by Brian Garvey
Leaders of the Free World,
Policy Makers, Political Players
Stackers of Cash, Bundlers of Donations;
Plodding, triangulating, setting norms,
Party of the Big Tent:
They tell me you are ineffective and I believe them, for I have seen your broken promises and platform planks tossed aside.
They tell me you are corrupt and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the donor class buy you election after election
They tell me you are indifferent and my reply is: I have seen the men, women, and children who no longer have faces.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this party, and I sneer back at them and say:
Come and show me another party with perfect poise speech, so proud to be in office, joyful and polished.
Flinging accusations amid a toil of mainstream media hits, here is a smooth operator set vivid against the grand old party;
Fierce as Senate hearing out for blood, cunning as a K-Street lobbyist striding down the halls of Rayburn,
Suited
Tied,
Redacting,
Compromising, redrafting,
Dissembling
Under the Dome, hair slicked, lying with coffee-stained teeth,
Carrying the burden of a nation which sees further and stands taller
Lying as a first term elected lies,
Lying even as an ignorant voter lies who has never run a race,
Promising and lying that under its platform is a foundation, and under its rhetoric are the interests of the people,
Lying!
Lying the plodding, triangulating, norm-setting lies of Washington, suited, tied, proud to be Leader, Policy Maker, Stacker of Cash, Setter of Norms and Bundler of Donations.
—
This poem is an adaptation of “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg.
The lying of politicians may be suffocating, creating storms we strain to see through, but we must continue the struggle. We must see past their imperfect vision of a future in order to create one…for everyone.