American Demons

One day America really will be great again.

But first they’re going to have to get rid of a few more demons.

When the leaders are ready to foresee pandemics coming from afar,

With plenty of warning,

And protect the people from petty hatreds and disagreements,

When America can once again spread peace and love,

and constructive friendship around the world,

Including brokering even handed peace treaties in every nation,

instead of favouring the powerful over the poor every time.

Including even handed policing, so all its citizens are given equal chances of making their lives a success.

Stevie Wonder comes on my play list.

What happened to songs in the Key Of Life?

Come on America, let yourself get back on track.

The Black and the White, the Red and the Yellow, and all shades in between,

Together in harmony.

When were Americans ever guaranteed employment?

When were they ever not used as a labour resource,

Dragged in from all the nations of the world,

For the benefit of big business interests,

Capitalism in the extreme.

If the cotton and tobacco Lords had been just a lot kinder to their slaves,

there might not have been a civil war,

and all those American lives, North and South, might not have been lost

Christopher Columbus is torn down from his pedestal in countless places.

Maybe the Red Man will make a comeback?

And the Africans can go back to Africa at last?

I don’t think they want to now, and why should they?

They long since became Americans, long before any of us today were born!

And Confederate Generals and Politicians, are remembered, not too favourably these days.

How did the defeated get to be remembered, even after they were defeated?

Well they might not be remembered any more if Black Lives Matter get their way,

But personally I think most statues are a good reminder of the past, in all its complexity.

I don’t want to forget, but to remember all of it.

How can we defeat the evils or unfairness of the future if we can’t even remember the past?