traitor to his class

McKinley's WallStreet cronies had it all
and thought their stranglehold would never break
the workers' protests--if they had the gall--
were dismissed airily "let them eat cake"
but on his death young Teddy seized the stage
escaping the obscurity they'd planned
and gave a voice to working peoples' rage
at plutocrats who didn't understand
they'd come to build a new world with their sweat
escaping Europe's old-world tyrannies
where wages should buy ownership, not debt
believing the ads for "Land of the Free"
a revolution might have happened here
if TR didn't break ranks with his peers