January 17, Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17, Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

On Martin Luther King’s birthday, will his work come undone?

Will we discard the voting rights that once we thought were won?

Red States restricting voting rights, the Senate paralyzed:

Persistent bigotry is worse than we had realized.

 

Republicans, of course, obstruct.  If everyone can vote,

Right wingers know that they will lose; for them, it’s all she wrote.

Though bigotry is still alive, it’s a minority.

Right wingers still hang on to power and block equality.

 

The filibuster is a rule that Senators may use

To bring proceedings to a halt on votes they fear they’ll lose.

The filibuster is abused, now mostly by the right,

Protecting Red State Jim Crow laws; the right still wants to fight.

 

The Senate should deliberate, not sit and hold its breath.

To sit and just do nothing may mean our Republic’s death.

Since Mitch McConnell’s lifelong goal has been to constipate,

He’ll sit and watch the rights of non-white voters dissipate.

 

That Mitch should have found allies in two wayward Democrats,

Proves unifying Democrats is just like herding cats.

Now Sinema and Manchin have, unbidden, crossed the aisle,

As Mitch, the great obstructer, sips his bourbon with a smile.

 

A Senate rule that is abused or voting rights for all?

Preserve that rule in this case and democracy may fall.

These Democratic Senators: both Manchin, Sinema,

Require a stimulus to move, some form of enema.

 

If everybody cannot vote, Trump might, once more, prevail:

A Cabinet of sycophants, (all pardoned, out of jail.)

If Trump himself campaigned from jail, held rallies from his cell,

Would he still win the Red State vote?  Well, only time will tell.