Big Ideas

(A Poem of Partisan Politics)

Here’s what's up this morning, Bush:
I’m good and pissed. I’m fed up.
As my father used to say, I’m fed up
to the back teeth. Or as we here
in the US say, I’m sick and tired.

I’m sick and tired of hearing
that tired old Republican mantra,
the one that Republicans are the party
of Big Ideas; that Democrats lose
elections because they lack Big Ideas.
It was in the paper again yesterday,
Bush, this dumb mantra, repeated
on the opinion page of the LA Times,
and I’m tired of hearing it.

So let’s take a look at the Big Ideas
on which you were most recently
elected, Bush. As I recall, these were:
support our troops (and your war in Iraq)
to assure our safety from terrorism
here at home. On the home front, it was:
cut taxes, grow business, put our natural
resources to work for us, reduce the size
of government, practice “compassionate
conservatism”, and restore the image
of American moral leadership
and strength in the eyes of the world.

Okay, we know what’s happening
in your war; we know how much
less safe the world is for the people
of this country, as the direct result
of your Big Ideas; what’s happening,
Bush, to American moral leadership
and strength in the eyes of the world,
when we see your famous bad guys
thumbing their noses at us with impunity.
We know that “compassionate conservatism”
is out the window, Bush, when your tax cuts
cut into services for those who need them
and instead enrich the already wealthy;
when essential government services
like public education, health care,
and maintenance of the infrastructure
are in the proverbial toilet. So much
for your Big Ideas, Bush. Spare us
the Big Ideas of the Republican Party.

And still we hear that the Democrats
have no Big Ideas? How’s this
for a Big Idea, Bush? That all Americans
deserve access to proper health care?
How’s this for a Big Idea? That all
Americans deserve access to a decent
education? That all Americans who are
willing to work deserve a living wage?
That all Americans carry their fair share
of the tax burden, the rich in proportion
to their relative wealth, for the benefit
and well-being of society at large?

How this for a Big Idea? That Justice
be equally available to all, that rights
and individual freedoms be respected?


How’s this for a Big Idea? That Science
and its potential benefits for humanity
be allowed to flourish unhindered
by superstition, prejudice and fear?

How’s this for a Big Idea? That America
lead the world in fighting these evils:
hunger, poverty, disease, and ignorance?

How’s this for a really Big Idea?
That American technology lead the world
in the discovery and use of energy sources
that neither pollute the planet, nor serve
as the cause of future resource wars, akin
to the war that you, Bush, have initiated,
to the infinite cost of wealth and human life?

How’s this for a Big Idea? That America
lead the world in controlling population
and the resultant migration of populations
through education and the sane, intelligent
promulgation of birth control technologies?

And how’s this for one more Big Idea?
That we in America finally recognize
and assume some real responsibility
for thoughtful planning, loving stewardship
and care for this endangered planet Earth
on which we must all of us survive?

No Big Ideas, Bush? Or a surrender
to the failure of your small ones, already
proven dangerous and wrong-headed?
I say the Big Ideas belong to our side.
I want to hear us shout about them. Loud.