image from pinterest.com
Arbeit Macht Frei
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it,
and eventually they will believe it.”
--Adolf Hitler
Our Emporer has no decency,
no conscience,
no compassion,
no discernible intellect,
no fidelity to the promises he made,
no loyalty to those who enabled,
who elected and adored him,
no need to comprehend his own
job description, with
no need to tell the truth, or respect
it, or heed it.
We, the people, are privileged to be Americans,
free to witness our Republic being raped,
and forced to wear the rags of an Oligarchy,
at liberty to march in the streets, to inhale
tear gas, and to be hosts for rubber bullets,
to preach on street corners,
to write defiant poetry of dissent,
and most importantly of all--
to vote in national elections,
even though voter suppression, gerrymandering,
fraud, extortion, and collusion
can reduce the full effect of our vote
to the stature of a popcorn fart.
It is hard for me to fathom
that in most other countries
things can be much worse;
where an offhand comment,
or a political cartoon, or an editorial
can constitute a death sentence.
Here, driving or walking while black,
brown, red, or yellow can garner
the same result.
Growing up in the upper/lower class,
being a blue collar firebrand, I have
always felt that the Privileged Class
were the super rich, the top 1%
that control 90% of the world’s wealth.
In 74 years I have not encountered
anything to change my perspective.
As a progressive clenched fist,
I must admit to flop-sweat nightmares
about jackbooted, bullet-proofed, SWAT
masked faces bursting into my home
at 3am, putting me in handcuffs
before sending me off to join my brethren
in Gulags, or death camps, or maybe
just a Black Ops Detention Center
where I will be reprogrammed
and re-educated, to serve out
my political penance before
I achieve Automaton status.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
13 comments:
I appreciate every single thing you say here. We are living in messed up times and there is no telling what next, especially for the non-Magas.
The lies just keep getting bigger and bolder. Hard to tell where things are nowadays. Still we have our freedom to write and say these things Glenn, where in other countries we would have ended up in jail, in death camps or solitary confinement. Well, there are many candidates running now, so I hope you choose a better Emperor this time around.
I have lived such a sheltered life, I feel. Recently, having encountered many Trump supporters, it has blown me away to hear how outspoken racism is - how privilege struts its stuff, empowered by the man at the top.
"Here, driving or walking while black,
brown, red, or yellow can garner
the same result."
I don't think we want to compare our streets with Syrian, Angolan, Sudanese, Yemenese or many others, but I get your point.
I am amazed that this guy got in too, but I think the other side is ignoring the needs of many and living very comfortable privilege when pretending to be for the common person. So for many Trump voters it was a vote of "ENOUGH!"
Get a better answer, stop the naive people who are trying to replace him, stop the wealthy who are pretending to be caring.
Arggghhh. I guess I am playing a clenched fist non-Democrat, non-Republican.
Ditto to Sabio's comment! And as for the Oligarchy, I think it's the judicial branch in this country that is running amuck. I'm tired of people ranting about Trump but at least you get us thinking :)
Glenn, you talk about the American privilege so well. I admire it so much that you all can criticize and lay bare the truths of your leader in such an articulate and no-holds-barred manner. There are many systematic problems and issues in your country but this freedom to share your opinion is such a privilege, which I don't know if many even understand and acknowledge.
My country which is supposed to be the largest democracy in the world is killing dissent every single day, on the other hand. Journalists and rationalists are getting killed and activists and academicians are being put into prison under a draconian National Securities Act. In other ways, there are social media mobs who harrass anyone talking against the current dispensation. I would prefer Trump over Narendra Modi any day, for your President couldn't silence the institutions and the voice of the people at least.
The title and quotation say it all, Glenn. Every despot in history has built their empire on lies and still history repeats itself. Let’s hope we can continue to write truthful and defiant poetry without the oppression experienced in other times and other places.
I love how you bridged this into a coming dystopia... I hope you're wrong but there is a risk to everything when reality is a reality-show. Trump is not an anomaly actually, he is just honest enough to tell us that he doesn't care about his duties.
I agree with your views, Glenn, but greatly fear your anger and discontent will result in some sort of health problem. My homespun philosophy is that if one dwells on doom one opens the door for it to come in. You speak for most of us, Glenn. Now, take some time to enjoy the sunshine!
hate needs the mass to ignite its power, i have seen how a group of fanatics can sway good judgement, your life experience is so rich, much you can teach from sharing
It's Truly
Sad when
It Becomes
A Privilege to
Discern
Love
From Hate..
When We
Don't We
All Fall/Fail...
I embrace what you say Glenn, and share your concerns. We have a moron driving the bus and we are all the bozos on it who let him keep steering. And now with Putin threatening to aim his missiles at us, we are heading back to a nuclear stand-off - and we have Howdy Doody with the launch codes. Holy fucking shit Batman!
"reduce the full effect of our vote
to the stature of a popcorn fart."
This is just an amazing string of words that slap you in the face with the fear of the reality. We live in Massachusetts and the sad thing is, our state is so Democratic (hurrah) that my individual presidential vote really doesn't have the same effect it would, for example, if I lived in Maine or New Hampshire....or as I did before 1997, Iowa. But...a vote it is.
The lies keep rolling....surely we will wake up in 2020 (we, meaning the country, electoral college etc)?
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