Common Ground – Political Polarization & Our Need to Heal

(Nice job, thanks for writing – and reading – this! – promoted by lowkell)

I was asked to record my lyrical piece as it was meant to be experienced: in Spoken Word.  (Text on the “flip.”)

“No common ground,” the prejudiced say.

“The American people cannot find a way to come together as one.”

But they must be mistaken. America is a perpetual haven

For freedom and opportunity to become a maven

Of whatever we desire – and it fuels the fire

That pulls us from the mire

Of poverty and oppression.

People are stockpiling guns, gas masks and survival gear.

What once seemed ridiculous is now very real.

It isn’t our “enemies” from foreign soil that they fear;

It is the ranks within our own that threaten and sneer

The fabric of our Nation that must be sewn so tightly together

That the only matter able to reach us is the warmth of the sun

Or the kiss of the rain to nurture our bodies and replenish the plains.

Enough of fighting tyranny, only to become an enemy

Of others who would also fight for similar rights

And the freedom to choose whatever they’d like.

Harness the power of the collective to elect and reject.

Our votes and our letters will help to correct

The damage being done to rights and liberty

And keep our society on the right side of history.

Regardless of station, do we not all love our nation?

We cannot wear blinders and talk about “binders

Of women” while their rights are being attacked.

The time is now to open our eyes and see what lies ahead

And what we lack. Life as we know it is not so different.

Every Dick, Jane and Barry – none of us is ignorant.

Right and left together; we must not be belligerent.

With signs we march, and we make the cry,

As we try to correct what we fear might reject

The soul of this Nation so dear to our hearts.

Protestors are beaten and detained by the finest,

Who have sworn to protect us, respect us with kindness.

By ejecting the people with force and might,

They deny our free speech and assembly rights.

Where are these “protectors” when groups of hate

Gather in anger to put up a gate

Between men, women, blacks, whites, gays and straights?

We must uncover the sacred ground of agreement.

Cultivate it, debate it, discuss it and feed it.

Tear down the fences that elevate defenses.

If we must fight, let us fight to reunite.

But, as we try to become a nation of one,

Some feel the rules of a holy Son,

Whose ancient laws were written in sand,

Should be the practice of our precious land.

For freedom of religion, our founders fiercely fought – not for naught.

We must separate absolutely our Church and State

In order to maintain our Nation’s great.

While we fear it might be impossible or senseless,

We must do our damnedest to reach a grand consensus,

Without resorting to legal or violent offenses, and

Understanding that we are all in the trenches,

That, under absolutely no pretenses, all of the people

Polled in our census love our dear homeland

And are willing to say while extending their hands,

“We are in this together, and we are committed to weather

Any storm comes our way, in the USA. Tomorrow and today,

Our brothers and sisters, we will not betray.

We will put aside this power play that leads us astray

And pulls us away from one another and a better day,

When civil liberties were promised to stay

And ‘Freedom in America’ was not a cliché.”

We must erase laws and ideas that make our future hazy.

Stand up for something! Stand up with your neighbor.

Gather your siblings, friends, father and mother.

Meet on your sofas, be sisters and brothers.

Meet to discuss in what ways we are able

To form bonds together. And then pledge that we

Will never again a civil war see.