useless art

“A Filibuster is the term used for an extended debate in the Senate which has the effect of preventing a vote. Senate rules contain no motion to force a vote. A vote occurs only once debate ends. The term comes from the early 19th century Spanish and Portuguese pirates, “filibusteros", who held ships hostage for ransom.” (from the C-Span Glossary)

Ladies and gentlemen,
in these times of war and peace,
in this state confusing clarity,
it is paramount that we stand
united and undaunted
against my common enemies.

Yes, we, as patriots, must
stand tall in the face
of outrageous fortune
and send a message
to those that would steal
our stainless pride and test
our vexing resolve.

Because to do nothing
while fallow nations
are burdened by a gross
misappropriation of
certain inalienable rights
would be a callow act
of restraint.

And we have shown no restraint
in our just quest for vigilance,
for this is a struggle of passion
and we must push onward,
push past any doubts or misgivings,
push past any vainglorious maidenhead,
push farther and stronger and harder
until we come upon that far distant day
when we can be free to release our less
fortunate brothers from the yokes
and shells of blissful ignorance
with exemplary impunity.

And to those of you hiding
behind notebooks and pens,
those that question our
cavalier attention to detail,
those wolf-eyed sheep pledging blind allegiance
to fickle facts and history shorn of spin -
this endeavor is a matter of expediency.

Matters of such grave importance
cannot be left to the slippery grip
of crude furtive bureaucrats
pawing our civil liberties
like a meek field mouse.

We have sent nothing less than
a brilliant message, a telling message,
a message without doubt or pause,
a message far beyond any mundane reason.

This is a new Rome, with just flags flying
fully justified over land and sea,
a fount of freedom awash in
a thousand points of modern courier
shouting these bold black strokes
across bandwidths of every creed and color,

marching coffers and caissons
and banged up snare drums
through throngs of screaming heathens,
and stalwart stumblebum bugle boys
carrying burlap sacks of crabapple seed
across burst red and purple plains
once left to uneven exchanges of
ad hominem for mea culpa.

We sow these seeds in discontent continents
to resolve rights wronged by the unsteady
hands of previous administrations,
to steer this circumspect course
through chilling choppy waters
thought shallow and unnavigable
by all, save those willing
to get wet.

Because the voice of freedom
is the voice of one true God
undivided and unmatched,
with liberty and justice
for us

patriots.