Democracy Poems
Ukraine 2023
by Richard Randolph
I want to live in a world in which people won't tolerate
the murdering of innocent women and children,
where they'll insist it stop immediately,
without compromise, whatever the costs,
and where the leaders of the free world won't turn a blind eye
because Russia has oil or they're afraid of nuclear war,
but act on principle, with the courage of their convictions.
And I want to believe in an American public willing to stand for what is right,
however expensive, inconvenient, or far away,
and a NATO alliance determined to defend
......
A New Vision For Labor A New Vision for Leisure
by Ian McCleary
People know what would be good for them
But fear breaking with the Status Quo.
They have been told, Business is good for America. Anything else is that favorite word of the Right, Socialism.
For the worker, on the other hand, he knows that more could be done for Labor.
He knows that profit to the businessman always comes first before quality of life.
What capitalists call privileges social democrats call rights.
You have to fight to get even a week off
in Corporate America.
You have to beg and plead to get time off for your family. You are guilted into working overtime or working at all. You are kept on a strict diet of Fast Food and Order Out. You feel your creativity fall into a puddle on the ground as they determine your hours.
The Pandemic was a blessing to everyone but the little Capitalist merchant who complained that his business was losing money to a phony virus.
......
A Dreamy Democracy In Danger
by Hébert Logerie
This is not what we were taught in school
Fights, mayhems, police arrests and brutalities
In the soiled streets. Compatriots, it’s never cool
To see so much blood and so many fatalities.
Competing banners are everywhere. A ticker-
Tape parade has gone wrong. Terror and horror
Got together for the wrong reasons, at the wrong
Place. There are too many obscenities in the song.
......
On Student Loan Forgiveness and College Debt
by Ian McCleary
The Democratic Party for more than a century has been supportive of Social Democratic legislation. Social Democratic, meaning a Democracy that tried to fix some of the problems that are a result of an unrestrained and inhumane breed of capitalism.
A recent example of it was Biden's Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Program. Because students had to pay these extortionary rates for college, Biden promised that he would erase the rest of the debt students would have left to pay for the years to come with public tax dollars.
The amount of money these colleges and universities charge for tuition among other educational expenses are beyond excessive and reflect one of the colleges highest priorities besides educating future generations on what they need to know to be an active part of America's workforce. They waste money on administrators salaries, the marketing and promoting their institution, construction, and little on the students who go there.
Students should not have to go to schools like these and should choose an alternative that is cheaper and less costly. I just happened to be lucky that my parents had the money and the generosity to pay my way through four semesters of college. In some ways I feel that I was privileged compared with other students, who did not have as big a safety net.
The question is whether government will be the remedy to the problem. While they were noble actions on the part of the president, the excesses of Capitalism will still be around, he has not gotten rid of them. He has not gotten rid of them with the stroke of his pen or by executive order. He has only brought attention to the problem, and maybe that is only what this country needed to hear. I have heard it from so many people that higher education is a scam, and I can see why they might say that now. Why pay all that money to learn in the hopes of getting a job after university when there are other places and ways of getting an education?
On Student Loan Forgiveness and College Debt
by Ian McCleary
The Democratic Party for more than a century has been supportive of Social Democratic legislation. Social Democratic, meaning a Democracy that tried to fix some of the problems that are a result of an unrestrained and inhumane breed of capitalism.
A recent example of it was Biden's Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Program. Because students had to pay these extortionary rates for college, Biden promised that he would erase the rest of the debt students would have left to pay for the years to come with public tax dollars.
The amount of money these colleges and universities charge for tuition among other educational expenses are beyond excessive and reflect one of the colleges highest priorities besides educating future generations on what they need to know to be an active part of America's workforce. They waste money on administrators salaries, the marketing and promoting their institution, construction, and little on the students who go there.
Students should not have to go to schools like these and should choose an alternative that is cheaper and less costly. I just happened to be lucky that my parents had the money and the generosity to pay my way through four semesters of college. In some ways I feel that I was privileged compared with other students, who did not have as big a safety net.
The question is whether government will be the remedy to the problem. While they were noble actions on the part of the president, the excesses of Capitalism will still be around, he has not gotten rid of them. He has not gotten rid of them with the stroke of his pen or by executive order. He has only brought attention to the problem, and maybe that is only what this country needed to hear. I have heard it from so many people that higher education is a scam, and I can see why they might say that now. Why pay all that money to learn in the hopes of getting a job after university when there are other places and ways of getting an education?
Ukraine 2023
by Richard Randolph
I want to live in a world in which people won't tolerate
the murdering of innocent women and children,
where they'll insist it stop immediately,
without compromise, whatever the costs,
and where the leaders of the free world won't turn a blind eye
because Russia has oil or they're afraid of nuclear war,
but act on principle, with the courage of their convictions.
And I want to believe in an American public willing to stand for what is right,
however expensive, inconvenient, or far away,
and a NATO alliance determined to defend
......
A New Vision For Labor A New Vision for Leisure
by Ian McCleary
People know what would be good for them
But fear breaking with the Status Quo.
They have been told, Business is good for America. Anything else is that favorite word of the Right, Socialism.
For the worker, on the other hand, he knows that more could be done for Labor.
He knows that profit to the businessman always comes first before quality of life.
What capitalists call privileges social democrats call rights.
You have to fight to get even a week off
in Corporate America.
You have to beg and plead to get time off for your family. You are guilted into working overtime or working at all. You are kept on a strict diet of Fast Food and Order Out. You feel your creativity fall into a puddle on the ground as they determine your hours.
The Pandemic was a blessing to everyone but the little Capitalist merchant who complained that his business was losing money to a phony virus.
......
A Dreamy Democracy In Danger
by Hébert Logerie
This is not what we were taught in school
Fights, mayhems, police arrests and brutalities
In the soiled streets. Compatriots, it’s never cool
To see so much blood and so many fatalities.
Competing banners are everywhere. A ticker-
Tape parade has gone wrong. Terror and horror
Got together for the wrong reasons, at the wrong
Place. There are too many obscenities in the song.
......
