The Price of Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Price of Freedom

 

You never know the price of freedom

Until your freedom’s gone

Just when you think it could not come

There are soldiers on your lawn

 

The Guard is in the square

They’ll ask you for your name

The police are everywhere

They want someone to blame

 

They’re rounding up the workforce

To ship them to the border

With a vow to stay the course

In the name of law and order

 

They don’t need to show you cause

Their guns will tell you all

In defiance of the law

You’re up against the wall

 

You wonder how it came to this

How we let it slip away

One day they put you on a list

There is a price to pay

 

Now freedom’s just a memory

Of how it used to be

When we were a democracy

This land of liberty

 

Fighting Fire with Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Fighting Fire

 

Texas started this fight

Will we turn the other cheek?

Knowing well it is not right

The fierce against the meek

 

Let’s be very clear

They are devaluing the vote

They very last thing you will hear

Is the sinking of the boat

 

They want to steal the next election

With their gerrymandering plan

They are spreading this infection

Hoping you won’t understand

 

Our democracy is at stake

If we fail to take a stand

Stop the steal, slam the brakes

Send a message across the land

 

You fight this fire with fire

That’s the only way it works

Our republic’s not for hire

To these power-hungry jerks

 

 

Police State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AUTHORITARIANISM

 

Police State

 

Crime in the district is down

Don’t let the facts get in the way

The Guard is coming to town

It’s law and order day

 

The district is not the first

They’ll be coming back to LA

From there it only gets worse

They’re coming to town to stay

 

There’ll be no more demonstrations

No more protests of any kind

Welcome to the police nation

Want a job? Get in line

 

They’ll have your number and your name

They’ll know exactly what you’re up to

The dirty immigrants are to blame

Put em all in an immigrant zoo

 

Your freedoms and your rights?

Just how much do they mean?

The dimming of the light

Among the worst we’ve ever seen

 

The Final Hour

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

The Final Hour

 

Freedom is no longer free

The brutes have come to power

We have entered our last plea

It is nearing the final hour

 

We thought we could fight the machine

With the weapons that words provide us

The machine doesn’t know what it means

We’re desperate for someone to guide us

 

Justice is no longer just

Decency was devoured

We’ve lost all sense of trust

We’re approaching the final hour

 

We believed the good would prevail

By the strength of our institutions

The four pillars would never fail

We would push for better solutions

 

But freedom is no longer free

And justice belongs to power

We swore that this could never be

We’re nearing the final hour

 

Yet there is time to make amends

There is time to forge another path

Before the road of history bends

Before the despot’s wrath

 

We Will Get By

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

We Will Get By

 

You have to believe we will get by

You have to believe

That democracy will prevail

When all is said …

The autocrats, the dictators, the wannabes,

The hustlers, the con men, the promise

You everything wise guys...

They’re all lies

You have to believe the people

Will see through them

 

The trouble is there are so many of them

They come in all forms and colors

They wear fancy clothes and wry grins

They drive Tesla’s and Cadillac Seville’s

They bring you sparkling gifts

But their gold is pyrite

Their magic is a conjuring spell

Their promise is an empty shell

 

There is only one truth

She is not fancy

She has no bells and whistles

She is not the belle of the ball

But she is steady and persistent

She is the stronger tenfold

And democracy is her friend

And democracy we’ll defend

 

We will get by

 

(re: Grateful Dead’s A Touch of Grey)

 

The Fourth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

 

The Fourth

 

Two and a half centuries ago

We declared our independence

Mad King George felt the blow

And sang a long lament

 

No longer would we serve

A master far away

We took what we deserved

Our Independence Day

 

Our founders were the best

In mind, heart and soul

Old Ben Franklin and the rest

They kept the union whole

 

We thank them to this day

Though their faults are very clear

Their light would shine the way

Through many troubled years

 

This day we remember them

And the nation they envisioned

A circle of enlightened men

Who made a hard decision

 

They created a democracy

The first in the modern age

They defeated an autocracy

And sparked a monarch’s rage

 

Today the kings are figureheads

The queens do not hold sway

We’ve followed where the founders led

It’s Independence Day

 

(Happy Fourth of July!!!)

 

Nullification

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: SUPREME COURT

 

Nullification

 

Never did I think I’d see

A Supreme Court so bold and brash

As to nullify the basic precepts

Of the constitution

 

Birthright citizenship

Is not a controversial issue

It is as basic as free speech

As fundamental as the right to vote

As essential as the fourth estate

 

But this court does not believe

In any of these basic rights

This court has granted citizenship

To private corporations

This court has poisoned the very

Heart of democracy with unlimited

Corporate contributions

 

If you were born in this country

Regardless of your race, religion,

Country of origin, monetary status

Or political philosophy

No contingencies or qualifications

You are a citizen and no amount

Of verbal gymnastics can alter

That inalienable fact

 

Beyond birthright citizenship

We now have a Supreme Court

And a chief executive dedicated to

Destroying the foundations of

Democracy in America

 

All Americans should raise their

Voices as one to cry out in unison:

No!

 

Zohran Mamdani

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Zohran Mamdani

 

The plight of the true progressive

Is that s/he is supposed to lose

Though we may become obsessive

In the end we’ll sing the blues

 

To the people of New York City

His message is heaven sent

He’s as smart as he is witty

He pledges to freeze the rent

 

We are all in this together

We’re the same in basic needs

We’re birds of the same feather

We reject the policies of greed

 

He makes no pledge to the wealthy

In fact he’ll make them pay

But he’ll work to make us healthy

Because there is another way

 

Though the days aren’t always sunny

For the man who lives in Queens

He won’t take their dirty money

But he’ll win by honest means

 

(Democratic Socialist defeats Cuomo

as Dem candidate for NYC mayor.)

 

Immigration Gestapo

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

  

Immigration Gestapo

 

The émigré gestapo is coming

To spread terror in your town

Factory workers start running

Before you’re beaten to the ground

 

They don’t care about your rights

Your rights expired yesterday

They’re more than ready for a fight

Your people do not have a say

 

You are something less than human

So our president has decreed

His gestapo friends are fuming

They would love to see you bleed

 

Towns and cities across the land

Get prepared to be invaded

Unless you want to make a stand

The light of liberty has faded

 

It seems our nation’s gone astray

Our doors and gates are locked

The new gestapo is here to stay

The road to freedom has been blocked

 

Rights on Hold

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Rights on Hold

 

When rights are suspended for others

We sacrifice much of our own

What we do to one another

Must one day be atoned

 

When our rights are placed on hold

When the guarantee is lost

It means our rights can be sold

By any cruel and ruthless boss

 

We have placed our fate in hands

That never should be trusted

It’s too late to understand

When all your friends are busted

 

So you thought it was just the others

The ones with darker skin

Then they came for your brothers

And your rationale grew thin

 

Now you’re running with the rest of us

And you regret those things you did

Now you’re in the back of the bus

With the servants and their kids

 

 

The Insurrection Act

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INSURRECTION

 

The Insurrection Act

 

What despicable irony

That the leading insurrectionist

Should summon the Insurrection Act

To release the military hounds

The few, the proud, the Marines

To fight back their own people

To suppress a lawful assembly

To oppress a peaceful gathering

Within the confines of our nation

 

This is not an insurrection

It’s a plain and simple fact

We have gone the wrong direction

We are on a vicious track

 

We remember insurrection

It was not so long ago

You cried out for insurrection

Then you said it wasn’t so

 

You pardoned all your followers

For breaking down the walls

For pushing through the barriers

For answering your call

 

For provoking mass disorder

For striking fear in all

For following your orders

Put ‘em up against the wall!

 

Now you call the soldiers in

A ruthless show of force

This is where it all begins

Our democracy off course

 

 

Son of Nixon

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

Son of Nixon

 

I am not a crook he said

Yet it ended in disgrace

Take another look he said

My time was out of place

 

Had I the votes today he says

The courts would bow before me

I’d always get my way he says

The senate would restore me

 

I worked with Chairman Mao

I worked with Brezhnev too

If I was president now

I’ll tell you what I’d do

 

I’d take control of everything

All branches at my call

Declare myself the people’s king

My house would never fall

 

As for the curse of Watergate

It would not have come to light

The false news and the deep state

It’s all a pack of lies

Bipartisan Failure

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Bipartisan Failure

 

The Republicans were the party of wealth

A plain and simple story

They played the Christian cards

Abortion, sanctity of marriage

God hates the homosexuals

They took the corporate money

And praised Jesus to the bank

They threw the door wide open

For a populist without conviction

 

The Democrats were the party of pretend

They took the corporate funding and

Pretended to represent the working class

They compromised on healthcare

Allowing insurance companies to

Rob, hustle and con the people

They offered symbols of oppression

Minorities and women

While doing little to improve their lot

They too opened the doors of change

Any change would do

So he grabbed the opportunity and

Walked right through

 

Both parties share the blame

For neglecting the people’s interests

Both choices seemed the same

The MAGA’s a little less

 

Rights of All

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

Rights of All

 

Our rights are not a property

They can’t be bought or sold

I’ll claim them as a part of me

Until the heavens fold

 

Those rights belong to everyone

Who lives on planet earth

Until the setting of the sun

By virtue of their birth

 

The age of freedom will not end

By anyone’s decree

No matter what you may intend

We will not bend the knee

 

Our students have a right to speak

Without intimidation

Rich or poor, strong or weak

In a democratic nation

 

You want us to be silent now

No protests, no resistance

But some things we do not know how

Our freedom is insistent

 

The Honorable Senator

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Honorable Senator

 

The good and honorable senator

From the great state of New Jersey

Stood for hours against our president

And he showed him little mercy

 

Have you no sense of shame, sir?

Have you no dignity or pride?

Your government is lame, sir

Greed and power are your guides

 

I will speak until tomorrow

I will stand up proud and tall

I will speak of people’s sorrow

I will stand until I fall

 

For you, sir, are the enemy

Of all that we hold dear

Our freedom and democracy

You’ve made yourself too clear

 

This may not bring an end to you

But this message you’ll receive

That we are not a friend to you

And we will never be

 

(Cory Booker breaks the record

holding the floor of the Senate for

over 25 hours.)

Following Orders

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP DAZE

 

Following Orders

 

All of you who follow orders

Who only do as you are told

Who walk the edge of evil’s border

Who pretend you haven’t sold your soul

 

If you live with rats you become a rat

If you run with weasels you are a weasel

If you hang with cats you become a cat

If you serve evil you become evil

 

It may take a little while

It may not happen overnight

You’re just keeping the master’s files

Soon you don’t know wrong from right

 

If what you do offends you

Take a look around the bend

If your own people won’t defend you

You are serving evil men

 

But you’re just following orders

Someone else would do the same

It’s the curse of moral disorders

The inability to feel shame

Defiance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

Defiance

 

When they come for you with shackles

Do not go quietly

Defy!

 

When they come for your neighbor

Do not stand by

Defy!

 

When they come for your reporters

Stand up for them

Defy!

 

When they come for your representative

Demand to know why

 

When they fire all the rangers

Refuse to comply

 

When they take away your rights

Raise the rebel cry

 

When they take away your vote

Get angry

Defy!