Tag: Politics

Him Politic

When he discusses politics,
He will describe the views
Of others who oppose him;
Though, it seems, he might confuse

Exactly what they mean with what
He wishes they would say;
So he can then dismiss their thoughts
As foolish overplay

For what he says – viewed logically –
Just makes no kind of sense:
But being right’s not what he wants,
Just winning

Arguments

Appease On Earth

I know that it’s supposed to be
a time to tell the hopeful truth,
and share our love with those who are
around. But some don’t care for hope,
and give up truth to win at
Lord-knows-what.

So all the stockings are hung crooked

We have the power and the sight;
and with humility, we might
share hopeful truth with everyone
who breathes. But such is not our way:
we want to win, and decorate
our world with trophies of it.

So all the stockings are hung crooked

So parties pack their many pews
with those who will embrace their views
of what this world should be and
what it is. And truth’s left beggaring,
to wander out into the snow
and go wherever it might go,
to find some lonely artist, priest,
or mom to let it in –

Yes, all the stockings are hung crooked

Relying On The Dull Complicity of the Exhausted

I will not eat what I don’t want,
Or that I think’s not good for me;
Although it be the only choice
Here, or, in Washington, D.C.
 
They come in waves to wear us down,
On TV, radio, and cells —
But I won’t eat what I don’t want
If I don’t like the way
It smells

Hume’s Dilemma – Probabilistic Thinking

Behavior is often called “rational”
When it uses mathematical probabilities
To predict the future

A moment’s thought, however
Causes us to realize
We don’t know future probabilities

The world doesn’t work like a roulette wheel
Where there are a finite number
Of contrived outcomes; nevertheless –

The usual assumption is that
Future probability
Is identical to past frequency

Which is irrational

Therefore, in order to be rational
We must be irrational

Before you dismiss all of this
As so much logic chopping
Consider

The amount of modern life
Dictated to us
By people claiming
With high mathematical probability

To know the future

Of the entire planet or universe

The solution is not to dispense with predictions
(Which, it must be admitted,
Is what the author of these words
Does for a living)

But to couch them
With due humility
As to the limits of such things

And not use them
As a giant con
Designed to fool
The mathematically uninitiated

i fear the powerful, for they
at last, are only people;
within us all there is a place
of selfishness, and evil

and maybe you’re beyond that, but
when faced with the temptation
of doing anything you want
at home, or in a nation

you’d likely do what’s always done.
in every place and hour,
if it is given to us, we
will tend to misuse power

the thing about my country
that i love, when at its best:
is that it knows this lesson
and when made, ’twas often stressed

that no one branch or person
should be able to take down
the things so many worked for
when they fought against the crown

now, I hate politics, i find it
spiteful and divisive;
we make fun of the other side
with thoughts and terms derisive

its like a thought infection,
an emotional disease:
i’m glad we cannot, by design,
kill off our enemies

for i’ve been thinking, sadly,
if some people had their way,
that roughly half our people would
be gone, perhaps today

today was independence day
and while these thoughts are small
remember that we’re meant to be
one nation
after all