A dissent

Well, I changed my mind. I woke up with the beginnings of a dissent from your inauguration address, and the words began to flow. So here it is, Bush. I don't suppose you'll like it, but it would be great if you'd read it anyway. It's called:

Inauguration: A Dissent

So when does the thinking start?
At what point do we all decide,
as Americans and world citizens
that we will not allow ourselves
to be transformed again into a horde
of vacuous nodding dolls at the sound
of a simple word like "freedom"?
When do we finally see through
the rhetoric of what-we-want
in favor of what we truly need?

Behold the man. He speaks. He lays
one hand on the Bible and he swears.
He smiles a sort of smile, and speaks
of spreading liberty to every country
throughout the globe. A preacher now,
he tells us every one of us was made
in the image of his Maker, insinuating
he was sent by the Almighty--the same,
perhaps, as the one who orchestrated,
in his almighty and ominisicent power,
that tsunami.

Are we to be the sheep,
then, of this blind, cocksure shepherd?
Are we to be herded by his sheepdogs
over the precipice of another war,
or blight, or famine? How long do we
allow his sponsors and protectors
to foul our waters and pollute our air,
then turn around and sell us back,
at obscene profit, the shoddy products
of their abuse of our common wealth?
And how much longer do we continue
to call this exploitation "liberty"?
For how much longer do we consent
to the barbarity of preremptory
imprisonment, torture, and, yes,
even execution--even execution
of the young and simple-minded
under the guise of human rights
and justice? And close our eyes
to the sick, and poor, and needy,
in the name of Christian values?
How long do we worship money,
"business", the corporate interest,
the self-interested accumulation
of property, and weapons of death,
all in the name of God and Country?

When do we all wake up and shed
the blindfold? When do we start
listening to content, past the words
of empty rhetoric. When, friends,
when does the thinking start?

Thanks, Bush, for listening. Have a good Sunday!