"We have [also] come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."
"Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." -MLK Hit the lights if you are the last one to leave this shithole, No need to lock it, we know it'll be ransacked. Only Seussian plumbing stretches up from the rubble, bent and absurd. Ancient pipes which once carried effluent of far better men. All of it sold for scrap. They've alas unbolted his gold toilet and moved it to F.L.A. Wet banker's boxes packed with abandon secrets mildewed by hydrants. Pages peel and flutter in a light breeze. Ideas, and legacies blow about the rotunda floor. Upholstery and charred sofas shelter the rodents who'll make better use of rotting rugs, Tiffany, Chippendale, and Louis XIV. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to bounce a check. Only sparse Trees watch the barbarians move backwards through time, a retrograde recap of our best mistakes. Dred Scott dead of tuberculosis., and Missouri cheers. All of these reconstructed histories we'd outgrown lifetimes ago, reinstituted. Time scores our modern brilliance against a dark age when all men were actually created equal. A squalid symphony, of scrap trucks, as howling vigilantes keep time to our newly minted poverty. We are all suffering from curable illness, starving, hysterical... D.C. once the dream, drown by ignorance. We were once free, inspired. So long to good people. Some drove this far to save it, some to see it burn. Goodbye to safe harbors, bonsoir big shoulders, au revoir manumission, trees and parks, clean water. Adios to the birthrights beyond the ivy league window. We are just beginning to trample the landscape, packing snow, soil, and crushed red solo cups into the filthy archaeology of our fallen empire. The currency of leadership which had framed our scrappy republic, is now worthless. Emoluments have moved our capital alas to a proper party venue, with eighteen holes straight out back, and TV's on every cart. Welcome hangers-on and drunk drivers to a delirious never ending frat party. Grab a mojito on the lanai, watch us on our news networks. Grab a snack, and take a roadie for your drive, Hold the wheel tightly as we roll out the gate, and over the cliff. Boil the oceans, and level the mountains. Gift shop is closed, but you can carve your initials on a doorway, spray your tag on fallen columns and ink a phrase on Lincoln's backside. Don't get clever, that's all over. We've nothing left to write of progress for many years to come. We are far too busy bottoming out, and building high walls. It was far cheaper to keep them out, then to contain them, so we have walled-in the country clubs. Partitioned our parks. Tolled our byways, and privatized the beaches. We have only this new dark age of infantile carnivals, a caravan of looting nomads, and bullet-proof charlatan carpools. Its too soon to speak fondly of an inevitable rebellion, of mavericks, and of survivors. We are just beginning to trample the landscape, packing snow, soil, and crushed red solo cups into the filthy archaeology of our fallen empire. Welcome has-beens, vagrants & campers to these splendid tent cities. Please enjoy our stunning new detention pens. Will everyone please welcome the infant tyrant clown, and his Afrikaans puppeteer?
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AGE & TREACHERY WILL BEAT YOUTH & SKILL Archives
January 2025
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