How about a poem to inspire us?

[Jackeens]

History says. Don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up.
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
Is reachable from here.

(Seamus Heaney)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nud9doJjtyk

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. OK

Violets are blue

Roses are red

If you vote for McLoser

You're sick in the head

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. A Nobel laureate for this poster!

[AtomicKitten]

2. here's to hoping for a sea change

:toast:

[Pyrzqxgl]

3. How about water into beer (prefer a good dark one like my Presidential candidate)

[AtomicKitten]

7. turn tequila into a Margarita and you're on

:toast:

[Morning Dew]

4. alright

A cranky young pilot McCain

Destroyed his plane 'gain and again

"A hero am I

I'll run by and by,

but likely I'll crash my campaign".

[WillieDee]

5. England in 1819

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn--mud from a muddy spring,
Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leech-like to their fainting country cling,
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,
A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,
An army, which liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay,
Religion Christless, Godless - a book seal'd,
A Senate - Time's worst statute unrepealed,
Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day.

[Empowerer]

6. "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Dedicated to the GOP: "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. Your poem reminded me of a very beautiful poem quoted by Joe Bageant

("joebageant.com") in one of his articles:


I am unjust, but I can strive for justice.
My life's unkind, but I can vote for kindness.
I, the unloving, say life should be lovely.
I, that am blind, cry out against my blindness.
Come, let us vote against our human nature,
Crying to God in all the polling places
To heal our everlasting sinfulness
And make us sages with transfigured faces.
-- From “Why I voted the Socialist Ticket,” by Vachel Lindsay

Vachel Lindsay's life makes very interesting reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachel_Lindsay

The odd thing is that, in the US now, you no longer seem to have the option of a spirit of disinterestedness and self-denial in relation to the way you vote, because you are all in this together, rich and poor. The only way richer people can prosper is to vote for a Democrat, and one who seems not all together to be in the DLC quasi Republican mould by any means.

The looming economic crisis, if realised, will be used by the loony right to urge cuts in public spending, but it ought to encourage all national leaders to imitate Roosevelt in his resolve to adopt a "bottom up", instead of a "top down" rescue of the nation and its people; the only sane and civilised way of governing a country at any time, anyway.

[Arugula Latte]

10. "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

[Arugula Latte]

12. Here is Will.I.Am's "Yes We Can" song which reads like a poem:

"Yes We Can" Lyrics

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. (We want change.)
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonant ……….. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea: Yes We Can.