Change is too simple for what must be done

Life is long
And the dreams we had
When we were young
Seem so naïve now
Seeing the world through that lense
Where your opinions are a mix
Of what your parent told you
And what you rebelled against

I thought America was a shining jewel
A beacon of the possible
A hope in a world where the darkest parts of us
Often strut about on the stage

And now
I see its deep flaws
Its horrific tragedies
Its blatant lies

What once was golden is streaked
With green
That false gold
Eaten by exposure

We aren’t any more divided than we always were
We just have the tools to see it now
We aren’t limited by what the local paper publishes
By what makes it on the 3 channels of television

People’s egos get bound up in belief
People’s communities get bound up in single idea activism
It is hard to walk away from all you have ever known
Hard to hold a line when doing so loses every tie
Hard to accept that the belief you had
Was wrong

To embrace metamorphosis

Broken bow symphony

Hoping for a mythical past we wipe away the chance for a fabled future
A golden age proves to be little more than the dream of the thrashing fevered body politic
We cling to false hopes and outright lies rather than face bitter truths
All the while barreling forward
One inexorable second at a time
Towards the crumbling hellscape of the world we have turned our backs on
While we build up the fiction of prosperity
And cling to ideals long since tarnished
Jagged metal piercing palms
Convincing ourselves that this isn’t blood
Its rain

Stands the knife

Give me a stick
I’ll light it on fire
Give me a note
And I’ll take it higher
One step to the right
Marks you the liar
Each moment we fight
We get stuck in the mire

I’ll give you minute
An hour
A day

Break out of this mold
And start this desire
We’re more than we’re told
And all the poets retire

Planting false flags
They lead us astray
Can’t make us back down
So we fall away

A bullet to the head
One voice silenced today
Another rise up
You aren’t getting your way

Fuck this reality you’ve made
We’re burning it down
I’ve got the match
We’re heading downtown

The beginning of the fall

I’m afraid. That’s hard to admit. I’m not a person that admits to fear. That allows fear to gain a foothold in my actions.

But, I must be honest. I’m afraid. My country is disintegrating. The bonds which held us together have frayed. The truths we thought of as a steady progression towards freedom came to a tipping point. One where our nation had a choice. A choice to make a decision to support the people it was killing. To support the lives of its citizens. To move the country forward in its goal of freedom.

And instead, it decided to embrace the killers. To see the behavior of the people who were hired enforce our laws and applaud their efforts to subvert those laws. To drape themselves in fear and make themselves into a protection racket.

I say protection racket because their negotiation tactic is to threaten the cities and states that they work for. To no longer protect citizens in their areas, but still draw paychecks. To sit in their clubhouses and watch as the world burns.

But, that tactic must be seen as what it is. Fear mongering. Pure and simple. Because the fact is, the function of the police is not to protect the citizens. It is not to serve the citizens. It is to enforce the laws of the state and government to which they are employed.

They protect and serve only themselves and the state. In that order. And when confronted with their consistent and quantifiable history of injustice and murder, they threaten and hide. They lie and engage in brutal behavior which breaches all standards of warfare.(but to which they are not held accountable, because cops are not soldiers. It was never conceived that so called enforcers of the public good would become war criminals)

And instead of the federal government stepping in to work against this injustice. Which is how this is supposed to work(the federal government can cease support for local law enforcement and impose stringent sanctions on behavior to force local law enforcement to change should local structures of government fail to do so. Since the citizens of local municipalities are also citizens of the country as well and since local law enforcement receives support and federal funding). Instead of that, they have pulled in federal officers who work in fields with no actual training in crowd control or self control and employ them as bully boys and brownshirts. Under the guidance that they are protecting federal property. Which is tough to do when you are wandering the streets blocks away from any federal property.

They have begun arresting people without probable cause. And that should scare the shit out of you. Without that requirement of probable cause, you can be arrested for anything. For disagreeing with the local government. For being the “wrong” faith. For having the “wrong” skin. For anything. And those arrests will lead to charges. Trumped up charges. Pun fully intended.

Our local governments are trying to fight this legally. But they must do so in the federal system which is the ones sending these walking violations to the constitution. Which is like fighting a war with your teeth. These judges are federal appointees. Which means that they are beholden to the federal government for their livelihood. They are as much hostages as they are collaborators.

It is your legal duty to question and disobey any order which is illegal. Moreover, it is your moral obligation to the citizens of the United States which should override any order or command you are given. And yet there are still people who are following these orders which will be proven to be unlawful. And make no mistake, however this shakes out. There will be a price to pay for following these illegal orders.

Things are being pushed past nonviolent protests. Being pushed to not allow nonviolent revolution. And when that happens, violent revolution is the only recourse.

I am afraid. But fear only pushes you so far. And once you are done, your only options are to fight or cower. I hope I make the right decision.
And I hope all of you do as well.