As Election Day Draws Near

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Election Day (Clear Choice)

 

If you believe in a right to choose

The choice is absolutely clear

Down the line your vote is blue

As election day draws near

 

If you believe in a free Ukraine

An untethered Putin you should fear

The truth is absolutely plain

As election day draws near

 

If you want to end the Gaza war

If the genocide draws your tears

There’s only one way to close that door

As election day draws near

 

If you favor our democracy

If the founders you hold dear

If you don’t want an autocracy

The choice is very clear

 

If you believe in labor rights

Your choice is very clear

Who stands beside you in your fight

As election day draws near?

 

If you fear the planet’s warming

As the phony naysayers jeer

If you find the giant storms alarming

Your choice is beyond clear

 

Come November 5: Vote!

 

For the Workers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LABOR

For the Workers

 

Stand up for the working folks

As they fight for a decent wage

The corporations pad their profits

The workers have their rage

 

If the corporates have their way

The workers will have no rights

The only time they have a say

Is when they go on strike

 

The hotel workers walk the line

Their raise is way overdue

To us they’re looking for a sign

A good reason to vote blue

 

In the year of an election

The workers hold the power

Give them what they want and need

A living wage per hour

 

The fight for labor never ends

We know you’re growing tired

But know your enemies and your friends

And which ones we should fire

 

Indentured Servitude

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Indentured Servitude (India)

 

It’s a fine line between slavery

And indentured servitude

For the sugar workers of India

Servitude may be worse

Child labor is commonplace

Arranged marriage and hysterectomy

Keeps the workers in the fields

Where they labor endless hours

Without drink or a moment’s rest

To pay back loans they can never repay

 

The plantation owners get away with it

The same way American corporations do

They use contractors to hire workers

To transport them across the land

To build their debt of servitude

If they are forced to make account

They dissolve and take a new name

The system evolved over decades

To keep the cost of labor down

 

Every doctor or dentist visit

Every wedding or sick day

Goes on the worker’s bill

The long trip from home

The cost of a decent meal

It all goes on the bill

 

It is no better than slavery

It is in substance no different

 

This is how modern corporations

Keep the institution of slavery alive

This is how Coke and Pepsi

Deliver beverages to your market

And maximize profits to shareholders

 

Union Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LABOR

Union Man

 

There are those who talk

And there are those who do

The ones who walk the walk

Are the ones in union blue

 

If you want fair wages

With a sound retirement plan

If you want good health insurance

You will need a helping hand

The time you knew would come is here

You’ve got to make a stand

Tell everyone you know

You are a union man

 

The bosses will tell you anything

That you want to hear

They will promise you a castle

Over a stout pint of beer

But when it comes to doing

They don’t have a plan

You’ll be better off standing

With the union man

 

Cause there are those who talk

And there are those who do

And those who walk the walk

Are wearing union blue