AMERICA, what’s going on?

INFLAMED
by abstractions
DIVISIONS
are FESTERING
along tribal fault lines
in the land of the
Grand Old Proposition
raising the Cain
of entitlement
versus obligation
Upon the field of play
the clashing of rights . . .
and wrongs is deafening
as malice is enticed
with a free pardon
Cowardice holds it's breath
praying for one last
roll of the dice
now that Holy Conspiracy
has become
the new religion
of an exiled generation

… So praise the Lord
and sell the ammunition
The terminally pathetic
now fully automatic
locked and loaded
by a corrupted system
School children on the run
from brother gun
high on nihilism
Royal consent given
by that Sovereign Mother
of Exclusive Citizen
With anger on both sides
of Main Street
brotherly love beats
a hasty retreat
Make Assumptions Great Again
the meaningless slogan
of the vacuous elite
from yet another
trailer park think tank
with your pittance
in their pocket
held back
from the poor
and the pitiful
domestic and foreign
Now dangling
from a piece string
a bad deal gone rotten
When a liar wears the crown
truth and charity
are soon forgotten

Words & Artwork;
David B. Redpath © 2025

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it
is for brothers to dwell together in unity!
. . . For there the Lord has commanded
the blessing: life forevermore”.
~ King David

76 thoughts on “AMERICA, what’s going on?”

    1. I usually refrain from making political
      commentary, but the 10,000 miles of
      separation (being an Australian) is no
      longer protecting my sanity when
      watching the news out of the U.S.
      Also … I’m no Saint, Tremaine 😎
      so I’m reluctant to criticise other
      countries 🤔🕶 All I can say is that
      the current darkness has to pass 🙏

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  3. David, the way you tie “School children on the run / from brother gun” into the larger theme really hit me. To me the poem reads like both lament and indictment, and that tension feels especially powerful.

    ~David

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. The tension has been building up,
      so I guess it was best to let it out.
      Thanks for being the innocent
      recipient of some fallout. David 🙏
      A socio-political dirge seems to be
      all the fashion, but I’ll try to refrain
      from doing it again 🤔🕶

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. When it comes
      to the art of the deal,
      it would seem that dignity
      is disposable . . .
      like a takeaway coffee cup.
      Or is this just a bad dream
      and one day soon
      we’ll all wake up?
      Thanks for commenting, Violet.

      “So many roads, so much at stake.
      Too many dead ends,
      I’m at the edge of the lake.
      Sometimes I wonder
      what it’s gonna take to find dignity.”
      ~ Bob Dylan

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Well, the Armaments Industry has
      been flourishing in the US since the
      second world war. That’s a good place
      to start looking, but like Big Pharma,
      it’s gone global, as multinational
      corporations are above and beyond
      the laws of any land. Just ask Meta.
      But then, the shareholders are people
      . . . people forever demanding more
      from their investments. So now you
      can invest in your President.
      Welcome to Club Mar-a-Lago 💰

      “For the love of money [that is, the
      greedy desire for it and the willingness
      to gain it unethically] is a root of all
      sorts of evil, and some by longing for
      it have wandered away from the faith
      and pierced themselves [through and
      through] with many sorrows.”

      ~ 1 Timothy 6:10 (Amplified)

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. Oh, yes, we have plenty of weapons available for sale to kill children praying in a church. And you’re right. It’s about money. The National Rifle Association gives buckets of cash for Republications to be elected to Congress and kill any chance of sane gun laws.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. They eventually managed to take
        the rifle out of Charlton Heston’s
        cold dead hand 🖐🥶 so anything
        is possible, Liz 🤔🕶
        In Australia 🇭🇲 we have strict laws
        regarding gun ownership. You need
        a good reason to have one 🚫
        Especially semi-automatic rifles and
        other military style assault weapons.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. When I worked as an advisor and faculty member for the University System of New Hampshire, we had to attend active shooter training conducted by the UNH chief of police. Here’s what we were told to do when someone starts shooting up the place. Run. If you can’t run, hide. If you can’t hide, confront (’cause you’re gonna die anyway.) Can you imagine?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. ‘California Sunshine’ – codename for
        LSD back in the days of Jack Kerouac
        and Allen Ginsberg.
        As for phenethylamines, I have never
        known and loved so I’m no PiKHAL 😎
        As for Timothy Leary . . . he’s dead ✝️

        Liked by 1 person

  9. America has always been divided because we believe in free speech and free thought. The corruption, though, is out of hand because laws have not been enforced and people looked the other way as greedy people grabbed whatever they could. The day of reckoning always comes.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Two sides of the one coin . . .
      North and South
      Left and Right
      Male and Female
      Black and White
      The Haves and the Have-Nots
      East Coast versus West Coast
      Diversity reverses Conformity
      and the politics of envy
      I guess there’s division ➗️
      and then there’s subdivision
      Different aspects
      of a multifaceted nation
      where a carpetbagger
      now has dominion
      The subtraction and distraction
      of abstract divisions
      “In God We Trust”
      They can peacefully coexist
      working on their differences
      with persistence
      and forbearance
      or burn the house down
      with violent vengeance
      in a temper tantrum
      some might call it insurrection
      others … a revolution

      Like

      Reply

    1. It doesn’t help having children, even
      grandchildren, wondering what kind
      of world are we bequeathing them?
      What kind of mess are we leaving
      for them to clean up?

      “How long can I listen
      to the lies of prejudice?
      How long
      can I stay drunk on fear
      out in the wilderness?
      Can I cast it aside,
      all this loyalty and this pride?
      Will I ever learn
      that there’ll be no peace,
      that the war won’t cease,
      until he returns?”

      ~ Bob Dylan

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. Jesus wept when he saw what
      Jerusalem was to become. Then
      went to the cross to be put to
      death for being a rebel. The elite
      didn’t like his revolutionary teaching.
      It’s such a pity (or a conspiracy?) that
      so much evil has been committed in
      his name. So much that it’s become
      hard to see the good wood for the
      the desolate forest of human history.
      His message was all about divine love.
      To love God, and thereby be enabled to
      love one another, even the unlovely. To
      treat others as you’d wish to be treated.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  13. Your words resonate, David, and I appreciate you voicing them. It feels like our country is out of control like it’s never been before. Times are scary and the future is one huge question mark. I worry about our adult children and the younger generations. All I can say is that I hope the darkness lifts soon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you very much, Lauren.
      Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
      I was reluctant to post this, as being
      an Australian, one could say that what
      is happening is none of my business.
      But what’s happening in America is
      affecting the entire world (one could
      even say “infecting”). Bullies are being
      emboldened as criminals stride the
      red carpet, and despots revel in the
      chaos.Yet … I’m certain that sooner
      (hopefully) or later, the pendulum of
      of human history will swing back in a
      positve direction. That the Age of
      Enlightenment will fire up again 🙏

      Like

      Reply

  14. America has lost its glimmer of hope and compassion. It isn’t easy to live here for those of us who know right from wrong, truth from lies. I’m mostly saddened for our young who will pay for the mistakes of the self-righteous.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes, self-righteousness is the reef
      that brings the ship of state to grief.
      I guess the writing was on the wall
      when the plastic straw🥤🧃🍹🧋was
      re-released into the environment after
      receiving a Presidental pardon 🤔🕶
      But, despite the fact that explosions
      speak louder than words, I still think
      to myself it’s a beautiful world 🌎 😎

      Like

      Reply

  15. I really want to leave this country. Now, you spoke the truth, and you said it best. Here’s this song and it is relevant today.
    Sacred Reich – The American Way
    https://youtu.be/a6SKIXaEROI?si=VZVaU36rKuj-22IU
    Lyrics
    Truth and honor faith and pride all convictions surely died honestiesTime has passed time for lies is here at last truth is false I’m so fed upHow did we come to be so fucked hate fear pain death all our countryHas got left
    Talk to children hear them say daddy left again today brother steals andMommy lies future lost before their eyes the sun was lost behind theClouds they rapped it up and blacked it out acid rain fell today it cameAnd washed our hopes away
    This was once the land of dreams now these dreams have turned toGreed in the midst of all this wealth the poor are left to help themselvesA capitalist’s democracy no one said that freedom’s free lady liberty rotsAway no truth, no justice the American way
    Don’t look past your t.v. all of us are what you see a looking glass intoOur lives what we watch is what we buy priorities are out of whackWho is next to stab our back doesn’t it make you mad to have lost all thatWe’ve had
    This was once the land of dreams now these dreams have turned toGreed in the midst of all this wealth the poor are left to help themselvesA capitalist’s democracy no one said that freedom’s free lady liberty rotsAway no truth, no justice the American way
    Doesn’t it fill you with disgust that there’s no one left to trust is thisHappening is this real my body numb I cannot feel are you happy are youSad are emotions a thing of the past I have no tears I cannot cry no oneMourns for a world that’s died
    This was once the land of dreams now these dreams have turned toGreed in the midst of all this wealth the poor are left to help themselvesA capitalist’s democracy no one said that freedom’s free lady liberty rotsAway no truth, no justice the American way

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. And the people bowed
      and prayed
      to the neon god they made
      and the sign
      flashed out its warning
      in the words
      that it was forming
      And the sign said . . .
      “The words of the prophets
      are written on the subway walls
      and tenement halls
      and whispered
      in the sounds of silence”.

      ~ Paul Simon

      “Yet the Lord sent prophets to bring
      them back to him. The prophets
      warned them, but still the people
      would not listen.” ~The Chronicler

      “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill
      the prophets and stone those sent to
      you, how often I have longed to gather
      your children together, as a hen gathers
      her chicks under her wings, and you
      were not willing.” ~ Jesus

      “But mark this: There will be terrible
      times in the last days. People will be
      lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
      boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient
      to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
      without love, unforgiving, slanderous,
      without self-control, brutal, not lovers of
      the good, treacherous, rash, conceited,
      lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
      God— having a form of godliness but
      denying its power. Have nothing to do
      with such people.They are the kind who
      worm their way into homes and gain
      control over gullible women, who are
      loaded down with sins and are swayed by
      all kinds of evil desires, always learning
      but never able to come to a knowledge
      of the truth.” ~ Paul of Tarsus

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  21. Making Assumptions Great Again, sadly, bends both ways.
    You showed a lot of empathy and I ‘assumed’ you were from the US too. I’m happily munching on popcorn hoping to avoid the ripple effect of the inevitable collapse.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    2. Part American
      Part Australian
      But just which part
      is which❓️🤔
      It’s a conundrum

      Two sides of the one dystopian
      penny arcade 🪙 🍿 🎪 🎠
      Conformity slides into tyranny
      Rebellion turns to revenge
      Humanity on parade ⚖️ 👀

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. I’m part English, part Australian (I guess) but it’s no conundrum for me, between those two at least. I ran away to an unfamiliar dystopia here in Thailand. As it’s not mine, I care less.

        Liked by 2 people

  22. This reads like a provocative piece by a beat poet like Ginsberg. But it hits way harder with all the madness going on. Some of the stuff I read on Twitter is so hate filled. Trumpism, Christian nationalism, racism.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Extremism is ever at the wrong end
      of a hysterical, historical, pendulum
      swing. The wrecking ball loves the
      chaos, where opportunistic vultures
      thrive amid the carnage. Disruption
      is good for the business of bedlam.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  23. Pingback: REBLOG: ‘AMERICA, what’s going on?’ by David Redpath – The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱

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