It’s always the same:
Whenever they’re in power
There is an immediate
Rush to erode protections
For workers, the environment,
The less fortunate,
A total lack of empathy and
Compassion for anything other
Than the very few at the top,
An infected view of the world,
Fear, scarcity, cruelty.
It’s shocking enough
That the legislation
Is as heartless and
Awful as it is,
Betraying a complete
Lack of compassion or
Even the most basic
Kindness toward others,
But even more terrifying
Is that this many of them
Support it and would
Gleefully do much worse.
The death of empathy,
Replaced with something
Dark, twisted, sinister.
They want all the benefits
But don’t want to share them,
Especially with the brown
People they sneer at when
In the safety of their own
Enclaves, surrounded by members
Of their exclusionary clans.
None of this is new,
People like this have always
Reveled in power and dominance,
Accustomed to reaping all
The rewards while depriving
Others of basic necessities,
And pretending to be victims
When outed for what they are.
After many lengthy,
Fruitless conversations,
Actually arguments,
They arrive at the same place
They’ve always been,
Neither understanding the other’s
Point of view or what’s
Really happening underneath
All the bluster,
No prospect of ever
Changing anything,
Two closed minds.
He assures him that
His infant son with
A congenital heart
Condition will not
Want for affordable
Medical care –
Nor will any other child
Regardless of means –
All while scheming
To deny care to everyone
But the wealthy;
A so-called doctor
Working hard to
Do harm.
Now softened by
The filter of time and
Short attention spans,
They trot him out
To make small talk,
Fawning over how
Friendly he appears,
Forgetting that this
Is the monster
Born of privilege that
Did so many cruel things
To vulnerable people,
Pandering to the worst
Elements in our society,
Setting the stage for
Where we are today,
A swaggering fraud,
Insecure to the core.
Something must have
Happened to close his mind,
Rendering him unable to
Understand suffering.
Innocence and hope
Dashed at a vulnerable age,
When life should
Be rosy.
A heart drained of its
Ability to feel,
Vitriol replacing
Kindness.
The lone frontiersman
Who lives by his
Sheer grit and determination,
Fending for himself
Against all odds,
Not beholden to anyone,
A rugged individualist
Who kowtows to no one,
Takes care of himself
And his own and never
Asks for outside help,
An outdated construct
Invoked to undermine
Social conscience,
The greater good,
Civilized society.
He relives not only
The trauma,
But also the expectation
That it remain a secret
So as not to blemish a
False image of respectability,
Along with being told
It was his fault
In the first place,
That situations like this
Are normal anyway,
Forcibly wiring his forming brain,
Ensuring a lifetime of torment.
