mishpat echat

Trump's registry of Muslims' as obscene
as any other red flag he might choose
to signal an illiberal regime
good Christians must reject as much as Jews
to welcome strangers is no civic flaw
the bible emphasizes they're like us
with no allowance for a sep'rate law
no sanction for Trump's rabid animus
the Nativists are hot to bar the gate
now we've found  haven, Others shant as well
as if it were mere prudence to preach hate
against a refugee escaping Hell
since Egypt, we have known a stranger's heart
we'd sin were we to set him thus apart

Enlightenment experiment

Karl Popper bade us wake from Plato's spell
millennia long gone since it was cast
an exorcism with no book, nor bell
to liberate us from the hoary past
the Perfect need not always be behind
all striving forward need not be downslope
the Golden Age is only of the mind
despair's no more our lot in life than hope
perfectibility is in our hands
a reasonable People can decide
establishing the rule of law, not man
with only human reason as our guide
a bold, but not unreasonable thing
to set forth a new nation with no king

feckless sovereign

our Founding Fathers feared a demagogue
would throw their compromises out en masse
'though he himself was raised high on the hog
he'd over-turn the rightful ruling class
Electors were invented to forestall
the proletariate seizing control
a vetted gentry casting votes for all
between the presidency and the poll
as they foresaw, a Donald Trump arose
who knew not Joseph and wants us to kneel
'cause he's the man the frightened masses chose
to renegotiate their dead-end deal
industrialization has its cost
'though productivity mounts ever higher
uncounted mindless jobs must soon be lost
the unskilled face a future dark and dire
our Ship of State may not stay long afloat
if this is how our seething masses vote

evil precedent

the precedent Obama leaves in place

by whacking al-Awlakis, pere et fils

should scare us all, now Donald's on the case

no one of us will ever sleep in peace

the promises of Due Process of Law

don't mean a thing when no one prosecutes

in execution lurks the fatal flaw

the DA's mute when his supreme boss shoots

perhaps a journalist is next in queue

investigating Trump's business affairs

who guarantees it won't be me, or you

who's centered in the next Hellfire's crosshairs

aspiring to be ruled by laws, not men

we've stretched our necks to our Leviathan

unenlightened

our Founders trusted wisdom could be found
by polling an unschooled electorate
legitimacy flows up from the ground
and dynasties are not divinely set
the demagogue who cost them sleep at night
at worst, would dominate one branch of three
the other two,  enforcing what was right
if he'd infringe the People's liberty
but new technologies upend the mix
and couch-potatoes toss what we held dear
sham punditocracy anoints their picks
their television's always tuned to 'fear'
with Trump astride our hobbling government
we've failed Enlightenment's experiment

uncompromising

the Naderites deny they sank Al Gore
the votes they cast could have been GOP
a Democrat might still have gone to war
but numbers don't support that history
to chase Utopia, they earned our curse
unable to get past Gore's lack of charm
eight years of Cheney/Bush made the world worse
and Trump will do irreparable harm
this time, it's Stein who's perfect in their eyes
a standard-bearer focused, bright, and pure
but a republic runs on compromise
where no one bends, the Union can't endure
the damage Trump could do is off the chart
the centre cannot hold; thing fall apart

uncompromising

the Naderites deny they sank Al Gore
the votes they cast could have been GOP
a Democrat might still have gone to war
but numbers don't support that history
to chase Utopia, they earned our curse
unable to get past Gore's lack of charm
eight years of Cheney/Bush made the world worse
and Trump will do irreparable harm
this time, it's Stein who's perfect in their eyes
a standard-bearer focused, bright, and pure
but a republic runs on compromise
where no one bends, the Union can't endure
the damage Trump could do is off the chart
the centre cannot hold; thing fall apart