Prospects for a republic beset with disunity 

A republic needs endless work/ Or insurgent forces go berserk.

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SOURCENationofChange

Recall that savvy Franklin quip,
Upon birthing our nation’s ship:
‘A republic or monarchy’? – 
Overheard with alacrity.

‘A republicif you can keep it,‘ 
Said Old Ben, a touch bittersweet – 
If conception be not realistic –
Then discord will go ballistic.

However grandiose the type,
The Founder advised without hype,
A republic needs endless work,
Or insurgent forces go berserk.

What, like defying majority rule?
Befitting one ignorant fool.
Either top voters get to win
Or justice contorts into spin.

When self-rule is not held sacred
Politics erupts as hatred;
To damn the certified as flawed
Epitomizes election fraud.

Whenever the worst candidate
Screams he alone will validate,
Then elections become a joke – 
Flailing down the slippery slope.

What foul scoundrel dare chance that ploy? 
Just one sneering, creepy playboy.
Who so low would e’er rise so high – 
America’s trust so mortify?

A republic spurning unity
Incites its own next mutiny.
A country without concordance,
Abandons hopes of governance.

A true nation is more than place – 
The best succeed when blending race;
If nothing drives our moral center,
Await not peace but more distemper.

FALL FUNDRAISER

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For over a decade, Robert S. Becker's independent, rebel-rousing essays on politics and culture analyze overall trends, history, implications, messaging and frameworks. He has been published widely, aside from Nation of Change and RSN, with extensive credits from OpEdNews (as senior editor), Alternet, Salon, Truthdig, Smirking Chimp, Dandelion Salad, Beyond Chron, and the SF Chronicle. Educated at Rutgers College, N.J. (B.A. English) and U.C. Berkeley (Ph.D. English), Becker left university teaching (Northwestern, then U. Chicago) for business, founding SOTA Industries, a top American high end audio company he ran from '80 to '92. From '92-02, he was an anti-gravel mining activist while doing marketing, business and writing consulting. Since then, he seeks out insight, even wit in the shadows, without ideology or righteousness across the current mayhem of American politics.

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