How to Fix a Republic
 |
| Artist unknown |
HOW TO FIX A REPUBLIC
A Checklist in Stanzas for the Day After the Sweep
I. THE MORNING AFTER
When November has finished its business with ballots and ink,
while the old guard is blinking, too stunned yet to think,
let nobody mistake a left-wing victory lap
for a cure for the rot, or dead mice in the trap.
The voters have handed us hammer and nails,
now build something sturdy that outlasts the jails.
First, open the windows and air out the room,
let the sunlight expose what was hidden in gloom.
Preserve every record, each memo and file,
each vanished appointment, each sweetheart deal's smile.
If somebody's shredding, go stand by the bin,
Democracy's housecleaning starts from within.
Put watchdogs to work with their noses held high,
let no political bulldog decide what they spy.
An inspector must inspect, not applaud the parade,
nor turn tail when the boss says bills must be paid.
Give watchdogs teeth and the budget to bite,
and make sure their reports see the public’s bright light.
II. FOLLOW THE MONEY
Citizens United put corporate money up on stage,
The Supreme Court drew a line that still scribbles the page.
Changing that script will take more than outrage,
corporate spending must politically disengage.
Disclosure can start while amendments take flight,
put names to the money that bankrolls the night.
Let dark money step out of its velvet disguise,
no more shell games played underneath voters' eyes.
If dollars take detours through nonprofits and trusts,
trace every transfer, account for the dust.
Let sunlight do what subpoenas cannot,
make every big spender explain every plot.
Small donors deserve more than a pat on the head,
or a fundraising email that begs to be fed.
Match modest contributions, the public trust assume,
so the wealthy don't own every inch of the room.
A hundred small voices can reroute the train,
when the chorus of cash doesn't drown out our refrain.
III. THE LOBBY LOBBY
The lobbyist's business is access and charm,
A slick revolving door with a well-oiled arm.
One day you're a regulator, guarding the gate,
next you're billing a fortune to re-negotiate.
Put cooling-off periods firmly in place,
so public service isn't a networking race.
List clients and contacts, the issues at hand,
let the public see who is working which strand.
Who wrote the provision? Who asked for the clause?
Who profits when Congress rewrites the laws?
A meeting's no crime, nor a petition a sin,
but concealed special favors should never get in.
No gifts that come wrapped in a donor's embrace,
no luxury holidays bought with a case.
No stock-market fortune from secrets acquired,
no public decision where private gain's desired.
Blind trusts, divestment, disclosure that sticks,
and penalties tougher than parliamentary tricks.
IV. CAPITOL COMEDY
A congressman's portfolio shouldn't run wild,
while public decisions are privately styled,
when the millionaire tells us to tighten our belt,
the whole arrangement is universally smelt.
Restrict individual stock trades by clear rules,
Not wink-and-nod arrangements for shifty fools.
Publish the votes and the bills as they stand,
Let citizens see who has dealt which hand.
No burying legislation in committee's deep freeze,
No last-minute riders slipped in with such ease.
If lawmakers stall, let the public know why,
No hiding the pork behind a closed, moneyed eye.
Ethics should bite, not merely bark,
nor turn into theater that dies in the dark.
Investigate fairly, let evidence lead,
give due process its place and the public its read.
A rule that applies to the blue and the red
is worth ten thousand speeches that puff up the head.
V. THE BALLOT BOX
The ballot's a promise, a citizen's say,
not a favor bestowed on election day.
Make registration simple, make access secure,
keep eligible voters from needless detours.
No purge without notice, no arbitrary bar,
no moving the goalposts depending how votes are.
Put paper behind every electronic trace,
let audits confirm what the counters embrace.
Protect poll workers from threats and abuse,
and keep partisan muscle from tightening the noose.
Fund local elections, make procedures plain,
so trust has a footing beyond the campaign.
Draw districts in daylight, not smoke-filled back rooms,
where maps grow like weeds and only one party blooms.
Consider commissions, let fair standards apply,
and publish the data that shows voters why.
No crooked geometry, no partisan maze,
no carving a county to lengthen one's days.
VI. THE AIRWAVES
The Fairness Doctrine once asked broadcasters to share
some room for opposing views out in the air.
Its repeal in '87 left a different terrain,
and bringing it back isn't quite easy or plain.
The First Amendment still stands at the door,
don't hand the government a thought-policing chore.
Don't make the FCC the nation's referee,
with a partisan whistle and a monopoly key.
Look at local news, ownership, funding, and reach,
at the facts that get buried beneath the hot speech.
Make sponsors identifiable, political ads clear,
and keep independent journalism free from fear.
The press is no choir that must sing in one key,
nor a government lapdog trained to agree.
Let journalists question, investigate, impose,
and follow the money wherever it goes.
A public informed is a public awake,
harder to fool with a supposed mistake.
VII. THE EXECUTIVE SUITE
A president's power is a formidable tool,
Not a private fiefdom, not a personal school.
Emergency powers need limits and light,
With Congress reviewing their scope and their might.
No endless exception that swallows the rule,
No temporary measure turned permanent fuel.
Keep records intact when the occupants leave,
No shredding the past for what some might believe.
Preserve official messages, calendars, and files,
Don't let public business disappear into denials.
When orders are unlawful, let whistleblowers speak,
Protect them from vengeance, or a murderous sheikh.
The pardon is constitutional, weighty, and wide,
But public accountability shouldn't step aside.
Clarify what Congress can lawfully constrain,
And where the Constitution draws limits in the chain.
Don't promise a shortcut where courts must decide,
Put sound legal guardrails on the executive ride.
VIII. ROBES AND RECKONING
A robe isn't armor against every review,
And a title alone doesn't make conduct true.
Disclose gifts and travel, financial ties,
Make recusal rules clear when a conflict applies.
Independent review should examine the facts,
Not punish a judge for unpopular acts.
The Court must be guarded from partisan command,
Yet ethics and scrutiny belong in the land.
Don't threaten a justice for ruling one way,
Or tailor the rules to the case of the day.
Examine the structure, the tenure, the terms,
With constitutional care and debate that affirms.
Contracts and grants shouldn't flow to a friend,
Then vanish from view when the quarterbooks end.
Publish the bidders, the owners, the price,
Explain sole-source awards and the reasons precise.
Audit the waivers, the subsidies, too,
And claw back the money when fraud has come through.
IX. THE LONG HAUL
A law without funding is paper in rain,
A promise without teeth is a dog on a chain.
Hire the investigators, give auditors scope,
Give watchdogs the tools and the public the hope.
Set deadlines for filings, for answers, for review,
And make failure to act something citizens view.
Build a public scorecard, let facts take the stand,
Track vacancies, audits, disclosures at hand.
Measure the backlog, the fines, the delay,
And publish the numbers in plain English each day.
No party gets points just for wearing its hue,
The standard is whether the system works true.
Teach civics as craft, not a dusty old chore,
Show students what ballots and courtrooms are for.
Teach them to question a headline's appeal,
To check what is proven and what is spun steel.
A citizen armed with a skeptical mind
Is harder to hustle, harder to blind.
X. THE IRONCLAD PROMISE
Some changes need statutes, some states must agree,
Some amendments require a vast supermajority.
Article Five sets a formidable climb,
Three-fourths of the states must ratify in time.
So draft with precision, make arguments plain,
And don't sell a hard road as a stroll in the rain.
A right to vote, campaign rules built to endure,
Need language that's careful, constitutional, sure.
No promise that one amendment fixes the whole,
No magic incantation that cleans every soul.
The system needs upkeep, not one grand repair,
And every new safeguard needs someone to care.
Build laws that survive when the other side wins,
When the old opposition sits down and begins.
No vengeance disguised as a righteous crusade,
No rules that collapse when the power shifts shade.
If safeguards protect only friends in the hall,
They aren't safeguards at all, they're a partisan wall.
So here's the whole punch list, the work and the worth:
Keep money in view, keep the watchdogs on earth.
Let voters have access, let records remain,
Let power explain itself again and again.
Make government answerable, from basement to dome,
And leave fewer dark corners for corruption to call home.
For democracy isn't a trophy to win,
Then polish each year while the rot settles in.
It's a stubborn old house that needs tending each day,
With the roof kept in order and the pests chased away.
The test isn't who gets to sit in the chair,
But whether the next lot finds justice still there.
-----
I would love to know what you thought about this piece.
Please consider leaving a comment.
Comments
Post a Comment