Secret Service Betrayal

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Secret Service Betrayal

 

The people who protect the president today

Are those who betrayed him yesterday

 

To serve and protect is just a slogan

A shallow piece of folklore

The agents sworn to the constitution

Became the president’s whores

 

You might think that’s a little harsh

You might think it’s a little strong

Take account of all the facts *

You will find you’re entirely wrong

 

They declared by their own actions

They are enemies of the state

If we leave security in their hands

We will inherit a bitter fate

 

We should retire every one of them

Let them know what they have done

But they have failed at insurrection

(for now) democracy has won

 

* Secret Service purges all January

6^th Insurrection emails

 

The Hearings

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Hearings

 

They’re having hearings in Washington

About the uprising of January Six

Haven’t we had that already? we said

I recall how it made us sick

So no one is tuning in today

We all think it’s a partisan trick

 

Maybe it sounds a bit absurd

Like the song of a silent bird

Like the weight of a nebulous word

It’s the hearings that nobody heard

 

A witness recalls the horror

She survived by the tip of her tongue

It’s a shame that no is listening

To a song that’s already been sung

We refuse to go back to that day

Regardless of what is at stake

We’ll go on with our mundane lives

Politics?  Give us a break

 

For though it might sound absurd

Like the song of a silent bird

Or the weight of a nebulous word

It’s the hearings that nobody heard

 

Pointing Fingers (January 6)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INSURRECTION

Pointing Fingers

 

Fingers were made to point

(and grab and hold by the neck)

Those who attacked the capitol

Did a whole lot of finger pointing

They pointed at the vice president

Who refused to do Trump’s bidding

They pointed at the cops

For standing in their way

They pointed at all of congress

For upholding their solemn oath

They pointed at the Democrats

For being Democrats

They pointed at Republicans

For not being Trump enough

They pointed at the media

For bending their twisted truths

They pointed at Antifa

For not joining their ranks

They pointed at every human

Within the range of their rage

They pointed at everyone

Except the one who told them

It was their patriotic duty

To march on the capitol

To stop the proceedings

By any and all means

At any and all costs

The one who said

I’ll be there with you

But he wasn’t there

He sat in the White House

Watching it all go down

In vivid color on television

The one who never asked

(or never cared to ask)

What if they do kill

Nancy Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez?

What if they do hang Mike Pence?

The one who sat and watched

And never cared enough

To lift his little finger

 

Broken Union

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Broken Union

 

The union is a bond of principle

An agreement beyond politics

An unspoken understanding that

In times of crisis and catastrophe

Natural disasters and wars

We will come together as one people

United in common purpose

It is a promise to defend each other

At all costs against all enemies

Foreign and domestic

 

The union is beyond words

It towers above written laws

It is more than blood relations

It is the circle of family ties

It carries the weight of love

 

Our founders made an agreement

A sacred promise before the eyes of god

Despite all of their differences

Despite envy and jealousies

Cast in iron and stone

That the union of a new nation

Would never have a king

Would never have an emperor

Would never be ruled by the power of one

 

The union was broken once

Over the abomination of slavery

Tens of thousands spilled their blood

On the grounds of civil war

Lincoln died for our sins

And we vowed never more

 

We are at those crossroads again

And the stakes are equally severe

If we break the union now

With democracy in the balance

We may never get it back again

Not in our lifetime

Not in the lifetimes of our children

 

If we break the union now

Our crimes will be remembered

Until the end of time

 

An Army in Hiding

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

An Army in Hiding

 

The insurgent army of January 6

Did not vanish with the smoke

Did not repent and disband

Did not cease to exist

 

The army of Trump

The army of Q

The army of white supremacy

Went back home to wait and watch

Went back home to recruit their kind

Went back home to gather arms

Went back home to build a movement

Went back home to hide in plain sight

 

The insurgent strike was a warning shot

They we have not taken to heart

Our media monopolies

Our talking heads

Our civil organizations

Our political establishment

Our institutions of law

Our elected leaders

At all levels of government

Have reacted to a violent assault

As if it was a political movement

Like the anti-tax Tea Party

Like the rise of the new progressives

Instead of the militant action it was

 

The army of the insurgency

Did not surrender

They retreated strategically

They withdrew from the battlefield

To fight another day

 

Their army is still intact

Their leaders are still in place

They prepare for the next battle

While our side (the American side)

Issues subpoenas and summons witnesses

 

By the time we awaken

To what must be done

Let us hope there is still a democracy

A United States of America

To defend

 

Beyond Redemption

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE INSURRECTION

 

Beyond Redemption

 

Again and again we are told

Not everyone who stormed the capitol

That fateful infamous day

Was guilty of insurrection

Guilty of racial bigotry

Guilty of violent extremism

Guilty of battering police officers

Guilty of murder in their hearts

Or guilty of murder in the flesh

 

Some were simply exercising

Their constitutional rights

To gather in public protest

To speak their points of view

To make their rightful demands

Some were peaceful

Some were not racist

Some were acting on conviction

Some believed the hype

 

Maybe …

 

Maybe some began that day

On the side of misinformed virtue

But if you were among them

When the racial epithets flew

When officers hit the ground

When the mob screamed for blood

When the gallows was erected

When the cry for vengeance grew

 

If you were there then

To witness what went down

And you did not turn around

Then you are as guilty as any thug

Guilty of crimes beyond forgiveness

Guilty beyond redemption

 

The Trial (Inciting an Insurrection)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Trial

 

We have been here before

An open and shut case

The man is guilty as hell

As plain as the nose on your face

 

Never before in history

Has a president been so brazen

To attack the heart of government

Is as warped as it is craven

 

Months in the planning

There can be no doubt

The mob was primed to kill

To force Joe Biden out

 

Do not think lightly

Of what happened January 6

It was a plotted insurrection

Not some cheap political trick

 

If you think it’s all over

That it can’t occur again

The militias are still out there

And they believe they can win

 

History Aforethought

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

History Aforethought

 

If you could see these events

Through the telescope of time

A century removed from now

When the passion has long subsided

When the partisan divide is tempered

When we’ve healed the great divide

Would we see things differently

Would we alter our actions

Would we take another look

 

If we could read history’s verdict

Would we see the great betrayal

With new and open eyes

 

If we could hear history’s decree

Would it alter our perspective

If Benedict Arnold knew he would

Live in eternal infamy

If Jefferson knew he would not be

Forgiven his crimes and misdeeds

If Sirhan and Oswald knew

They were being played for fools

If the Germans knew how it ended

If the South knew would they defend it

Would they sacrifice all dignity and pride

If they knew they were on the losing side

 

Would things be different today

Or would we just continue on

This march of shame

 

Military Lockdown

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Military Lockdown

 

While much of the nation is under siege

At the mercy of a runaway virus

Staying in taking refuge staying away

The nation’s capital is in lockdown

Armed soldiers on every corner

Barricades and razor wire surrounding

The institutions of government

 

The least represented city in America

Transformed into a fortress from without

Or a prison from within

 

The question now goes out to every

Soldier every cop and every citizen:

Which side are you on?

 

Will you honor our democracy?

Will you stand by the law?

When it really matters is your

Patriotism made of straw?

 

There were many reasons to go along

Many reasons to turn away

Many reasons to pretend it’s okay

Now there are no more reasons

You cannot condone treason

Without being a traitor

 

Five persons have given their lives

Five families are in mourning

How many more before you understand

The depth of this depravity?

 

 

Tyranny & Rebellion

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Tyranny & Rebellion

 

In the wake of a failed insurrection

We must take full account

A coalition of madmen with guns

And the mindless rabble

Assaulted the nation’s capital

And were allowed to breach

They carried the usual slogans

Of reactionary unrest

Confederate and American flags

Don’t tread on me!

Nazi symbolism

Tokens of white supremacy

 

They claimed the right to Freedom!

But their actions spoke of fear

They were afraid of losing hold

They were afraid of losing power

Afraid of losing their weaponry

Afraid of being knocked down

The rungs of wealth and privilege

And they wanted all of us

To feel that same fear

 

In that they succeeded

We were afraid

We are afraid

As well we should be

 

They got one thing right

And everything wrong

They have a right to rebel

Against the chains of tyranny

But they failed to recognize

That the tyrant holding the chains

Was their own

 

Empowering the Beast

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

Empowering the Beast

 

They all bowed down

When he handed out favors

From the mindless rabble

To our elected leaders

 

The blind followed the blind

The faithful followed the faithless

A self-sustaining movement

Among sheep it was contagious

 

They lauded him with praise

Regaled him with promises

Lifted up his word and image

Empowered him with rage

 

He caged children and they cheered him

Built a wall and they revered him

When he praised a despot they looked away

He pardoned thugs and criminals

Shook down foreign heads of state

Surrendered to a deadly plague

They shrugged with nothing to say

 

He incited a mob attack

To demonstrated his strength

Break down the walls of congress

Break through their iron gates

 

He filled their hearts with terror

They cowered and peeled away

Incredulous and dumb

They disown the monster they created

The beast they prodded on

 

Father forgive us they plead

We know not what we’ve done

We empowered this brutal tyrant

We thought he was the chosen one

 

The Autocrat Insurrection

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Autocrat Insurrection

 

Never in the history of the world

Have the people rose up

In support of autocracy

 

Never have ordinary people

Offered up their lives

To empower dictatorship

 

But here they gather

On the steps of the capitol building

In the halls of congress

In the offices of elected leaders

On the throne of the senate

At the desks of the people’s house

Dismantling our democracy

Brick by brick

 

Shame and infamy

That so many people

Could be so fooled

By one maniacal man

 

(autocracy = one man rule)

 

The Breach (Storming of the Bastille)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Breach

 

As the founders gathered in Philadelphia

To reconstitute the nation

The people of Paris stormed the Bastille

An armory a fortress and a prison

Where dissidents were locked away

Where the power of the crown

To oppress the will of the people

Was enshrined in iron and stone

 

The storming of the Bastille

Christened the French Revolution

An upheaval that ushered in

The Reign of Terror

A purge of the aristocracy

Of priests and privilege

Retribution by guillotine

 

This is not the storming of the Bastille

Though it carries bloody consequence

This is the rabble of a lawless leader

Incited to violent uprising

This is the result of electing an autocrat

A ruthless vicious wannabe king

Who can never accept failure

This is a shameful display of the people

Attacking their own institutions

Of self government

 

This is not the storming of the Bastille

It is a breach of the republic

And the disgrace of a nation