values

Bill Clinton sold his party to the Banks
abandoning the Workers to their plight
presuming Unions, in their file, and rank
would still embrace a party of the Right.
Ted Cruz can reminisce about a strike
that gave his father dignity, and work
but 99% bear his tax hike;
Americans are not sold on this jerk.
'Though party leadership is moribund,
the GreatSociety dream's not yet dead.
Free-thinkers whom the poobahs didn't fund
still understand what Europe means by "red".
The Labor unrest Teddy Roosevelt quelled
could yet consign the Clintons' clique to Hell.

Blue wall

Progressives claimed Wisconsin for their base
the lab of Franklin Roosevelt's NewDeal,
'til Kochs backed Walker in the StateHouse race;
what can't be bought, they're not too proud to steal.
Norwegian farmers built a welfare state
where abolitionists formed ranks for war
to keep the Union whole, and free, and great
where none'd go hungry while the Few grabbed more.
Since CitizensUnited, donors rule
dictating how the rest of us should live.
This governor's the capitalists' tool
returns are thousand-fold on what they give.
When Hillary's campaign gave it a pass,
the Badger State was handed to the Ass.

our son of a bitch

Obama urged Mubarak to just go
Egyptians long for freedom, same as us.
But Clinton feared to lay a strongman low
and threw Mohammed Morsi 'neath the bus.
el-Sisi butchers Muslims in the square,
but Saudis back him as a force for good
as if barbarity were somehow fair
when they're confronted with the Brotherhood.
A Clinton never fails to compromise
when wealthy donors want to bend a rule;
Riyadh's not challenged on its grossest lies
when policy's enacted by their tool.
Our empty hymns to Liberty fall flat
when we embrace convenient autocrats.

big Jim

James Comey deems this president unfit
but never dreamed the Orange Fool would win.
And takes no credit for the world of shit
our proud republic's swiftly sinking in.
Investigating Clinton was routine;
what didn't warrant charges, should not leak.
But Comey fed the RightWing noise machine
that left both major parties up this creek.
His colleague, Mueller's tasked with making sense
in retrospect, of what just seems insane
to hand the Oval Office to Mike Pence
by meddling in the Hillary campaign.
A lifelong enemy of all things 'mob'
Jim's sworn to help Bob Mueller slay this job.

What Happened

post-mortem, Clinton mulls her failed campaigns
if only Bernie'd called a sooner halt!
Page after tiresome page, her book complains
that everyone but Hillary's at fault.
The deal cut with Obama came to naught
and him so suave and gracious really hurts.
The many SuperDelegates she'd bought
all failed to serve her up her just deserts.
The policies she dared not advocate
set Sanders' Independent crowds afire
she offered only pablum 'til too late
and Bannon won it low, while she went higher.
Dry talking points could never make us feel
we crave a Roosevelt, and a New Deal

looking forward

Paul Ryan shows scant sign that he's afraid
serenely sure the Russians have his back
the mid-terms--in his book--are bought and paid
unless Bob Mueller were to prove the hack
Let voters squawk! He does not feel their pain
defying Bannon's orders would take balls
the Devil owns his soul, and worldly gains
are worth the curses chanted at Townhalls
still, Democrats can't seem to mobilize
not being Trump was never quite enough
and annotating all his many lies
can't sell the Clinton platform built on fluff
until Progressives stir the working class
Joe Sixpack sits this round out on his ass

backlash

The SinglePlayer plan she swore was dead
is back, now Hillary is off the scene
'cause Congress, 'though it's  uniformly Red
rejects the plan that Trump concedes is mean.
The Gilded Age that sounds good to the Kochs
when life was cheap, and contracts unconstrained
has scant appeal for ordinary folks
where thousand suffer for each fortune gained.
This plan designed to fail, based on known facts
would throw twenty-four million in the ditch
to spare the One Percent from paying tax
ensures Insurance CEOs stay rich.
A nation waking up to Donald's lies,
will have to learn again to unionize

walks in the wood

the senator from WallStreet sneers at blame
Trump's Russian patron stole the race she'd bought
this cycle, she bore the dynastic name
and those "Progressives" just seem over-wrought
and so, she drinks, and ambles through the trees
while grooming Chelsea for a grand debut
a Senate stint might build some cred and she's
inured to stoop if she must pay such dues
the Clinton dynasty has run its course
Bill's merit doesn't privilege his clan
no royal road can circumvent the source
no princeling's better than another man
we tossed king George and overturned his throne
what fool would kneel before one of our own??

overkill

befuddled codger golfs when he should work
and leaves the office for his kids to run
the Kremlin spent good money for this jerk
a jest that only Putin thought was fun
to hamstring Hillary had been Vlad's goal
to curb her influences overseas
but she contrived to lose to his paid mole
and dragged down our republic to its knees
atomic peril flares as tempers fray
Trump's every bit as childish as young Kim
unable to distinguish shades of gray
a Manichean world-view blinkers him
his children may inherit smoking sand
our planet's fate's clutched in his stubby hand

status quo

a candidate wed to the status quo
hoped it's enough she's not the other guy
her focus groups assured her that it's so
it's in the bag, she need not even try
eight years elapsed in which the big banks grew
and we're still on the hook if they should fail
but her constituents were the rich Few
for whom a "penthouse" doesn't mean a jail
until November, anxieties mount
'though she nipped Sanders, riding his dark horse
as California readjusts the count
unbendingly, she grimly stayed the course
content the voters had no place to turn
she gave no hint she understands the Bern

no one ever went broke...

good Trumpsters drool each time they taste the lash
an appetizer of what's coming next
but DNC, obsessed with raising cash
can't grasp that voters rarely think past sex
big donors set their hooks in Howard Dean
the erstwhile champion of the common folk
who's now just one more cog in their machine
disdaining rubes at TownHalls like a joke
the senator from WallStreet never scored
with Independents who eschew Kool-Aid
expensive rallies left them cold and bored
and I'm With Her's not gonna get you laid
the Donald's crowds get loud when he gets crude
perversely eager to get bigly screwed

power brokers

'though Clinton bore the old dynastic name
a voice lamenting in the wilderness
refused to front for donors in the game
and pulled no circus stunts to lure the press
her husband'd taught her to triangulate
as if all voters laid on one straight line
but bartering half-measures for their hate
seemed 'bout as likely as water-to-wine
the DNC just jammed it down our throat
a weaker candidate 'cause it's her turn
presuming Independents would still vote
despite their sleight of hand to quench the Bern
the Democrats contrived a way to lose
against a fascist few would ever choose

out of touch

the DNC marched blithely to defeat
chastising peasants to fall into line
the only candidate whom Trump could beat
assured embedded press it would be fine
the board of WalMart on her resume
tipped workers off their jobs would only go
abroad for only pennies on the day
she didn't mean to change the status quo
the senator from WallStreet stirred no fire
except in the Financial Center's heart
the Socialist who reached for something higher
was edged by a director of WalMart
while Donald offered circuses and loaves
potential voters stayed away in droves

Hatch Act

the FBI director's ten-year hitch
was meant to keep his desk above the fray
but Comey's still invested in the witch-
hunt prosecuted in Ken Starr's heyday
the Rule of Law's applied by human hands
as biased as our basest officer
a prosecutor courting the grandstands
makes plain he won't salute or bow to her
James Comey teeters in J. Edgar's shoes
he'd rather hang them all than grant them deals
there'd be no mercy were it his to choose
unstable boyscout in stilletto heels
when Law's a tool for partisan attack
it's over-due we took our country back

behind the elephants

the clowns bow out, the circus packs its tents
the echoes fade of the last slogans slung
a slim majority closed out Trump/Pence
and all that's left is shoveling up the dung
no shining vision of a world made whole
a White House race contested in the mud
both major candidates are scant on soul
and Donald mutters darkly there'll be blood
post-partisan Obama politics
met brute obstructionism from day one
until the Senate signs for Clinton's picks
the battle to fill SCOTUS won't be done
most pollsters favor Clinton on the math
but no one's plumbed the rabble's bone-deep wrath

process of elimination

bizarrely, Trump's his party's nominee
the donors' favorites left the voters cold
his language skills are rudimentary
but still, he's in, when all the others fold
the bid his rivals thought was just a bluff
has bigly demonstrated what he's got
he's found an audience who like it rough
and anti-Semitism makes them hot
in such a contest, Hillary looked sage
adult who's seen such tantrums all before
who'll bring back Kissinger to the world stage
but only cultivate  a little war
this moderate Republican in heels
excluded Bernie and his new NewDeal

James Comey

director Comey made his bid for sway
by publicizing Huma's unread notes
and pundits scream the race is back in play
as if there're lots of undecided votes
John Ashcroft's boyscout stopped Gonzales cold
when he proposed to do that which is wrong
but working for Loretta Lynch got old
and pressures from the GOP were strong
a Hatch Act violation's no small crime
and as a lawyer, Comey knows full well
if Clinton wins, he could be serving time
for trying to sell all of us to Hell
J. Edgar Hoover played by no one's rules
but now, the Bureau's used by party tools

changes

this vulgar, stubby-fingered orange clown
may do what Iran-Contra never could
to bring a major party crashing down
might do our nation's politics much good
a multi-party system might increase
the chances we'd get what we really want
but still, the flow of money'd have to cease
and candidates drink at the public font
this year, the oligarchs can't get behind
this crass, trash-talking artist of the deal
begrudgingly, they cede they wouldn't mind
a moderate republican in heels
the Democrats have their own wars to fight
but there's no man left standing on the Right

compromise

the menu's set, the outcome's still unsure
confronted with a hawk, or with an ass
fired up, but thinking leaders must be pure
millennials might stay away en masse
her penchant to back strongmen leaves them cold
but then, the fascist might do what he's said
if only Bernie Sanders wern't so old...
'though Jill Stein's heart's alright, they doubt her head
no perfect candidate has ever run
each bears a flaw--or more--to open eyes
intrinsic since our system's first begun
republics work because we compromise
our civic pageants ev'ry year or two
smell equally of sausage and the loo

worst of all possible systems

an angry nation took Trump at his word
they loved his rants against the Donor Class
'though pundits pointed out that it's absurd
to look for change from such a TrustFund ass
what spews instead is xenophobic bile
against the workers who produce "his" goods
as if the aspiration's somehow vile
to raise their children in good neighborhoods
substantive issues get swept to the side
she pitched a NoFly zone to show she's strong
while Donald's shoring up his frail male pride
there's no adult to point out why she's wrong
democracy's a quilt of compromise
no thread of which is perfect in all eyes