When…

I can’t take it anymore… the lies, the open deceit,
Perpetrated against us by our leaders,
By our media outlets,
Propagated and taught in our schools – colleges and universities and I’m left scratching my head,
Wondering at first alone,
And now aloud,
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO WAKE UP???

Believe me,
There is no amount of coffee smelling that will assist
To this solemn reality,
There is a war being waged,
AGAINST YOU,
Against all that our founding fathers held dear,
And up until very recently beyond reproach,
An intergenerational tyranny;
Our form of government,
Our very freedom is under attack,
And not by Al – Qaeda,
Nor the IRA, ETA or the Taliban,
Our own institutions are being used against us,
19% at a time
And with the stroke of a pen you and I have no recourse,
Caffeine hitting you yet?

When are you going to realize that everything that you hold dear,
Is a lie,
Fabricated by men in ivory towers,
The same military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned against,
Save that now it is in control,
War is business,
Business is profit,
Lies…
Constantly,
Free market and democracy,
Have you been paying attention?

What free market?
Where?
Governments around the world,
Shortsighted and filled with green in their eyes,
Deregulated almost every sector of the economy,
And those hawks,
Both military and corporate,
Far and wide,
Took governments to the cleaners,
Wall Street rejoiced,
As governments too blind, too stupid or just plain shorting us all,
Gave way to the almighty dollar,
One credit default swap and foreclosure at a time.

Like Gecko said,
Greed is Good,
And he said so from his Ivory Tower,
And now history,
As always repeats itself,
Because we,
The ones with the real power,
Pay no attention to the real machinations,
That keep us comfortable,
And dumb as mules,
Hi ho hi ho its off to work we go,
And yet we are paid,
In real dollars less than we would have been paid in 1985,
And yet our productivity has gone through the roof, up almost 50%
Making millions, billions and trillions,
For people that don’t need it…
And have no intention of sharing (let alone caring).

So I ask you,
WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO SMELL JUAN VALDEZ,
Participate, while you can,
For soon our choices,
Our freedoms,
Our comfy way of life,
Will be assaulted again,
As if it never stopped…
And believe me, it didn’t,
It’s okay though, change the channel… Isn’t Survivor on?
McLuhan screaming from the grave as he rolls over for the final time.

I ask you,
When is enough enough,
And when will our ideals,
Reach far and wide,
And become reality?

SDM

“What we have here… is a failure… to communicate!”

Caught in a vicious and vitriolic tailspin,
By design stupefying the masses,
Revealing little more than hyperbole and rhetoric,
And enflaming Mr and Mrs. Suburbia,
Both sides, right and left,
Proclaiming from on high,
The moral superiority,
And divine right,
Of manifest destiny.

Tailspin,
Ever more,
Main street caught in the minutiae,
Of legislative wrangling,
Kept in the dark,
Through the lens of polarization,
Tea parties with insular Madhatters,
Like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin,
Inciting more than violent thought,
Leading to shameful rocks thrown,
While the seeds of what is right,
Are destroyed.

As a Canadian,
I am proud,
Of the systems that were put in place,
By men like Tommy and Trudeau,
Designed to create a better society,
Not a utopian one,
Just better,
For we all surely,
Can constantly improve,
On the legacy of those that fought for every man, woman and child,
Regardless of class, religion or race.

As a North American,
I stand ashamed,
And vocally so,
That the polarization of left and right,
Resting on the laurels of their military might,
Wage war in lands so far from their own backyards,
Predicated on lies and deceit,
While their own citizens are dying on the street,
Surely they can do better,
As we did,
Choosing not to leave the weak behind,
For on the symbol of their great land stands tall,
Lady Liberty, proclaiming for all to see:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The tired and poor, ever growing in the land of liberty,
The huddled masses teeming from their shores,
The homeless increase each day,
As subprime and credit default swaps impact,
Lead to TARP,
Wall Street traders and bankers,
Lining their pockets with the misery and demise of Civil Society,
For it is clear… civil society it is not.

As foreclosures continue to exponentially advance,
Those homeowners left without a chance,
Lady Liberty,
Seemingly swallowed by the Colossus,
Of the brazen few,
The 1%,
Who earn more in a minute,
Than most in ten years,
All leading me to ask:

When is it enough?
When will she live up to the promise written on her base?
When will she stop borrowing against the future,
Put an end to this intergenerational tyranny?
When I ask you?
When?

SDM