America Lost

I live in a nation that doesn't know itself.
 
We've been around for more than 2 centuries.
In that time, we've changed.
Presidents come and go.
Jackson, Lincoln, Grant,
All leaders that did something.
Who led our nation.
Who fought for change.
Remembered now as the dead guys
whose faces grace our greenbacks.
 
Conflicts come and go.
Cold or Red-hot they were fought.
Some in the background, others, full frontal.
Sometimes the motives weren't known.
Other times, they were.
Even if they weren't what everybody wanted.
But they happened.
Crimson rivers flowed from necks,
Tears were shed back home.
But that America fought for change.
That America which knew the risks,
but went on anyway.
That America of yesteryear.
 
It's not the same.
Conflicts arise, sure.
But not for the right causes.
And not in the right places.
 
The men and women in the capital sit there.
And they fight.
And they bicker.
And they debate.
And they do nothing.
Congress is missing it's drive.
The stances on the issues used to matter.
The people used to matter.
But now the associations are what matter.
 
When November comes, elections do too.
People enter the polling booth one by one.
And they look at the choices and choose.
But they've ceased voting for the person.
Now it's what backs them.
Are they Red or Blue?
Conservative or Liberal?
Moderate or Radical?
Wall Street or Big Oil?
The candidates aren't candidates.
They are shells.
Carbon copies with no differences.
Except who they are backed by.
You can vote in the election.
But your wants don't matter.
Only those with the cash,
the capital,
the clout,
those are the ones the candidates listen to.
 
America exists.
But it has lost it's footing.
Those on Capitol Hill don't listen.
And we've stopped speaking.
 
The goverment exists to serve the people.
At least, that's what's supposed to happen.
But it doesn't.
And we've let it slide.
 
The American Dream still exists.
We've just lost sight of it.
But it'll be hard to find if we continue like this.
We have to get our leaders to change.
We have to change how the system works.
We have to change ourselves.
 
 

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