(An Election Year Nursery Un-Rhyme)

Who will help me save the Schools from Wall Street?

Not I, said the President, for I am Under Orders

And not I, said the Liberal, for I support the President

Well, who will help me save the Unions from Wall Street?

Not I, said the Rich Man, for I am a Pig  Oink Oink

Not I, said the Congress, for our Only Job is to Feed the Pig

Well then, please, who will help me save the Constitution?

Not I, said the Supreme Court, for Money makes the Laws

And certainly not I, said all the Corporations, for We are The People now

And We have spoken

Well, please, oh please, who will help me save the Elderly,

The Children, the Homeless, the Sick and Suffering,

The Animals, the Wilderness, the Under-Educated,

The Migrant Workers and Immigrants, the Legal Aid

For the Wrongly Accused and the Preyed Upon?

Who will help me save the Planet, for It is Dying?

Well now, Lady, said Rick Santorum, I will help you save

The Under-Educated, for They are the backbone

Of our Democracy, and what I hope all Americans

Will aspire to be, for It will keep them safe from Knowledge,

From Reality, from Thinking about all the Things

You go on and on about, Things that make people

Feel Sad and Oppressed and Hopeless and Unable

To get Enthused about Shopping and Buying Stuff,

And I will make it Politically Correct for the Under-Educated

To be In Vogue, and, rather than Educate Americans,

I will work toward creating a Nation So Stupid

That other Nations will fear to speak to us Intelligently

About Issues, lest They be Bombed Into Oblivion,

For a Nation doesn’t need Smart People, a Nation

Needs Smart Bombs, which will do our Thinking for us

Oh, but please, please, PLEASE, Mr. Santorum

Won’t You help me save a little teeny-tiny piece of Humanity?

Not I, said Rick Santorum, for Humanity doesn’t have The Vote

But Stupid People do

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.