If America Were Free, If America Were Brave (Poetry)
By Little Big Pine
If America were free, fair and progressive taxation would drive its democracy and fuel the economy.
If America were brave, universal healthcare, free education, sustainable energy and organic farming would be as a fortress for the people.
If America were free, corporations would not be people, and money would not be speech.
If America were brave, every Congress would review and revise the Constitution towards greater democracy.
If America were free, it would know that home-grown corporate tyranny has pillaged its wealth, stolen its future and degraded the planet.
If America were brave, its servicemen and -women would refuse to fight for corporate interests.
If America were free, it would know that US Christian neoliberal foreign policy creates Islamic fundamentalism to impede secular and democratic power in the Moslem world.
If America were brave, it would overthrow the theocratic Christian corporate tyranny at home.
If America were free, the people would own the natural resources of the country, and its wealth would be shared.
If America were brave, the US military would invade ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, and repatriate the people’s wealth and future.
If America were free, the Joint Special Operations Command would not function as the president’s taxpayer-supported international death squad of black ops.
If America were brave, the US military would not drone-attack from the sky, and kick down village doors in the night.
If America were free, politicians would toss their phony flag-pins into the trash – like veterans in fits of rage throwing back their metals after discovering the big lie.
If America were brave, politicians would back the working class, and sell out corporations every time.
If America were free, the “God bless America” of scraping politicians could not flatter the people.
If America were brave, God would have nothing to do with it.
If America were free, love could not be divided.
If America were brave, opposite- and same-sex love would be equal under law.
If America were free, nudity and violence would change places on the silver screen.
If America were brave, any pair of consenting adults could fall in love, marry, raise children.
If America were free, marijuana would be legal, and tobacco would be Schedule I.
If America were brave, no one would graduate from high school before eating four grams of mushrooms and submitting a report.
If America were free, unions would cease to negotiate Labor’s exploitation, and support real change.
If America were brave, workers would control the means of production and share the profits.
If America were free, its inmates would not be a quarter of the world’s prison population.
If America were brave, it would not thirst for revenge and execution.
If America were free, it would know what freedom is.
If America were brave, it would know how to be courageous.
little big pine
october 2011
Little Big Pine: citizen, patriot, poet; may be reached at littlebigpine@gmail.com.
