The Man Who Broke Democracy

The voters of his scenic state are lagging near the bottom
in economics, education, health care, yet he’s got ’em
unwittingly submitting to repeatedly renewing
a covenant of lies to keep
compliantly complicit sheep
co-authoring democracy’s undoing.

Constituents uphold him as a prime Kentucky wonder.
Electing him was second to the most unlucky blunder
Americans have ever made. His forty years of scheming
attest to values plasticized,
a cancer that’s metastasized
throughout the land with open lesions streaming.

Applauded as a brilliant strategist, he is enabled
by unrepentant colleagues whose integrity’s been tabled
in favor of the golden calf that feeds their lust for power.
But if the final story’s told
their legacy of slimy mold
will darken history’s pages but an hour.

ccby 2020 Mary Boren

Watch Republicans, masters of stealth


 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday delayed a vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act until after the July 4 recess, indicating he lacks support to advance the bill.

 

The delay came one day after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 22 million people would lose coverage under the GOP plan, thanks in large part to massive cuts to Medicaid.

 

The delay buys McConnell, who could only afford to lose two GOP votes, more time to shore up support in his caucus.

 

Here’s Where Key Senators Stand On The GOP Health Care Bill
Huffington Post

 

Watch Republicans, masters of stealth,
in the art of distributing wealth,
conspire to get more
by stripping the poor
of affordable care for their health.

 

© Susan Eckenrode, 6/27/17

Craven Kentuckian

“No man has done more in recent years to undermine the functioning of U.S. government. His has been the epitome of unprincipled leadership, the triumph of tactics in service of short-term power.”

 

Mitch McConnell, the man who broke America
Dana Milbank, Opinion, The Washington Post

 


 

 

Cunningly, cannily,
Mitchell McConnell he
plans with precision to
pillage for pay.

Craven Kentuckian,
pseudorepublican,
crushing the soul of the
U.S. of A.

© 2017 Mary Boren

 


“Repeal and replace” hit a glitch (5-link limerick chain)

 

 

 

“Anti-poverty advocates insist there is evidence that not helping the poor will hurt in the long run. Olivia Golden, executive director of CLASP, the Center for Law and Social Policy, notes that the Trump administration wants to shift money from low-income Americans to spend more in areas such as defense, security and law enforcement.”

Advocates Say Trump Budget Cuts Will Hurt the Country’s Most Vulnerable
NPR

 

Graphic by Rafael Barker


“Repeal and replace” hit a glitch,
So it’s on to the next scheming pitch.
Keep an eye on the facts:
TrumpCare or TrumpTax,
His deals always favor the rich.

© 2017 Colleen Anderson

Though his deals always favor the rich
and he savors the ole bait and switch,
he’s no longer in Oz;
so this wizard that was
looks for help from a turtle named Mitch.

© 2017 Susan E. Eckenrode

With help from a turtle named Mitch
and a cabinet itching to ditch
every benefit gained
for the poor and untrained,
our democracy’s coming unstitched.

© 2017 Mary Boren

With democracy coming unstitched
and America seeming bewitched,
we hope that soon reason
will rout out the treason
so we’re no longer trapped in betwixt.

© 2017 Lily Beth Baker

When we’re no longer trapped in betwixt,
Perhaps we can get some things fixed:
the roads and the bridges,
The ACA glitches,
And Citizen’s United licked.

© 2017 Lynn Degen