An American Lament

(Easing Our Outrage In A Burst Of Undisciplined Versification)

President Franklin Roosevelt taunted Martin, Barton and Fish.
Yet how splendidly, such men contrast to Nader, Bush and Kerry.
If you would understand the present, you must understand the past--
The proud and noble, and pathetic like Nader, Bush and Kerry.

With God and guns, America grew in honor, courage and Truth.
With greed, guilt and fear, we lost our way to Nader, Bush and Kerry.
In Washington's strength, we found a Faith; in Jefferson's words, our values.
How could we ever descend so far as Nader, Bush and Kerry.

At Washington's standard, we joined, to Jefferson's wisdom inclined.
Such men would never put their trust in a Nader, Bush or Kerry!
They gave the Union functional roles; moral rules left to the States.
Who thinks that division accepted by Nader, Bush or Kerry?

Jefferson made his famous purchase to keep the Mexicans out.
Who now defends our Southern border? Not Nader, Bush or Kerry.
A later generation attended Webster, Clay and Calhoun.
Compare those wise giants of the past to Nader, Bush and Kerry.

Stout hearts and bold men wielding hand guns tamed the wild and rugged West.
But apologists and theorists gave us Nader, Bush and Kerry.
The Settlers who built America were proud of their lines of descent.
Did you ever hear that fact at all from Nader, Bush or Kerry?

In 1919 - 1920, we rejected Wilson's League;
But that lesson, clearly, was not learned by Nader, Bush or Kerry.
In many wars, Americans died to preserve their kith and kin.
Are such motives really understood by Nader, Bush and Kerry?

We hear much talk of freedom; but the word is very ill defined.
Can we trust it to such sloganeers as Nader, Bush and Kerry?
The thirty-second sound bite, a frantic minority pursuit;
These may tell us all one needs must know of Nader, Bush or Kerry.

There really is a threat of terror, but some aspects are confused.
The remedy not as it may seem to Nader, Bush or Kerry.
As sad as 9/11, with heart rending tragedies abound,
Migration, a far worse threat to all but Nader, Bush and Kerry.

There's a lot of rice in China, vast sums of money in Swiss Banks;
But not for all of either, could we vote Nader, Bush or Kerry.
President Franklin Roosevelt spoke of Martin, Barton and Fish.
They were head and shoulders better men than Nader, Bush and Kerry.

--William Flax, September 4, 2004