The July 4th Poem Poem by Tom Foster

This is not America
Home of the free and the brave
My country tis’ of thee
Sweet land of liberty
Something’s gone awry
Wheels slowly turning
Fascist vice tightening
Is it manifest destiny or
Dues ex machina

This is not America
But it’s still the Fourth of July
Day of independence
Celebrating freedom and
I can’t light fireworks in my neighborhood
I can be fined for smoking
Sued for joking
Ticketed for no seatbelt
No helmet
Police can search my car
Business
Home without probable cause
Federal taxed
State taxed
Sales taxed
User fee’d
All in the name of progress
In the name of safety
Keeping us safe from ourselves
Big Brother or
Big Mother
This is not America
This is some kind of plutocratic oligarchy
Secret right wing club
A pogrom of prevarication to perpetuate the poor
This is not what our founding fathers had in mind.
Look around at all
The happy healthy sporty fit-n-Pepsi drinkin’ mtv generation
They’re goin’ places
They’re busy little bees
With 52” flat screen tv’s
And dvd’s in their suv's
They all wanna join the I’ve got mines
Well I’m here to say enough man
I don’t need no conscience sucking
Machiavelli goon squad creatures
Subtle domination through
Media generated lies
I mean the repression of freedom by this ruling elite
Has me nervously chasing my tail
Don’t need no societal lemmings
Riding shallow value systems
Waving their twin banners of contentment and consumerism
Good little sheep don’t bite the hand that feeds ‘em
Stupid flightless foul put their necks upon the block
And your government is hip on that baby so
Sleep
Good populace
Nice populace
Close your eyes
Don’t wonder
Don’t worry
Good populace
Nice populace
Sleep
Your government watches over you
Big Motherville of thee I sing but
It’s still the Fourth of July
Day of independence
Celebrating freedom and
I can’t
Light fireworks in
My neighborhood
This is not America