1
Perusing the constitution one dayas if for the first time one might say
"We the people of the United States..."
it famously starts and then it states:
"...in order to form a more perfect union..."
some judges wept like they'd eaten onions
the strict constructionists in them were shocked
and vowed to do what the framers forgot
it didn't seem right to endow so few
as just everyone with rights - me and you
when wealthy need rights above all the rest
because our rich are the blest of the blest
some are so grand they need more protection
they are elites and we must needs elect them
some are so rich they're more equal than you
and need rights twice over to prove it true
"such is the gulf that gapes wide before us
the bridge that these changes must provide us
cross through the constitution and rewrite it
though if you ask us thrice we'll deny it
people have too much say in what we do
what should we do?" they pondered through and through
then debated for a moment or two
and asterisked, "Oh, corporations, too!* "
"with no regard to right or to reason
we'll say a corporation apes a person
equal under law is overrated
and should be downgraded, graduated
from the tyranny of these rude masses
and given back to the upper classes
back to exactly where they once belonged
till this constitution thing came along
"the old ways are just too inefficient
we'll keep the base, change the coefficient
rig the table and put a nice tilt to it
then fold inequity back into it
change not the body of law as it sits
but only who our laws most benefit
this will make our position so much stronger
our party will grow and their's will wither
"great! cue up the Halleluia Chorus
we have a massive one vote consensus"
by margin of a lone (middle) digit
John Roberts put his John Hancock to it
by a tiny five-four majority
they undid our law of two centuries
don't need constitutional amendments
to reverse sacred national tenets
by law's pretense they rewrote its thesis
which lived as the constitution's basis
their patrons found it too inconvenient
so they bent rules fundamental to it
to implicitly leverage great wealth
against our future freedom's long term health
and cantilevered law over an abyss
of corrupt campaigns and special interests
they gutted the US constitution
and the Independence Declaration
and before their opponents knew what to do
they had effected a virtual coup
now the people can no longer afford
free elections they were once accorded
from one man one vote now the rich get two
they keep theirs and buy your congressman's too
II
let's lay their legal complexities bare
their theory is that if two things should share
one thing in common they must share them all
a dilemma a simpleton could solve
this isn't new writ but old as the seas
the fight of wealth against democracy
these old Tory antebellum musings
have long since ceased to be amusing
first they say spending is just like speaking
which is like calling breaking wind breathing
and now humans are like corporations
- surely news to the God of creation
which means that the rich can buy elections
and there's no way under law to stop them
not by law's original intention
but big money's cynical invention
think if animals were deemed as human
everyone would turn vegetarian
when corporations are likewise decreed
our core guiding principle becomes greed
equality's slaved to market forces
to be bought and sold like yachts or horses
elections become inflationary
and quality degrades accordingly
The world's full of greed and venality
hard enough to watch in society
but to grant it respectability
by immuning its illegalities
confuses our salaries with their bribes
in our elected officials' small minds
denigrates ideals and elevates cold cash
puts their worst ideas first and our best last
some accuse congress of being puppets
and say this will take the ante and up it
some say these jurists' juris lacks prudence
and they hold no regard for precedence
but they were aglee at their own genius
"how has this country survived without this?
no wrong! how has it lived without us?
our founders pale compared to our brilliance
"what's it to you, got a problem with this?"
they chortled, "stare' who? indecisis!
we'll not let these rabid leftists dogs
criticize we righteous with their blogs
the ordinary press is far too coward
to dare raise their voices up too loud
the democrats are much too defensive
to do anything but sit on fences
"in making campaign spending ubiquitous
we aren't doing anything iniquitous"
"not so," cried Alito, shaking his head
so often his neck might just come unscrewed
Kennedy (not of those) gave a sick grin
Thomas grunted but didn't add anything
Roberts frothed and fumed like cheap shampoo
"it's not wrong to help some who will harm you"
"only right wing nuts like us privy truth
quick duck, Dick told me duck hunting, eh Ruth?"
said Scalia, slapping Ginsberg's forehead
"oops too slow, next I'll gavel Kagan instead
for unless we can purge this court Ruthless
our innovations may get used less
if it takes filling overshoes with cement
to keep our majority so be it
III
"how could anyone not paying attention mind
if we tweak the constitution's first line
because in proroguing the preamble
we don't change law just redefine 'people'
to include far more predatory species
a shrewd and subtle shift in emphasis"
to appease doubters who'd dare to quibble
with their quill crayons they crudely scribbled
a few paltry prefixes such as "im"
before perfect and, since wealth abhors 'em
that's unions, put "dis" in front of them too
to quite strictly reconstruct line two too
"we the people of the United States...
(and corporations also!)" eventuates
"to form a more (im)perfect (dis)union..."
read their new improved and abridged version
they filled in these blanks temporarily
to show the moneyed aristocracy
"see the only club this aids is you few
who are flush enough to pay the entry dues"
then erased it so no one else could see
their true sense of freedom's exclusivity
and how narrow was their real intention
as they snuck the con back in constitution
then elided it so it seems unchanged
though the only resemblance is the name
they've not just mimiced original intent
but wrote law perfectly counter to it
to serve moneyed interests not individuals'
not citizens but all things commercial
it's one of the oldest stories ever told
freedom crucified on a cross of gold
forget equal rights and high ideals
this will make the country grovel and kneel
to crude capital accumulation
and random large financial consortiums
as large shareholders, boards of directors
have more say than officials' electors
to reinterpret our economy's function
to insure it remains unfairly rationed
to raise moneymakers over lawmakers
puts us in the hands of carnival barkers
to put this think tank junk on their docket
only greases gears and turns the sprockets
of those who'd keep congress in their pockets
as the judges, pols, robes and jackets
loll around on their high dollar junkets
they'd sell America once more for trinkets
allowing dollars to flood our elections
produces bought and paid for politicians
levers lawmaking at its conception
and lets no ruling go against them
to run the country with money changers
rather than honest legislators
turns public servants servile employees
of any money that ponies up their fees
it's more to do with right wing screed
not of law's need but of power and greed
that let's lobbyists, pimps and their consorts
radically invade and violently contort
by quid pro quo, pay-offs and kickbacks
hijack legislation and get earmarks
as interest conflicts, influence peddlers
hold more cards than any bloc of voters
IV
even good faith laws by congress to try
to limit the worst traducers easy entry
were thwarted by the Court's interventions
which suggests their coercive intentions
for with just the resources to score key
allegiance of just a few committees
money vandals may plunder public purses
for purely malign private purposes
"if campaign finance abuses ensue - so?"
they say, "there's no proof of quid pro quo"
but you'll know who to be beholden to
if large sums of cash come to support you
and you will code your speech to earn it
and vote as you're told once you get it
the court's reasoning is too cute by half
the loopholes it leaves by design gape vast
"of course money won't always win," they'll say
but will still corrupt both sides either way
and will cede wealth majority control
over debate no matter which way it goes
as the court helps the fewest with the most
to lord it over the most with the least
which will serve financial interests to the bone
while chiseling the nation's cornerstone
a camel through the eye of a needle
stands less chance of heaven than evil
Jesus said but the court ignores this
to afford the most pull to the least fit
how god-like to bestow human-like traits
and characteristics to inanimate
objects and give wealth a life of its own
as if capital were somehow unowned
to say business is human and coin speech
is equivalent to letting loose leeches
to suck our life's blood not cure diseases
which will leave the body politic speechless
as the vile ethics of corporations
course through the veins of the nation
the corrosive rot is just beginning
like a phantom ghost unseen in the rigging
today there are no saints known on Wall Street
yet their sway over us is near complete
and there patriots are few and far between
to grant them such influence is obscene
as if souls could be teased from paving stones
even while throwing families from homes
even in Frankenstein's famous story
monsters weren't made head of laboratory
corruption is money's special province
only cause no one else can afford it
as bad "free" money drowns out good free speech
corporations will circumvent freedom's reach
not to enhance but strictly qualify
divine rights, equality and liberty
shredding delicate balances of law
with all the legal finesse of dumb chain saws
to claim these are devout federalists
is insulting to faith and intelligence
original intent is what they want it
not how the framers' intended it
why waste time in democratic debating
when wads of green cash will do the same thing
as pols push legislation lobbyists write
they don't even have to read it then, right?
V
on Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy
fell two of the worst bombs in history
at least as to how they were decided
Bush v. Gore and Citizens United
like commissioners before the game is done
pick up the ball and claim their side's won
to show their disdain for law and the nation
and ensure one of their own's election
these three abrogated a free election
to deny democracy's just selection
take that three of a kind and add Alito
and Roberts as a dull pair to draw to
and you have the least juridical
if not corrupt, most political
Supreme Court we've ever known
and that's exactly what their record's shown
both these cases point to the same end to limit
the public's say over their government
"not so," whines Alito, head like a swivel
"without our say so law's just drivel"
excited the way a pup wags its tail
in anticipation of a real good smell
"agreed," snapped Roberts like a tortoise
"if you don't like it you can just sue us"
Kennedy snides: "why sell your complaints short?"
take them all the way to the Supreme Court"
they took this to be quite hilarious
like tumors their humor spreads infectious
a break from merely sanctimonious
getting him overexcited and cantankerous
Scalia forced poor Ginsberg to the floor
and had her in a headlock before
she could summon aid from Sotomayor
causing him to ease up, "no mas, no more"
he pled, for wise Latinas always frightened him
"no harm (though I tried), no foul (though I am)"
for Thomas he just kept frowning mutely
staring down at his hands inastutely
proving clear that these jurists have no clothes
at least none that body scans show under robes
to let a Fourth Branch intercede between
officials and their duties is obscene
and then to claim this is freedom of speech
is as dangerous as it is specious
our system of checks and balances
cannot include the buying of offices
vital issues of interest to the nation
go begging for want of a wealthy sponsor
magic money heals blindness in justice
piercing the constitutional poultice
democracy turns a fractious practice
when capital's put at the heart of it
money's a measure of our differences
not means of unifying consciences
the court's forgotten whom it's working for
and doesn't care good from bad any more
as big money copulates with congress
our prostitution laws are incongruous
that abase the girl and let the john be freed
we've seen what manner of offspring this breeds
as the lean wolves howl at the hen house door
near altars of golden calves and idols more
suited to ancient pagan rituals
than any law decreed uncriminal
VI
at the same point our greatest strength resides
our chief vulnerability abides
free speech, fair elections and honest debate
by unpromised candidates and incumbents
is the base on which all our best hopes rest
free of "special" conflicts of interests
by traitors who democracy would buy
and who've just been granted license to try
cash in our politics is combustible
no need for it to be contemptible
if decent chaste separation is kept
those it touches won't be morally bankrupt
as its investments become more foreign
it has less in common with the nation
like law, solvency and job creation
and any kind of timely legislation
money should be kept from politicians
like an open flame from cans of gasoline
yet like a shotgun wedding prearranged
with congress the ball and the court the chains
when money is made the main inducement
charlatans gravitate to government
and we wind up paying double the freight
for their mendacity and their mistakes
then still have to pay their bills when they go bust
and these are who the court says we must trust
if we bail them out who will bail out us
when government is this banal and unjust
as congress courts the upper classes
the court peers through its caste colored glasses
and Wall Street runs like a vast pyramid scheme
the American dream's gravely demeaned
as the British Empire fell in accord
investments flew away from it not toward
once more pounds could be made abroad
where higher profit margins abounded
this is the shore we are approaching now
that this group is vastly unprepared for
as all our economic resources
are mortgaged to malign foreign forces
though money is the worst natural enemy
of the inner workings of democracy
wealth strokes the political prejudice
of these five conservative justices
their misfiring small men's minds small bore
rulings lurch the whole country back toward
a crude pre-revolutionary world
our founding fathers hoped they'd destroyed
to say you can only spend money you own
above limits on others, you've sown
bias in a system meant to be fair
and debased elections everywhere
as only those flush with great resources
can hold hostage our public processes
money is the exclusionary clause
which serves a myriad of corrupt causes
money and truth cannot exist side by side
when it is in money's interest to lie
even Adam Smith says it will connive
to fix prices and monopolize
why is it then such a deep surprise
that unleashed it goes all lords of the flies
to cheat us and steal from and victimize
precious economic commodities
VII
so money is not free speech as they cite
but very nearly it's perfect opposite
since its only goal is self enrichment
it's quick to plunder the best of government
fund disinformation and propaganda
from its lavish homes in the Bahamas
it even evades the few taxes it owes
as its interests diverge more from our own
it doesn't care about health care or education
that's a concern of more plebian minions
it'll downsize us and still make its billions
it'll send jobs overseas to the lowest bidders
though their head's already in its armpit
it will still corrupt congress as it sees fit
to augment its private accounts offshore
it'll work more often against us than for
so it has devolved to this, a few men
who can't grasp the age they were born in
stuck with the one creed they can comprehend
though it's anti-democratic as sin
that the side which has the most money wins
it's with this group they have chosen to align
and not till graft oozes from government's
every pore and eyelid will they relent
their stance is far less legal than royal
their demeanor more royal than loyal
they act as courtiers to a court of kings
- not a court of law - subservient to nothing
their judiciousness is as near exemplary
as this doggerel is to poetry
but that's fine they deserve no high treatise
based on how dismissively they treat us
they can only pray their work will do its worst
and rescind the one law they can't reverse
as their dispensation corrupts the nation
and wrenches us back in the wrong direction
cause this train oncoming is sure to teach
just how wide with our past has ripped this breach
and I fear they won't admit they've overreached
till one, more or all of them stand impeached
