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American Politics in 12 Words
From Wall Street Poet:
American politics in sum:
Republican ideas are dumb;
And Democrats have none.
More here. Not quite Wm. Carlos Williams' red wheelbarrow or Carl Sandburg's fog, but any poem that short has got to have some merit.
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David 2|4.28.06 @ 10:37AM|#
And that goes along with H.L. Mencken's definition of a demagogue: "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."
Garth|4.28.06 @ 11:40AM|#
These are better as either Haiku:
Americans think
Republican ideas dumb
Democrats have none
Or Lymrick:
To the American mind
Republicans are wrong all the time
But while this may be true
They are dumber than you
Democrats seem to be blind
|4.28.06 @ 12:02PM|#
Hold on! The Democrat's idea to raise taxes on the oil company profits as a "solution" to high gas prices is incredibly dumb.
|4.28.06 @ 12:07PM|#
"Reflections on Power-Grabbing" by Ogden Bush
War
Is a chore;
Disaster
Is faster.
|4.28.06 @ 12:57PM|#
I have always believed that it is the other way around. Democratic ideas are dumb; Republicans have no ideas at all. (The gibberish they spout is not intelligent enough to be considered "ideas".)
|4.28.06 @ 1:13PM|#
More poli haiku:
"Thieving clowns gather
Not with firearms but by vote
Robbing minds, wallets"
|4.28.06 @ 2:20PM|#
Best description of American Congress comes from Lewis Black.
After describing the "Republicans have bad ideas/Democrats have none" he explains Congress as working like this:
"A Republican stands up in Congress and says "I've got a really bad idea!"
And then a Democrat stands up and says, " I can make it shittier!"
|4.28.06 @ 2:25PM|#
My favorite:
One party has alot of bad ideas on how to help you, and the other party has alot of good ideas on how to screw you.
|4.28.06 @ 6:14PM|#
Kinda tangential but here's Trees by Neil Peart-Sung by Rush.
There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunligh
And the oaks ignore their pleas
The trouble with the maples
(and they�re quite convinced they�re right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can�t help their feelings
If they like the way they�re made
And they wonder why the maples
Can�t be happy in their shade?
There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream `oppression!`
And the oaks, just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
�the oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light�
Now there�s no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw ...
|4.28.06 @ 6:22PM|#
Oops, that was me. I posted it from my other computer where I had my Friday Fun Link screen name on.
Wirkman Virkkala|4.29.06 @ 2:05AM|#
Conservatives and liberals
Each stick to their guns:
The Repugs abuse the old notions,
The 'Crats abuse us with newer ones.
John|4.29.06 @ 9:57AM|#
I would hope Hit & Run would not cheer a poem that leaves out third parties entirely.
It makes no mention of what Americans think about Bernie Sanders or the Libertarians.
It must be "Bring A CNN Anchor to Work and let them write posts" day at Hit & Run.
|4.29.06 @ 3:16PM|#
Libertarians
Americans don't think about:
A perfect record
|4.29.06 @ 9:53PM|#
For president I always vote libertarian
And on this matter there can be no neutrality
as I definitely don't want to be contrarian
should the nation have a fit of rationality
|4.30.06 @ 12:00PM|#
Rick:
Taking a fuctioning country, one of the most successful democracies in the world, and turning it over to a bunch of doctrinaire ideologues who think and speak in simplistic platitudes and slogans would be a "fit of rationality"? It would be a fit of rationality if you all grew up and spent your time doing something prodcutive.
|4.30.06 @ 1:25PM|#
Ron,
The evidence is that the success we have enjoyed has been in proportion to our fealty to the libertarian principles of the "doctrinaire ideologues" who founded our republic.
...if you all grew up and spent your time doing something productive.
What? You don't think my poem was productive?
|4.30.06 @ 1:34PM|#
Ron:
...who think and speak in simplistic platitudes and slogans
You don't sound like you've done much reading of, or had much discourse with, libertarians.