‘Pity the Nation’ corrupted by greed

Allow me to quote the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti:

“Pity the nation whose people are sheep, and whose shepherds mislead them.

“Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.

“Pity the nation that raises not its voice, except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.

“Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own and no other culture but its own.

“Pity the nation whose breath is money and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.

“Pity the nation – oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode and their freedoms to be washed away.

“My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”

Mr. Ferlinghetti had it right during the Vietnam War, and nothing has changed since. The world’s richest, greatest military empire will not be destroyed from outside; but rather by ingrown, self-destructive corruption and greed, and through the madness of actions by the real rulers behind our leaders. Let’s change this.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 3:15 PM with the headline "‘Pity the Nation’ corrupted by greed."