Tag: Democracy

Fascism in the Breeze (#2)

Fascism has take a grip on America which will take years to tackle but we can also see its rise in Australia.

Fascism in the Breeze

Fascism has take a grip on America which will take years to tackle but we can also see its rise in Australia.

Dehumanisation of immigrants and the working class, attacking the university system, political corruption without accountability, increasing militarisation, increasing racism, media complicity and the spread big lies are some of the signs.

These are some of the things that we need to be vigilant against to maintain a vibrant and healthy democracy.

What are other things do we need to consider?

It began with a whisper
An almost imperceptible murmur
An uncomfortableness stirred
That could be heard faintly
In the breeze.

At first we ignored it
That annoying irritant
We rose above it
Reassured by our moral superiority.

But the noise became louder
Impossible to ignore
Drowning out all rational thought
As it inflamed all in its anger.

Nothing now left but cinders
Yet I hear more whispers
In the breeze.

Two ideologies intertwined

Two ideologies intertwined
Who perceive themselves as poles apart
Meet in righteousness indignation
Staring down in the safety of distance
Dismissing the other
As too radical for a country
Torn asunder.

Photo by Gerritt Tisdale on Pexels.com
Two ideologies intertwined
Who perceive themselves as poles apart
Meet in righteousness indignation
Staring each other down
With the safety of distance
Dismissing the other 
As too radical for a country 
That's been torn asunder.

A country where
Thousands needlessly die each night
In agonising pain alone
With machines switched off
A silence too familiar
To be quickly reused again.

But in truth 
These two pillars of democracy
Of boundless virtue 
Were never so far apart
Unrecognising that special interests 
Hold them in thrall
Their opinions bought and paid for
Many years ago.

The Grand Old Party
To its shame has abandoned its proud legacy
The party of Lincoln
Moved to unrecognisable extremes
Paranoia now its staple 
Paying its dues to special interests
Of what was once considered the extremist right.

And the Democrats
Sidestepping the pleas of its base
Unsurprisingly fails again 
A party who has become
Due to its genuflections
A pale and mediocre simulacrum
Representing the same rich constituents 
The allure of money
Intoxicating power of the Establishment
Oblivious to the needs of the many.

What of those who were proudly proclaimed around the world
The protection of the huddled masses
The tired
The poor
The wretched refuse washed up upon its gallant shores?

Those who for decades have been ignored 
More precarious year after year
There is no place for them
Those perceived as a rounding error
That ignores all math
On silent lips
Once more.

Our nations capital

Where megawatt smiles are switched on in an instant
Compassion only available through a camera’s lens

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
As I reminisce of our nation’s capital
Of vanquished ideals our forefathers swore
Where megawatt smiles are switched on in an instant
Compassion only available through a camera’s lens
Carefully crafted words available in neat little packages
With well-practiced obfuscations wheeled out in response to crisis
A dance well-choreographed as it sidesteps all questions.
 
As the world burns around us with increasing frequency
And the environment is damaged beyond repair
As science is followed or ignored depending how well it aligns to manic ideology
And pandemics disrupt any sense of normalcy
As our previous generations are treated as chattel
And money source to be milked and not revered.

As authoritarianism and neo-fascism become increasingly institutionalised
And we turn our backs on fellow man escaping deprivations beyond our imagination
As millions face destitution, death or despair
And we turn inward and ignore our moral duty to the world.

As our leaders become thralls to big business
And corruption becomes a badge of honour
As the media sings to a single tune
And propaganda and news become indistinguishable
As our outrage putters out in a single news cycle
And we sleep to forget our waking nightmares.
 
Don’t worry for our leaders are here to protect us
Save us from a far worse fate
Let their words soothe you and dull your senses
As they lead you blissfully unaware
To the butchers table.

The demigogs dawning

We live in a time where the strong dominate the weak,
A dawning of a new aristocracy

Photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash

We live in a time where the strong dominate the weak
A dawning of a new aristocracy
An authoritarian regime
Where all must bend the knee
A time where manicured communication is in vogue
Controlled and manipulated

A time where politicians serve a ruling class
Demigogs expounding their filth
For an elite no longer lurking in the shadows
Proudly wallowing in their own excess
An endgame finally reached

Our minds altered at their whim
Their playthings to dangle
No thought left unbidden
They know us better than we do
With databanks of our private histories
Spanning the ages at their disposal

And their lies stack up and consume all space
Our strings pulled until our deaths
What happened to doing what’s right?
Our moral outrage contained
What happened to our humanity?