Remember Kent State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Remember Kent State

 

Back in the year 1970

Most of you don’t remember

The National Guard in the state of Ohio

Shot four students dead

They were not violent

They were not breaking the law

They were shot dead for being there

Shot dead for caring

Caring about the war in Vietnam

 

We knew they hated us

We didn’t know they’d kill us

After Kent State we knew

We’d never forget the bloodstained path

The tears of innocence

The end of an era of hope

 

More than any other event of the decade

Kent State divided the nation

Kent State burned itself into our psyche

It spawned a generation of distrust

A distrust of government and authority

Passed down the years to today

 

If you love this nation

If you love its principles and ideals

If you want America to endure

Then remember Kent State

Remember Jackson State

Remember the age of protest

Remember the disenchantment

And make sure it never happens again

The Nixon Rule

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

The Nixon Rule

 

“When the president does it, that means

it is not illegal.” Richard Nixon

 

Are we prepared for what follows?

 

If the president is granted blanket immunity

for official acts even beyond his term as

president, what is to stop the next president

from purging the body politic of enemies and

adversaries alike?

 

If the next president is the man of Mar-a-Lago,

the purge will be immediate and revenge

will be ruthless.

 

The Department of Justice will be the president’s

personal hit squad, formulating a hit list and

taking all who oppose him out by all means

necessary, legal and illegal.

 

The Proud Boys could be deputized to the

dirty work of punishing demonstrators and

standing guard over voting precincts.

 

Truth Social could be declared the official

state media and all other media could be

sued out of existence by draconian bans on

slandering our dear leader.

 

There is no end to the damage our dear

leader could do to our democracy.

 

It is easy to lose democracy.

It is hard to get it back. 

 

Foundations of Law

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Foundations of Law

 

Justice is the foundation of law

If it is not the law becomes tyranny

Or rather an instrument of tyranny

Belonging to a tyrant

 

When the Supreme Court entertains

the notion of assassination for political

purpose as legal and beyond reproach

we are in grave danger

 

The attorneys for the United States are

too modest in their questioning

They should ask: if the president believes

in his heart and soul that certain justices

of the Supreme Court pose an imminent and

existential threat to American democracy

and the rule of law, could he order their

assassination as an official act without fear

of legal recourse?

 

Case closed. 

 

The Unbiased

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

 

The Unbiased

 

Are you now or have you ever been

a member of the MAGA army?

Are you now or have you ever been

a Joe Biden sympathizer?

 

If there is anyone in this nation

who has not made up their mind

about the two gentlemen representing

their respective parties in the coming

presidential election who are they?

Where have they been for the last

half century and beyond?

 

Have you ever watched a television show?

Have you ever read a newspaper?

Have you ever voted in an election?

Have you ever considered voting?

Have you every pledged allegiance

to the flag of the United States of America?

Have you ever considered what that means?

Do you believe in the rule of law?

Do you believe in democracy?

Do you know what that is?

 

If there is anyone in this fair land

who can answer no to all these questions

their lack of bias speaks of ignorance

or an astounding level of disinterest

 

In either case they should not sit

in judgment on anyone in any case

whatsoever

(Note: Jury selection for Trump's NY trial begins.)

The Irony

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Irony

 

A change in the Oval Office promises

To bring a purge of the government

A purge of the FBI

A purge of the people’s house

A purge of the electorate

A purge of American citizenship

Just like the Red Scare of the fifties

 

The irony is:

This time the Reds will be doing the purge

This time the litmus test requires

An alliance to the Beast of the East

A betrayal of NATO

The abandonment of Ukraine

 

They call it America first

But it is Russia calling the shots

They call national patriotism

But it is loyalty to an adversary

They call it the voice of the people

But the people fall silent

In shock and awe

 

What have we done?

How can we make amends?

 

It is far easier to lose a democracy

Than it is to gain it back

 

The Great Disturbance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICA

The Great Disturbance

 

There is a great disturbance across the land

One side believes one man is our salvation

The other believes with all their hearts

That man will destroy the nation

 

Is there any chance we can come together

When our convictions are so apart?

It’s as if we were raised in different lands

One of the mind and one of the heart

 

We feel the heat and call it cold

Some say summer, others spring

We are divided young and old

We don’t agree on anything

 

Yet we were raised on common ground

We must find that ground again

The nation that our fathers found

Is blowing in the wind

 

Let’s find a way to understand

To bridge the great divide

Let freedom ring across the land

No matter what your side

 

Voting Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Voting Rights

 

When the Court gutted Voting Rights

Back in twenty and thirteen

It was no longer necessary

Said the Chief of the Supremes

Eleven years later we look at the divide

It is plenty clear to see

The Chief Justice lied

 

When you make it hard to vote

For voters with dark skin

You make it even harder

For their candidates to win

 

Alabama, Georgia, Texas

Mississippi, Tennessee

They’ve all embraced the principle

Of racial gerrymandering

 

If that was not enough

To push down turnout in the cities

They made them wait for hours

While they shrugged: Ain’t it a pity?

 

So they got what they wanted

They tipped the balance to their side

It should not come as a surprise

The Court of all courts lied

 

The Last Election

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Last Election

 

Who will you vote for in the last election?

Will you sit this one out?

Are you burdened with doubt?

Are you baffled by a hard selection?

Will you sit and drink a stout?

Don’t you know what it’s about?

Need some time for an inspection?

Listen to the rant and shout

 

Take a while to contemplate

The dire implications

The end of our independent state

The birth of a new nation

Conceived as an autocracy

The death of our democracy

There can be no salvation

 

Get up now and find your voice

Every woman and every man

Vote while you still have a choice

Rise up while you still can

Worse than Buchanan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Worse than Buchanan

 

Worse than Buchanan

Worse than Franklin Pierce

His defenders were none

His opposition remained fierce

 

Buchanan, Pierce and Fillmore

Paved the road to Civil War

As colossal failures to the union

You could hardly ask for more

 

Historians know the value

Of a president’s true worth

They chose our number 45

As the nation’s very worst

 

He betrayed our democracy

He failed to build his wall

He divided all Americans

As he fulfilled treason’s call

 

His followers stand by him

Despite his fatal flaws

His ego and his ignorance

His defiance of the law

 

No one could be worse than him

He’s as bad as it gets

Will the nation have him back again?

Who knows? Place your bets

 

Dissatisfied and Angry

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Dissatisfied and Angry

 

If you ask them how they are

And how they expect to be

They’ll tell you that they’re fine

But they’re dissatisfied and angry

 

It doesn’t matter how they feel

It doesn’t matter what they think

The last election was a steal

They don’t like the color pink

 

Joe Biden is just too old

Their man is older too

But their old man is angrier

And angrier will do

 

Don’t tell them they are wrong

Don’t tell them they are fools

They’ll just sing a country song

And they never liked the schools

 

They’re dissatisfied and angry

Like almost all their friends

This time if there’s enough of them

Our democracy may end

 

Neo Nazis in Nashville

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Neo Nazis in Nashville

 

Nashville is a city of music

A city of diversity

A city that embraces art and artists

A city that opens her arms to

To troubadours and vagabonds

Who want a better life

A city that welcomes the dreamers

And the dream

 

The city of music must hang

Her head in shame

As neo-Nazi white supremacists

Boldly march her streets

With chants of blatant bigotry

With chants of racial prejudice

Jews will not replace us!

Make America white again!

 

Will the city leaders find the courage

To denounce them one and all

Will the public office holders condemn

Them in bold and certain terms

Or will the nation’s patriots be

Forced to take reciprocal action

Boycott Nashville!

Boycott the city of music

Until she recognizes the truth and

Value of her diversity

The Great Redeemer

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Redeemer

 

He was a man of sin

Greed, gluttony and lust

He’d do anything to win

A man you could not trust

 

He was reborn overnight

No one knows how or why

He saw a brilliant light

He could never tell a lie

 

Now he faces persecution

He is a martyr to the cause

He represents divine solution

In defiance of all laws

 

He is the great redeemer

He was chosen for this fight

Just look at his demeanor

He is sure to make it right

 

A higher source is calling

Do not get in the way

His enemies are falling

The dawn is here to stay

 

Overcome (for MLK)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Overcome 

 

The sickness and the sorrow

Invades my soul this day

Of all the things I know

No one reveals the way

I don’t know where I’m going

I don’t know where I’m from

And yet I still believe

We shall overcome

 

I walked a lonely mile

With Bobby and the King

I marched into the setting sun

When he sang Let Freedom Ring!

There’s nothing left of them

But the instrument I strum

And yet I still have faith

We shall overcome

 

We overcame the monarch

We overcame the Klan

We overcame the royalists

Who fought the Rights of Man

I hear the soldiers crying out

The pounding of the drums

We will not turn and run this day

We shall overcome

 

I bathed in sacred waters

I reached a distant shore

When hunger stood before me

I knocked upon the door

She said I have no whiskey

But I’ve got a little rum

I shed a tear of joy and said

We shall overcome