RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Losing our Democracy
“Once fully enslaved, no nation…
ever afterward resumes its liberty.”
W. Whitman
Losing our democracy is easy
Offer two parties dominated by money
Until ordinary people stop voting
Promise change but don’t deliver
Until people give up the right to vote
Tell people this is the one true moment
The most important election of a lifetime
The live-or-die a horrible death election
And then badger them for contributions
Every moment of every day
Until they no longer even listen
No longer even care
Turn off, tune out, turn away
Then offer a false prophet
A grifter and a con man
Who promises to fix it all
If only you give him the power
Run him against an old-school politician
Who says the same old things
Makes the same old promises
And fails to show at the critical time
The false prophet takes hold of power
And bends it to his will
Elections are for fools
Laws are for suckers
Power breeds power
He will never let go
The whole system is rigged
Unless he gets his way
And if he ever does
If we ever allow him back in
Strike up the band for the final rites
American democracy is dead
Long live autocracy
Democracy is dead
Losing democracy is easy
Building it back is hard
