If the trout disappear from streams drained for watering lawns and
washing cars
It
may be said to be a small part of god’s mysterious scheme of things
If
the polar bears have no more ice to wander about upon to look for
seals to eat
Why,
someone once asked me what a polar bear had ever done for him
If
the insects needed by parent birds now arrive before their eggs hatch
Is
the world any poorer if we do not have so many songbirds?
If
we build roads to prevent wildfires by removing only the largest
trees
Our
children will not have to face such old-growth controversies
If
we use bulldozers to sculpture every piece of open land
What
real harm is there if it all looks, and actually feels, quite the
same
If
the ponderosa pines retreat ever higher from the heat and the drought
Won’t
we still have some purple mountain majesty left, somewhere else
If
agribusiness and petrochemical interests take over all the farms
We
can still make calendars with quaint and peaceful rural scenes
If
we have a half a billion people living with us in our current fashion
We
will likely still retain this good and peaceful quality in our lives
If
we allow every impoverished and illiterate teenager to bear children
We
know in our hearts we were righteous in ignoring their offspring
If
we catch and kill and eat every last one of those mighty bluefin tuna
It
won’t affect my take home pay, not even by a penny
If
our lakes are merely cesspools and our rivers simply transport wastes
who
really cares if we can still drive to the movies at the mall
If
there are no more engineers, scientists or technologists in our
country
maybe
the unemployment rate will, nonetheless, remain quite low
If
our children sit at home for hours wrapped up in exotic video games
Schools
just need a little work to make the difference in their futures
If
two million people make a parasitic living pimping a real estate
bubble
Their
blind greed shows free enterprise to be man’s noblest invention
If
we strive to manufacture food animals as efficiently as some form of
plastic widget
There
is not the slightest chance we have lost any of our humanity
If
power plants are allowed to add a bit more mercury to our infants
brains
That
means cheap and plentiful juice to microwave our instant meals
If we just let their diesels continue spewing this grayish and
tubercular fog
Wal*Mart
can hold the line on the prices of its imported goods for us all
If
we let two thirds of our children leave school not knowing how to
read
They
need only wait for the better jobs replacing those gone forever
overseas
If
we spend a half a trillion on defense every year against shadowy,
homeless enemies
Surely
it is unpatriotic to vote against giving our boys what they need
If
we over-fertilize, over-water and over-poison our own artificial
lawns
Agribusiness
will, of course, be the good stewards of our blessed farmland
If
the wheelchairs should be allowed to penetrate the wilderness
Then
surely ATVs and snow machines can provide accessibility as well
If
the European people that we once were, shake their heads in disbelief
we
believe it still must be some wondrous, sunny morning in America
If
seal milk is laced with toxic dioxin and cancerous PCBs
How
can that affect me as I watch pro sports on my big screen TV?
If
the ash trees all die from parasites borne on containers full of
imported goods
Which
patriotic jet-skier really gives a flipping damn?
If
the grizzly bear retreats until he reaches a point of no return
The
livelihoods of patriotic ranchers will no longer be quite so
threatened
If
we let the big energy boys write policy that mirrors their best
interests
Clearly,
these experts know what laws best serve god and country
If
it is cheaper to bulldoze open space than to rebuild aged retail
centers
It
shows how isolated economic self-interest blindly operates to
optimize our futures
If
the oil sheik puppets suck our blood and nurture our terrorist
enemies
It
is a cowardly lie to say we support them every time we fill our tanks
If
our food, clothing, shelter and entertainment all come from
corporations
The
lifeblood of our great country still remains the creativity of its
people
If
you act on the premise that you need a new car every other year
We
hold it self-evident that advertising is mainly in the public
interest
If
families take turns controlling the American political scene
Old
Europe should wake up and take a lesson from our new realities
If a
minority tortures and humiliates, we the righteous remain blameless
A
few crusaders have punished the perpetrators of far greater crimes
If
the reality of war and death is withheld or sanitized by the censors
We
are spared the troubling images which threaten security issues
If our troops are recruiting daily for Al-Queda on Aljazeera
We
will spread the message of democracy throughout the middle east
If
forty-five million plus uninsured can get treated only at emergency
rooms
Our
nation provides the best and greatest choice of health care in all
the world
If
we need television subtitles to decipher the speech of our own
citizens
Let
us revel in the strength of the diversity found in our great caste
system
If
we foster an elite and outsource all mental and physical labor
Americans
remain the most creative salesmen in the business world
If
genetically modified crops and bacteria spread wildly without
foresight, but for profit
The
American farmer is a reservoir of conservative traditional values
If
we bog down in expensive little wars in far off desert wastelands
The
American military is the mightiest fighting force upon the planet
If
thirty percent of our children live in poverty and have but a single
parent
The
wisdom of our people lies in their innate common sense
If
we turn our best farmland into strip malls and throwaway tickytacks
American
agribusiness can feed the entire hungry world
If
we stir up a nest of bearded fanatics whose only wish is to die for
god
Our
motives are pure and our actions far beyond any reproach
If
we allow slaughter, disease, ignorance and torture to flourish in
Africa
Our
work in other parts of the globe is still not strictly concerned with
oil
If
we grow brutal, loud, greedy, arrogant and ignorant in front of the
world
We
draw strength and piety from our history and traditional values
If,
inexplicably, the frogs disappear from the marshes and the ponds
We
still will not permit any net losses to our precious wetlands
If
all the signs and the menus come in half a dozen languages
We
will surely never become a Balkanized land of Alphabet Soups
If,
at the end of the day, we are known best for our clever advertising
Our
ideas can gain traction if we simply stay on message
If
we allow big oil to make us groveling hostages to the petro-sheiks
We
must safeguard our energy needs by any means at our disposal
If
the air is dirty, the water fouled, the trees clearcut and the
animals extinct
Human
life, security, the family and our jobs will still remain the goals
we seek
If
there are no more big trees and we shoot the bears and trap the
wolves
Third
world lands should doubtlessly preserve their flora and their fauna
If our daily bread comes from factories and our milk is genetically
improved
Global
Industrial agriculture feeds the way to a better tomorrow for our
children
If
we are the willing victims of our selfish and greedy mass
hallucinations
Our
cause is surely righteous for He leads us upon our self-serving way
If
we find we must consume obscenely, merely to keep the economy afloat
The
sure guidance of the omnipotent unseen market hand will lead us
safely to heaven
If
we drive an hour each way, waste ten more, doing things that we
despise
We
urge all our citizens to partake in the dignity of Self
Responsibility
If
geography is a puzzle and arithmetic is too hard except for losers
We
are committed to the notion that no child will know they’re left
behind
If
we steadfastly hold to the one true course to which He has committed
us
Faith-based,
free-enterprise social-Darwinism will rule in this world and the next
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