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when the government overturns as failed and outdated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

Fearless, Furtive Corporate Leaders

Who are these leaders that we only follow because our paychecks barely cover us week to week?

These so-called captains of industry, siphoning off vast and undeserved riches

Preaching the value of competition while buying government import tariffs

From where do they draw the moral authority and social conscience to send our jobs overseas?

Masters of simultaneous backbiting and ass-kissing, they have shoulder-climbed to the top

Faceless drones in expensive suits, piously mouthing an ambiguous patriotic, political correctness

People who do not write and let others read their email, yet make great decisions

Their Insular MBAs, lawyers and accountants provide all the counsel they might ever need

Great swashbuckling heroes who lack the courage to meet the eyes of those they pay

Half man, half mannequin, parroting pre-digested, nonsensical, pre-recorded pabulum

Intrepidly guiding that great ship of capitalism from high above in a rich suite, safe on shore

Trained in the arts of cronyism and influence-peddling, they scuttle from the light of inquiry

They are our great moral beacons, illuminating all that’s good within our system

Lying and dealing to raise stock prices, stealing and then floating off under golden parachutes

Able to control simpering lackeys with the mere suspicious raising of an eyebrow

Mouthing pious platitudes about free trade while bribing officials for subsidies

Great patriots and defenders of freedoms with huge secret offshore accounts

Supporters of human rights running sweatshops throughout the third world

Brave knights of capitalism on a quest to secretly become Masters of the Universe

Good fathers they are, sending our children’s jobs to foreign lands forever

Far-seeing leaders whose great vision sometimes might even extend beyond next quarter’s results

Defenders of democracy, running brutal, petty, hidden dictatorships all their own

Falsely pumping stock prices through churning by formulaic mergers, layoffs and synergy

Slashing jobs and benefits by the magic twenty percent analysts approve

Whining that America requires better education in science and math

Outsourcing engineering and research jobs, saving money for perhaps one whole year

Commanding lavish perqs, bonuses and stock options as star players

Yet, their actual contributions are not measurable by standard accounting methods

Treating the masses like sheep, hand-in-hand with friendly political sock puppets

They measure world progress by secret internal financial statements and stock market numbers

Staying on message via the media they have simplified and conglomerated

Blithely not even reporting that which ruffles their sponsor’s agendas

Benevolent dictators of food, fashion, sport, automobiles and recreation

Agilely co-opting, cheapening and offshore mass-producing other’s ideas for quick profits

Marginalizing dissident voices via their paid professional ‘opinion leaders’

Upbeat no matter what, and inevitably ‘eager for the chance to clear my name’ without no comment

Insulated in estates, limousines and personal jets, they listen to their guts

Their god-given talents wasted on greed, hubris and corporate politics

Who are these ‘leaders’ at whose behest politicians rail so loudly against over-regulation?

Who spends millions on crafted corporate images which totally bely their real actions & intentions?

They preach the wisdom and benevolence of the unfettered free marketplace

Meanwhile, blackmailing for tax breaks and whining of regulation’s costs in jobs and money

They extol the benefits of free enterprise, competition and entrepreneurship

They merge and acquire towards a goal of tightly-controlled global oligarchies

Hiding, shifting and conniving to ‘make their numbers’ and fool the analysts

Dumping pumped, exorbitant stock options at the top of an artificial curve they created

Lying about leaving to ‘pursue other interests’ or ‘to spend more time with their families’

They feel terrible for employees watching as locked retirement savings evaporate

How is it they are revered as all-powerful, absolute, unchallenged dictators? -

While always claiming they did nothing and knew nothing of those many wrongdoings

They rise based on their need for attention, all consuming greed and blackhole egos

When under scrutiny they appear mute in fine suits with expensive lawyers who do all the talking

They retreat inside secured compounds saying they look forward to clearing their names

Once they have safely sheltered their takings they express their grief and deepest sympathies

Who are these swashbuckling lieutenants who cook books to woo the analysts?

Smirking masters of slick PowerPoints posturing behind hardwood podiums in fine suits

Shallow and petty, vapid and vain, pathologically-focused and viciously passively-aggressive

Living proof of the innate infallibility of the so-called blind hand of the free marketplace

Unrepentant yet deeply concerned, wrist-slapped, but still our models going forward

Whining for subsidies while bribing for reductions in tariffs on their outsourced goods

Retiring to supervise the creation of fictional autobiographies and scam motivational courses

Who are these polished liars promising the better jobs of tomorrow as they offshore us forever?

How is it their compensation skyrockets as they slash wages, jobs, benefits and pensions?

Faceless fearless leaders pulling strings behind the scenes, sage masters of their known universe

When the people grow up chasing endless empty fads

when the citizens have no safe places that they have always known

because all is in the chaos of cheap construction and hourly work migration

they should grow skittish and uneasy

like caribou forced to migrate past packs of hungry wolves

when the people worship only what is new

the children try to invent an entire culture of their own

and then quickly they grow old and confused

and are discarded with a strange distaste for themselves

when the people do not honor the food that they eat

animals live like prisoners and die stripped of their grace

the land is violated by many forms of dirty runoff

yet some still yearn for the simple lilt of missing songbirds

when the country gulps from plastic that it quickly throws to the ground

and its commercials require more thought than its entertainment

its strength is diminished and its future in doubt

yet it is not painful to those dancing hypnotized in a dull throng

when corporate agribusiness controls the food supply

and stock prices guide the stewardship of our sustaining land

the future appears both raggedly hungry and quite filthy to the disaffected

when developers create communities and give them idyllic names

and create streets meant to recall other times

those who are not team players may mournfully intone that

what is no more, and cannot return, will always be the better

when it is cheaper to bulldoze rich farmland for new cheap strip malls

than it is to re-develop shoddily-built and decaying storefronts

some people see the true wisdom

of the invisible hand of capitalism stroking the sacred free marketplace

when home owners speculate on gains from their properties

making improvements only to appeal to prospective buyers

and to enhance their curb appeal

others see the true meaning of our Traditional Family Values shining thru

when the winning candidates always spend more than their rivals

in campaigns all run by sloganizing puppeteers

and corporate sponsors quickly recoup their election investments

people revel in the spiritual experience of the democratic process

when a man is ashamed that his car is too old

and women routinely throw out clothes that they have never worn

consumption remains high enough to support the holy economy

and advertisers have won a great victory for leveraged consumerism

when an honest workman feels that he must be a loser

and is ashamed of his good craft

his country has abandoned purpose and reason

and the image makers have falsely robbed him of his dignity

when the people grow up chasing endless empty fads

ignoring all else as passé or unimportant

it is with a cold and faceless impartiality that

they, too, very quickly pass out of style as well

when the old are disgusted with what the world has become

and are simply glad that time has, at last, passed them by

the young come of age full of unrelated images, each only half-digested

their brains an unsorted compost heap of mass entertainment

when the people do not know what to do with their elders

and they are laid aside and asked to pay to be kept out of sight

when no one knows what these citizens are living for

the society which asks this question can have no decent answer

when expensive dogs are purchased from puppy mills as status symbols

but left out alone in empty fenced yards

before, very soon, to be sent away forever more

children learn the value of commitment and companionship

when the angry young man, once so widely admired,

morphs pathetically into a bitter and tired old fool

his impotent rage becomes boring repetition

and he is quite easily left behind and quickly forgotten

when the people burn bright lights outside their homes

throughout every night of each year

and more is spent on security systems than for reading material

the children grow up coping with implants of ignorance and paranoia

when grown men spend good money having pickup trucks make more noise

though they are too big to park and have no place for groceries

little boys learn what is important though father's never home

growing up tough as nails and dumber than the dirt

when mothers spend their time in knots of vicious gossip

merely aping empty fashion trends

and pursuing shopping as an extreme avocation

no one need wonder why girls do poorly in science and math

when anger, revenge and greed provide the best in workplace motivation

even though the silly mantra of political correctness is regularly invoked

how easy can it be then, once at home with the family

to lay it all aside and be gentle and just, kind, calm and loving

when senior officials, hip-hoppers, movie stars and athletes

turn up their noses at education, science and normal work

while violence, ignorance and crime are portrayed as part of ordinary life

why are we surprised when first offenders cannot read, write or add

when our parents wind up languishing in their own smelly wastes

in institutions staffed by tired drop-outs and illegal immigrants

shortly to be preyed upon by a conglomerated funeral ‘industry’

who would argue that our own lives are not, thereby, greatly diminished

when the most important of all the many government spending items

is how much we can spend on killing other people

while whipping up the public against enemies in the shadows

it becomes clear that the business of war shall prosper, forever more

when the incumbent promises things he could already have delivered

many poorer citizens may still trust him if he seems to be nice,

and spends good money on family images with soothing voices and safe music

while touting moral values but favoring the rich and the incorporated donors

when intelligent people read only pre-digested spin from a for-profit press

it is easier to maintain the consistency and rhythm of the message,

thereby ensuring that the rational will not panic, bolt and run,

while establishing by repetition what seems false upon first impression

when elections are brought to you by corporations to reach financial goals,

none of which include family values or environmental nonsense

and slick firms launch expensive campaigns designed to spin the candidates

who would be surprised if voters are treated as simple target markets

when the credit cards are all maxed out and the houses aren’t worth their loans

and once-cheap imports and outsourced skills are simply unaffordable

when all the strip malls are complete and the entire ecosystem shattered

the people can still sit inside gasless SUVs, communing with their personal saviors