The Tao Of Government Overreach

The best leaders are those their people hardly know exist. - Tao Te Ching

when the government agenda is set by shortsighted corporations

which have bought and paid for all of the elections

people see for whom rule by and for the people really works out to be

when the government overturns as failed and outdated

the policies of its immediate predecessors

people see just how quickly their best interests may be re-interpreted

when government employees reap benefits unavailable to the masses

yet are no longer fit to work at normal jobs

people sense the presence of strangers from alien institutions

when overpaid consultants and executives buzz like busy bees

between lobbyists and legislators

people observe the best and the brightest in all their wondrous glory

when governments compete for tax dollars from any new development

to finance their ever more bloated budgetary needs

citizens know where to look for guidance in creating a sustainable society

when homeland security is conducted behind utmost secrecy

within the worlds largest bureaucracy

people understand that the truly patriotic have nothing left but to fear

when the government makes a war against all the world's better judgment

the people must be helped to discern

morally obligatory pre-emptive defense from openly evil and naked aggression

when the government seeks to rip its last precious oil reserves

from its remotest remaining wilderness

people witness firsthand how conservatives practice conservation

when the government excludes SUVs, pick-up trucks and vans

from mileage and pollution standards

voters plainly see the finest governance that corporate money can buy

when 900000 pages of deliberately obfuscated tax code gibberish

funds a vast so-called industry of overpaid pig latin interpreters

people again see the wisdom of electing lawyers as their leaders

when conservative government leaders rail ignorantly against junk science

and criticize fuzzy math

the people feel free to belittle anything more complex than the average action movie

when the government tries to prod a sluggish consumer economy

by offering yet another prod of unfunded kickstart

people bend and submit once more to the financial electrodes

when the government's focus is always upon the latest poll

in advance of the next upcoming election

people do not miss the foresightful forefathers that they never learned of at all

when the government official tells God he must bless the country after every speech

and asks us all to add our prayers

good people sleep all the better knowing that He is on their side

when the government declares that every other nation

is simply either with us or against us

people know that even heathen foreigners will listen to simple reason

when the government encourages conglomerates to buy up all the media

and the vapid so-called news is the same on every channel

people scoff at the notion of an ever-vigilant press which guards their civil rights

when the government taxes cigarettes almost enough to make the smokers quit

then subsidizes tobacco farmers and pays Medicaid for lung diseases

people know that somewhere all these actions must make sense together

when governments sell more in weapons than they provide for development

and insurgents can get guns more easily than mothers can find flour

people are glad to note that their leaders pray humbly for lasting peace, every night

when one government spends more on its military than all the rest together

people can understand that increasing ignorance and poverty

is a slightly sad but necessary effect, of protecting our own Traditional Family Values

when the government speaks openly of might making right

while destroying societies to spread freedom in wars of liberation

be sure that the world worships in joyful wonder, the image of its only super power

when the government subsidizes its chosen religious groups

which discriminate based upon belief

those alienated mull upon the motto "one nation under God"

when the government takes away the knitting needles

from frightened grandmothers flying off to family holidays

wise men know our travel is made safer from ruthless terrorist killers

when the government always makes very little sense at all

the people find a consistency that they can come to rely upon

and with which the meaninglessness of their own lives dovetails very well