Ignorance by Paulo

My friend Paulo de Tocqueville is at it again, the poetry writer of all facets. He writes love sonnets to Sonic, bitter diatribes about my sarcastic mouth, and here, in it's rhythmic originality and as a TaraLynnThompson.com exclusive, a few thoughts on political ignorance.

Much like Doritos, once you start consuming a Paulo poem, you can't stop.

Once upon a midnight dreary

I chanced upon a fembo, teary

What do I do with this hapless young female?

Except extol her on the virtues of a free capitalist society

Weep not, sweet young thing

We’re not done yet.

Although the forces of anti-freedom democratic socialist losers

Have rallied strongly

And placed one of their own in office

I feel the heartbeat of the country

And although it’s clogged with McDonalds plaque

It’s still beating

Albeit raggedly

A little exercise

Some serious diet changes

And we’ll be running 5Ks again in no time.

And kicking names

And taking butt

I’m really just pissed

Because of the rampant stupidity

And gullibility

Of the voters in general

Doesn’t anybody read any more

Are they incapable of thought?

Frickin’ idiots

Put down the remote

Read a magazine

Listen to something besides NPR

You brainless programmed fools

ESPN won’t matter

If your country goes broke

Comedy Central

Might not be that funny

If you can’t afford cable

Don’t get me wrong

I like college football

And Comedy Central, sort of

I’m just ticked

At you and your lack of thought

Your blank mindless look

Your inherent coolness

Because you’re tuned in to pop culture

Which is vapid and useless

Except to keep you occupied

While big things are happening

Right beneath your brainless nose

Perhaps you should ask yourself

What if your credit card debt

Was exactly equal to your gross income

For the entire year.

Not net –

Gross.

That means, how much you make every year

Before taxes, insurance, etc.

How are you going to pay that off?

It’s called Gross National Product

And we now owe as much national debt

As the value of what our country produces each and every single year.

That’s the value of every single good, product, or service

That was produced this entire last year

By every living being in the country.

And corporation.

And government entity, although I don’t actually think they count

As they don’t produce anything

Good stuff, huh?

Does this bother you?

Does this make you want to skip Game Day tomorrow?

Or simply become more engrossed

As you seek to not think

Yet another day of your life

Somebody else will take care of it.

Guess that someone else is me.

Perhaps I’ll knock on your skull

With a ball peen hammer

Just a little tap

So that you will look up

And listen to what I say

Not really

I actually have no desire to do that

But what would happen

If the whole country paid as much attention

Just one Saturday out of the year

To our national financial situation

As they do to college football

Or Entertainment Tonight

Or some stupid vapid reality show

Or The Office, which I love.

Perhaps if just one day out of the year

Was National Citizen Day

Where everyone actually had to pay attention

To balance the checkbook, as it were

To hear some reports

About the State of the Union

Perhaps presented by opposing sides

Let’s throw in some Libertarians too.

And perhaps an accounting firm

Attendance is mandatory, “my friends”

As our geriatric candidate was inclined to say

Gosh you people piss me off

There’s a whole world of things going on

That are actually important

And you don’t have the first clue

Enjoy the ride

It’s probably coming to an end.