aside
Let the white and wealthy decide
The executive branch will abide
The electoral college
Let slaves be accorded three fifths
Of a human belonging to their masters
Let women and the poor go wanting
Let white men of property decide
The White House and the Senate will abide
Disproportionate representation
A few raised objections to no avail
They let the ship of equity sail
The country would be split in war
They could not accomplish any more
The head of state would be elite
A new convention would someday meet
To settle all the problems
Like the filibuster
The founders have been praised
With wonder we have all been raised
For all they thought and did so well
They secured our rights and cast a spell
But for all that they left a curse
And one that could hardly be worse
Slavery disenfranchisement
Corporate aristocracy
Not all the founders floundered
Some embraced the age of reason
Some risked the cry of treason
Some kept their ideology in sight
They knew the people would have to fight
To gain their civil and human rights
They did the best they could
The rest is up to us
