{"id":2148,"date":"2016-03-15T15:52:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T20:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2016-03-15T15:52:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T20:52:10","slug":"poem-ferry-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/15\/poem-ferry-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Ferry Tales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy politicians<\/strong>
\nWe have been tolled<\/strong>
\nFerry tales<\/strong>
\nFrom bank to bank<\/strong>
\nHolding no water<\/strong>
\nLiquidating assets<\/strong>
\nLeft and right<\/strong>
\nSow gully able<\/strong>
\nAs they desperately wanton<\/strong>
\nUS to believe<\/strong>
\nThe chosen few, the elect<\/strong>
\nAs top down<\/strong>
\nDriving in convertible submarines<\/strong>
\nCelling down the river<\/strong>
\nAs whatever<\/strong>
\nThou dust<\/strong>
\nHaving already<\/strong>
\nDrunk <\/strong>
\nThe KoolAid\u2122<\/strong>
\nIn effacing endless boos <\/strong>
\nAs given the owed college try<\/strong>
\nAnd in curable desperation<\/strong>
\nQuipped to say<\/strong>
\nBottom up<\/strong>
\nAs no need to take any ship<\/strong>
\nFrom any won<\/strong>
\nUpright<\/strong>
\nNor bail<\/strong>
\nFor yawl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is an election day themed poem for Ohio’s presidential primary elections today.\u00a0 While it’s easy to be cynical about politics, the adage, follow the money<\/em>, is a powerful tool for understanding politics and power.\u00a0 The political class, overpopulated by the aristocracy, has well developed strategies and tactics to appeal to the notion that they are on your side.\u00a0 Inevitably, moneyed folks have a way of perpetuating their economic interests over less economically endowed folks.\u00a0 These strategies and tactics are built into our everyday life — appealing to crass celebrity as distraction and chasing money (and its attendant addictive cycles of debt and over-consumption) as the unquestioned path to the\u00a0good life — but during campaign season the high rhetoric typically pushes the limits of hypocrisy.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the United States electorate is the most uniformed electorate among so-called advanced industrial democracies.\u00a0 Plus, with brazen gerrymandering, corrupt party politics, lack of universal voter registration, and a whole host of practices degrading voter participation rather than enhancing it, our democracy has been bought and sold.\u00a0 Our so-called democracy would be more aptly described as an oligarchy, plutocracy, or even kleptocracy.\u00a0 Voter turnout in the U.S. is the lowest among so-called developed countries.\u00a0 While increased voter turnout could offer modestly better results, a poorly informed electorate does not have the essential immunization against propaganda and manipulation that would make for a functioning democracy.\u00a0 I strongly suspect the the bulk of effort needed to revitalize our democracy must occur outside of electoral politics, with social movements that force changes in our political system alongside cultivating positive changes\u00a0toward a more just culture that respects human rights and dignity for all.\u00a0 Voting matters, but if we rely primarily on voting, whatever is left of our democracy will matter little.\u00a0 Vote with your feet and hit the streets; organize; and be the change you want to see in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy politicians We have been tolled Ferry tales From bank to bank Holding no water Liquidating assets Left and right Sow gully able As they desperately wanton US to believe The chosen few, the elect As top down Driving in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,38,15],"tags":[573,397,170,516,269,416,272,577,646,122,271,359,66,634,522,17,215,110,270,502,245,96,186,647],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-action","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-celebrity","tag-change","tag-consumption","tag-culture","tag-cynical","tag-debt","tag-democracy","tag-economic","tag-elections","tag-human-rights","tag-hypocrisy","tag-life","tag-money","tag-oligarchy","tag-plutocracy","tag-political","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-propaganda","tag-respect","tag-rhetoric","tag-social-movements","tag-state","tag-voting"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Ferry Tales | Poems, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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