The Slow Death of a Great Country

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." Robert M. Hutchins (Great Books 1954)

THE SLOW DEATH OF A GREAT COUNTRY

A stab wound that will bleed out slowly

Our freedom staining the American shores

Infection boiling in ugly old scars

Where posers picked and picked at our sores

A gut shot that will kill us slowly

As laws and regulations drain our faces pale

Stabbed by the sharpest of pure oppression

An economy set up to fail

Choked by apathy snd indifference

Death to those who hang fast to pride

Of the values that made us love our country

My tears fell as our liberty gasped then died

Starved from taxes snd abundant welfare

Too many too idle some too greedy

Industry fleeing to lands of bigger profit

Leaving hoards of unemployed and needy

Socialism stands grinning over the corpse

A victim of lost respect and wasted ingenuity

A faded flag drapes the coffin

Of a once great country of opportunity

Simple Rights

"When any government, or any church for the matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, this you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives." Robert A. Heinlein

Free to see

Where thou may look

Free to read

Your chosen book

Never forbidden

The right to know

When to come

Where to go

At liberty to pursue

Our quest to wealth

And choose the doctors

For our own health

Allowed to live

In dwellings we own

And have no fear

Of killer drones

Be reasonably taxed

Pay our own way

Serve our country

Earn our pay

Be the people

Who elect the best

Who delegate our wishes

Be never oppressed

A HARSH LAST RESORT

Voltaire had a novel idea.
.."The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination."

A HARSH LAST RESORT

In the slightest of tyranny

That rears its ugly head

A reality check for tyrants

Is to see the bastard dead

Sometimes when vicious rulers

Aim to take our liberty

It takes a shot in the dark

To reject a monarchy

Social Justice?

"Only those who are ideologically opposed to military programs think of the defense budget as the first and best place to get resources for social welfare needs." Herman Kahn

SOCIAL JUSTICE?

For nothing that he understands

For the whim of ideological political plans

To flex the muscles of an impotent leader

Our soldiers become his brother's keeper

They break him of his own free will

Brutal bootcamps test them still

He bows to the ideals he has never known

Yet he is barely grown

He leaves his wife to go far away

Facing bullets and bombs for countless days

His children are born without their dad

For foreign causes that drive him mad

Many women have left their homes

On endless sands, with guns they roam

Family life is put on hold

For the military, their lives controlled

Some will make it back to see

Social leveling has attacked the free

The ne'r do wells have come to score

The benefits they weren't  working for

The military will take a hit

To pay for this social justice shit

Is this the way we repay our vets?

We've sunk as low as as low can get

Democracy

"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect and all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried from time to time." Winston Churchill

DEMOCRACY

No, Democracy is not perfect

Needy people can be swayed

Workers can be burdened

While the lazy are overpaid

Transformations are promised

When times seem a bit too hard

Leaders with agendas

Stack the deck with cheating cards

Freedom can be trying

For the patriots who see

The elected ones are out to steal

Their precious liberty

Democracy can open doors

For the bad as well as good

Apathy is the enemy

And laws misunderstood

But in all the global governments

Though democracy has its flaws

It is still the best for anyone

Who will stand up for their cause

THE POWER OF DECEIT

"Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people." Jean de la Fontaine

THE POWER OF DECEIT

Be him prince or pauper

One we cannot truly trust

If he's a deceitful, smiling imposter

In chaos he will thrust us

Only with truth can a leader stand proud

One with virtue should we choose

With a liar given clout

He surely will abuse it

One who lies to take the reins

Uses deceit to get the keys

Will hold his people in disdain

And rule as he will please

She Wasn't There

There she sat in her wheel chair

Others just like her everywhere

I kissed her forehead and stroked her hair

She smiled at me, but she wasn't there

She was off on a journey to the past

Reinventing memories she gleefully expressed

She ignored the questions I had asked

Answers were her impossible task

Her blue eyes danced but were far away

She was a character in her self-starring play

Tears stung my face when I walked away

No, she wasn't there again today

Lies vs Truth

"Lies are easily disguised because they represent what is not real. They can be morphed into anything that attracts people looking for any snippet of hope.

And truth? It is what it is."

Marian Beatty 2/23/14

When the Fat Cats Hoard the Profits

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help"

WHEN THE FAT CATS HOARD THE PROFITS

The engines are getting rusty

They haven't been oiled in years

The fat cats in the front office

Are drinking imported beers

The workers implore the unions

For raises and benefits

But the profit margin is shrinking

As unsold commodities sit

The government comes a calling

With expensive bandaids in their box

To keep the company from closing

Gates chained with scores of locks

But the machinery keeps on failing

With no investment in anything new

The fat cats keep on skimming

More money than they are due

The government dollars are raining

Cash of temporary reprieve

But the machinery is still obsolete

And rich fat cats begin to leave

The factories sit idle

The quiet pierces the air

The workers now unemployed

Seek for work most anywhere

The great industrial city

Becomes barren and in ruin

The government dollars enriched the fat cats

Who knew what they were doing

Their companies move abroad to flourish

Cheap labor is the draw

Offshore bank accounts are bursting

American cash from wall to wall

Now the government is poorer

For the bailouts that they provide

American industry becomes a dinosaur

Could they have succeeded if they had tried?

When the fat cats hoard the profits

And the assets begin to rust

The government "helps" the fat cats

So is it who? we dare to trust?

The Scary Truth

"It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for truth, in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to truth is one of hostility and fear." Anthony de Mello

THE SCARY TRUTH

One would think, and it should be

The truth in all will set us free

But it compromises our comfort when

Deception is easier to comprehend

We fear the truth when it screams for change

Our familiarity become estranged

Deception and lies some hope it brings

And truth may lead to scary things

As Our Rainbow Fades

"The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy." Woodrow Wilson

Our government isn't even close to what was envisioned by our forefathers. The leadership was to be the lead horse ridden by We the People. We are supposed to guide the horse with the ones that follow in the direction we see is best for our country.

But...We the People had decided to put the lead horse into the control of someone with their own destination in mind. We the People are enjoying the scenery on our ride upon one of the horses that follows, not paying attention to where we are being led.

As long as we receive free rations along the way and can see the top of the mountain we are climbing, we will refuse to take heed that the trail now traveled is too rough and narrow for We the People to complete a successful journey.

And while we sleep the leader will wake his minions and steal away into the night, taking our horses with them. We will be left behind in a ghost of a town ruined by the leader and his outlaws. The land will be overgrazed and barren and our meager survival will be the entitlements that come in on the stagecoach sent by the leader who absconded with our liberty.

AS OUR RAINBOW FADES

As long as we can see the rainbow

And believe in the pot of gold

We won't be vulnerable to the innuendo

And the lies the leader told

We see the rainbow as a beacon

And that we are still achievers

But we've been stifled by acts of treason

By the likes of the deceivers

While most are limited to poverty

And our middle class  barely makes do

We have given up on prosperity

And to our rights we bid adeau

Now we watch the rainbow fading

The storm clouds wash away our dreams

Patriot hearts continue aching

While our hope goes down in flames

Had we recognized the shifty salesman

And refused to let him in

We would have stood as elder statesmen

And not be mourning where we've been

Open Up the Package

Socrates..."The greatest way to live with honor is to be what we pretend to be."

OPEN UP THE PACKAGE

Do we use our make-up to disguise who we are?

Are we really the people in that luxury car?

Does the suit we wear

And the color of our hair?

Prove we live in the world of avatars?

If our clothes are tattered and torn

And our expression is that of forlorn

The slogan in red

On our t-shirt, it said

"It's not me" in the wrap we're adorned

Is it to be who we are how we look?

So often our character is no open book

Are the good in shirt and ties?

Is it the rags we all despise?

Is our packaging just bait on a hook?

Open up the package and see

Who's inside in all reality

The depth of the soul

Doesn't glitter like gold

Draped in elegance or heaped in debris

THE OBAMA LEGACY

"The true hypocrite is one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity." Andre Gide

THE OBAMA LEGACY

It all started with "honest" deception

In his quest to win his election

We the People applauded his tenacity

His commitment and youthful veracity

History was about to be realized

In this nation so hopeful to equalize

The first black man, Commander-in-chief

A pinnacle our country has reached

Campaign promises proved to be lies

Growing in substance and size

Manipulation began to be normal

He wore his deception as formal

His agendas were based on far left

Our liberty a victim of theft

Executive orders were no more than a heist

Voters begin to think twice

Does he believe all the lies he has told

His explanations are always two fold

Speaking from so many faces

Detracters were said to be racist

Wage earners are now left in the cold

In the midst of the promises and lies that he told

Taming his base and reining in others

Through entitlements heaped on our sisters and brothers

And so goes with the lies that he tells

Even as we speak his arrogance swells

We were betrayed by his utter hypocrisy

And lured by his skill of dishonesty

Who needs the congress and judges

In this land of the left's social justice?

As we ponder our choice of an administration of lies

Wouldn't you think we would ask ourselves why?

Bad Seeds

"If we were all judged by our thoughts, the hills would be swarming with outlaws." Sigurjonsson

BAD SEEDS

Smiles on our faces

Goodness so evasive

A smidgen of hate hibernates in everyone's soul

Pushing and shoving in search for the gold

Slapping the back of a friend

Encouraging helpful hands to lend

But jealousy steams in the pit of your gut

Tension too thick to be cut

Bad seeds are planted by greed

Wanting what we really won't need

In an instant our best goes afoul

Replacing our smile with a scowl

There are instances invading our thought

Adverse to the goodness we're taught

If everyone acted upon something festering in our craws

The hills would be swarming with outlaws

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

"If we can not live so as to be happy, let us at least live to deserve it." von Fichte

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

Painted sunsets over an ocean

Peaceful waves lapping at the shore

Pursuing a dream with a flickering lantern

It is not so easy as it seemed before

Steps forward taken in honest anticipation

Working hard for an ultimate reward

Striving for an elusive gratification

But held under by life's building hoard

Viewing a mountain's majesty

Yet knowing it is so hard to climb

Trying to be righteous amid worldly travesty

Trying hard to remember peace comes with time

Yea though I walk toward the vision in my mind

Brought to me with each beat of my heart

Hoping someday to leave all the trying behind

And find my earned bliss before my next journey starts

Dan

Dan

A pleasant man he was

It was never obvious to everyone the pain in his heart

Another victim of Vietnam

And an early life that dealt him crummy cards

He did his best, I know

Because so many loved him so dearly

I'll say a prayer or two as a calling card

To announce to Heaven someone special is on his way, way too early

Marian Beatty for Dan S.

Sempre Fi

Social Engineering

"The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases." Carl Jung

SOCIAL ENGINEERING

All for one and one for all, they say

But in reality life just doesn't roll that way

People are individuals in nearly every aspect

And for this, their differences deserve our respect

Don't give me a government bent on control

With social engineering to put us all in a square hole

Some if us thrive on our will to achieve

It's not fair to punish achievers, I believe

We are all not here to play on that level field

Some of us are mentors, while some prefer to yield

This government wants us all at the lowest level

This government is working for the devil

Let Me Walk Into Heaven With a Smile

LET ME WALK INTO HEAVEN WITH A SMILE

I remember the friend who blessed me

He never would depress me

I smile to myself rather than cry

He said "don't dare to shed a tear because I die!"

As I come upon times to remember

When he left me one December

It was easy not to weep

His smile he left behind for me to keep

"Weep not at the graveside"  he said

"Toast my journey and grin instead"

"Take as a beautiful memory my glee"

"For the time you spent with me"

"Cry only to cleanse your soul,

"Then let tears of joy flow"

"So my path to eternity goes easier mile for mile"

"Let me walk into Heaven with a SMILE"

Smile

Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From the divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization." Victor Hugo

SMILE

Many, many tears are wept

Pieces of broken hearts are swept

Away away away a soul can fall to his personal pain

How many spend their lives with regrets

Of a point of their life that they can't forget

Forever walking under a back cloud of chilly rain?

There comes a day to realize

Constant sadness cannot symbolize

The one and only mortal life that we will live

A smile will be the light, one day

That chases the depressing darkness away

And laughter proves the frowns as punitive

Smile, smile, and smile again

Let happiness come bursting in

Those you grieved will then finally rest in peace

The memories of the loved ones gone

Should be pleasant ones once they've moved on

Because the goodness that you knew with them will never cease

Believe or Not

Awesome analysis.

"You can recognize the people with true faith when you can see a more confident stride as he exits church or rises from a prayer." Marian  Beatty

BELIEVE OR NOT

See the men kneeling as they face the alter

Hear their prayers asking for strength

As they walk away to meet their new day

The one holding faith can be seen by the stance he displays

The doubter has a posture of apprehension

The believer stands taller and portrays no tension

The one who is conflicted, at odds

Is the one who has yet to shake hands with God

Riding Into Battle

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know heaven and you know earth, you may make your victory complete." Sun TZU

RIDING INTO BATTLE

The knight is seated on a powerful steed

His weapons and courage are all that he needs

So say those who are in awe of him

Putting forth their faith he is there to protect them

But the knight does not carry his weapons so sure

His strength comes from something more pure

Before his helmut goes over his hair

He is surely empowered by his faith in his prayer

Before the young knight sets his steed in stride

He has garnered his will from what God can provide

With victory as this brave soul's intention

His deepest incentive is the strength God has sent him

True Power

Sun Tzu...

"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power."

TRUE POWER

Always an eye on another's doing

Following and directing where he would be going

Something to say

That will alter his way

Steering with the strength you are using

Mapping the road that you travel

Holding strong to what begins to unravel

You won't accept defeat

As long as your heart beats

You're the judge holding tight to his gavel

Leadership is strength you possess

But steering yourself is the rest

Your true righteous power

With every encounter

Is the self you will handle the best

I, The Poet

I laughed when I read this quote because it seemed so me. "A poets work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep." I, THE POET My words may be abrasive, evasive or intimidating At times they will cut you, gut you and disgust you I can stir up a storm with a little rhyme I will antagonize you from time to time Then again what I write will soothe you or abuse you But my words set a fire and I won't lose you I can set the world spinning with a stoke of my pen And stop it in its tracks again and again With the rhymes and sentences that I employ I can ignite your anger or bring you joy My words my take you to the brink But in my defense, they make you think I, the poet in any random hour Possess the words that have the power To explode many minds to seek success When I'm on fire, this poet is blessed

So, I Offend Thee?

"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."

SO, I OFFEND THEE?

Sometimes it has to be

What I say is of offense to thee

A slap upon your face it seems

A time we take opposing teams

I must be brutally honest, you see

To establish a defense for me

We need to be free to express our views

For silence is a lame excuse

It may come to that we part our way

Maybe meet again another day

But then we might find compromise

Without ever feeling victimized

Gone

"There is only one education, and it has only one goal: THE FREEDOM OF THE MIND. The very existence of modified "education" is testimony to the fact that their proponents cannot bring about what they want in a MIND THAT IS FREE. An "education" that cannot do its work in a free mind, and so must "teach" by homily and precept in the services of these feelings and attitudes and beliefs rather than those, is a pure and unmistakable tyranny."

GONE

The prerequisite of continued liberty

Depends upon a mind that's free

The collective minds of generations

That were borne of our forefathers' revelations

Hence comes the fall of one great nation

When free minds are consumed in degradation

A feeding frenzy of want to be tyrants

Devouring the souls of those so silent

If liberty is to thrive

Our minds must remain vibrant, truly alive

Once burdened with binding indoctrination

We shall become the slaves of a stolen nation

Fear of failure now complete

Hope of success heaped at our feet

Hands will grab at any straw

In favor of welfare we all withdraw

Liberty becomes a lonely victim

With only fleeting memories of hopeful pilgrims

And tyrants sit upon their throne

Toasting the people that they now own

Gone are dreams that had us driven

Hope a ghostly apparition

Freedom fades into the past

In taken minds our will dies fast

Far Left Educational Success

Richard Mitchell....

"Far from failing its intended task, our educational system is in fact succeeding magnificently because its aim is to keep the American people thoughtless enough to go on supporting the system."

FAR LEFT EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS

It is doing what it should

For the plan they have in place

But we who thirst for truth in knowledge

Find the system hard to face

The government has grown

And regulates us all to death

Indoctrination is full blown

Which leaves me quite distressed

Our schools have fallen victim

Of extreme liberal propaganda

They are leaving socialistic imprints

In a nanny state agenda

We are losing all the historians

Who distinctly know the truth

And becoming totalitarian

Through how they educate our youth

As years go by we pass away

Leaving so few patriotic minds

And sometime there will come a day

There will be no more of our kind

The far left education

Is beginning to succeed

And it is no exaggeration

Folks are lining up to concede

Losing Our Children

It is so easy to send our children to school and let strangers mold their minds. Parents with busy lives and selfish goals shirk their duty when they leave all the child's development up to institutions of education.

How often do parents make time to delve into what is stuffed into their child's minds day after day? How often are serious discussions about the child's day part of a family routine? "Finish your dinner and do your homework!" Even at home outside influence permeates their minds.

A country's problems can be traced back to how our children are educated as well as our country's success. Unfortunately in the progressive movement our children's minds become hostages of the progressive agenda. Parents don't spare the time to investigate what the children are learning and once we see the liberal minded adults they are becoming it may be too late or nearly impossible to change what the institutions run by the progressive liberals have pounded into their heads right before our diverted eyes.

What is sad is that we have a say in what schools teach and most are too busy to voice out demands.

If We the People are to make demands, the course of our children's education should be number one on the list.

The Fertile Mind

"It is always a much easier task to educate the un-educated people than to re-educate the mis-educated." Herbert M. Shelton

THE FERTILE MIND

A precious child with a mind of clay

So eager not to disobey

Mold his mind and teach him well

No righteous truth should be withheld

Don't waste this mind with misinformation

Don't spoil it with unreasonable expectations

Don't indoctrinate it with evil ways

Garbage in and garbage stays

Once a mind is molded and set

What is taught is hard to forget

Ideals are difficult to rearrange

Minds set in stone are hard to change

Unwarranted Fear

UNWARRANTED FEAR

I have seen the storm when the weather is fine

I have felt the earth quake a thousand times

I see sharks in the water in the safest of pools

Time wasted in fear has left me a fool

I often see the mountains in an avalanche

The slightest shower has me feeling drenched

A playful kitten becomes a carnivorous tiger

My perceptions are skewed and fear is the liar

Fear

Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins." Charles Stanley

FEAR

I hear the footsteps approaching

The chill that brings a shiver

My heartbeat becomes deafening

The lights begin to flicker

The darkness brings the blindness

And the monsters have appeared

But it is only an emotion

An emotion known as fear

It will make me hear the footsteps

That are only in my mind

An unknown presence frightening

The chills run down my spine

The beating heart reminds me

I am a mortal human being

My fear is for the failure

Unrealistically foreseen

TRANSFORMATION

"What the founding fathers created in the constitution is the most magnificient government on the face of the earth, and the reason is this: because it was intended to preserve the American society and the American spirit, NOT TO TRANSFORM IT OR DESTROY IT." Mark Levin

TRANSFORMATION

Our forefathers provided us an ironclad plan

To insure the liberty of Americans

But to preserve the constitution our spirit must prevail

In ignorance and apathy we are sure to fail

Now we find our freedom compromised

As new world order brings deception, lies

Yes, the door cracked open with vulnerability

Of folks choosing the ultimate disability

We've become disabled from the apathy

No will to succeed, mass inadequacy

A safety net filled with those who lost hope

Dependency and failure to cope

The spirit wanes across our land

As patriots are in extreme demand

The government grew and grew and grew

Burst through the door to stifle you

Will we sink to the bottom of the socialist's will?

Can we rally the spirit and save us still?

Will patriotism rise and again prevail?

Will we bow our heads and accept we've failed?

With Blind Backing He Survives

"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." James A. Baldwin

WITH BLIND BACKING HE SURVIVES

The thought of power consumed him

It multiplied his ideals

He would implement his agenda

Whether he begs or borrows or steals

He will beg to his own party

To accept without question what he does

He will borrow against the good will

Owed by his political Chicago thugs

He will above all steal the liberty

Of the folks who chose to select him

As the first black man as president

People rallied to elect him

A war he wages against Fox

A target he despises

Is because they seek the truth

When controversy arises

The lies he tends to tell

Become bigger with each passing hour

He is the king of cover-up

And the monarch of executive power

But it is the ignorance of the people

That allows this administration to thrive

Coupled with a lazy greed

With no intention to work and strive

How sad is it that the driving force

Of the people who seek success

Is stifled by this nanny state

That has led to this  economic mess?

With the blind backing of those ignorant

To agendas that lost our trust

Our once proud country will crumble

And our freedom will combust

The Man Who Always Smiled

."No one ever really dies as long as they took the time to leave us with fond memories." Chris Sorenson

THE MAN WHO ALWAYS SMILED

It took awhile to say goodbye

But still the time was short

Too fast the days flew by

Too little time for final memories to be stored

You never lost your humor

Your eyes kept smiling through the pain

I'll forever curse that damned tumor

But you never complained

You left us with the love in your heart

You so easily shared through the years

And now we are a world apart

Smiles and laughter accentuate our tears

You are the man who always smiles

The telltale lines were etched in the corner of your eyes

So, we shall miss your hugs for awhile

But your impression lingers long after our goodbyes

February 3, Nineteen Years Later

"There are things we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go." (unknown)

FEBRUARY 3, 2014, NINE YEARS LATER

You have long been gone

But only from this physical realm

I will never accept that you are not here

Because it is just not true

I hang on to the memories you left behind

You sure did leave an impression

In my heart there will never be a dad like you were and you are

And you not being here will never diminish my love for you

They say we should, but I won't let go!

No Past Shall Ever Be Gone

The quote today is from JFK

..."History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside."

NO PAST SHALL EVER BE GONE

We cannot get through a day

When history doesn't get in our way

And as sad as it will be

It reeks of negativity

Slavery is an old deep wound

That can alter even a modern mood

In the many years that has passed us by

It is still impossible to justify

Then God's creation in the past we grieve

In the sins imposed by Adam and Eve

And though apples and serpents are no longer involved

Countless sins will still evolve

The monarchy that had prevailed

In the days before Columbus sailed

Was banished through war against the mother land

To embrace our liberty the royalty was damned

Getting back to what was previously said

History is past but never dead

The goodness from it is welcomed still

But scars didn't heal and never will

No past will ever be gone, you see

Our lives are based on our history

We can stand on what we've rectified

But injustice will never be swept aside