Surfeit Bloat

Authentic social criticism, hot off the presses!!

In America we thrive on gross inefficiencies
Eventually leading to foreign hostilities
Everything must be bigger, faster, fatter, stronger...
More, more, more, more, more, more, more!!!

Why?

We never learned to live within boundaries
Never learned to budget our expense
Never learned to fix what was broken
Never learned to plan for unforeseen events

We're a powerful country
Yet we govern with lies
We exalt our freedoms
But privacy we despise

Our foundation is solid
Enlightened men of truth,
Esteemed Master Masons
Laid it down in our youth

But as we built we degenerated
This unfinished pyramid to the Sun
Has become a pile of garbage
Because we quit before we were done

Now we seek to patch the damage
Caused by age and disrepair
But for everything we accomplish
Some one yells out, "That's unfair!!"

There only one solution
And its the one we never try
We must all pull together
And build to the All Seeing Eye

Reviews

[Sue Hart]

Okay, you are obviously a truth seeker. The poem screams with it and the need we have for getting out of diapers. Spoiled little children that have gotten away with misbehavior for decades and centuries. I cannot express the way this piece made me yell, "AT LAST!" Now I know why they say you are a top writer. You are and whether you want it or not, I'm very much a new admirer.

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

Decades for sure...hopefully not yet centuries, but I will agree that we have been toying with other countries since well over 150 years ago (like when we took over the Kingdom of Hawaii). Spoiled little children is a good description. We need to learn our place. If we did we could take advantage of all we have to offer the world, but our obnoxious greed and ethnocentric attitude has made other countries wary of us with good reason! Having lived in Europe for long periods of my life I have a keen sense of what makes us different as Americans. I am a real American, having roots in all corners of early America from early settlements in Virginia to Pennsylvania to the South. As far as I know my family has always fought for freedom. I see no reason to lose that propensity in this generation. Our misbehavior of late has combined with our general apathy about government to create a very dangerous situation. I am very grateful for the people who have read my poem -who agree with my points so strongly!!! It is a relief. I don't genuinely consider myself more a Democrat or a Republican; The issues have never been that simple. I am anti-corporate and against the Federalization of all facets of government. We need to return the pendulum back to center and allow more local control of the issues of our time. The strength we have as a nation is not in forcing everyone to toe the line on a national scale; Our strength is to allow for a diversity of opinion and use the experiments of each state to inform the national conversation!! As you can tell I am very passionate about this topic. I am very grateful for you validating my being a Top Writer. I hope to post more of my political observations here. I seriously have not really posted my top work here yet. I DO want you to be an admirer and I am grateful!!!

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

Hooray!!! Like minds are hard to find, at least for me!! Down with corporate puppets!! Incidentally, the first corporate/industrial banking supporter in the early American Government was Alexander Hamilton. I am glad he was never president. He was obsessed with industry and building up the area around Niagra into a major workhouse, and New York as the economic center. I know there were others in early America who were focused on business interests, but I like to trace this particular part of American culture back to him. I am not really a fan, though I am not saying I have no respect for the West Indian Brit...I agree about Roosevelt (FDR, not Teddy of course)!! I am not even in favor of the National Banking system!! We should never have established a National Bank. Just as the Founding Fathers said, it is not the place of government. I actually have to admit I didn't know that about Kennedy. It is seriously fascinating. I know we need more people to stir the 1% up royally.

[Frieda P]

Many truths in this write, we seem to pull together best in the eye of the storm when tragedy hits home, otherwise people just go on with their day to day living and give no mind to what's happening around them. Well said.

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

Thank you so much for your appreciation!! I am very glad that so many have found this a satisfying read! What surprises me is that I wrote this along with another poem that same day on this site...While most of my poetry I have posted was actually written at some point in the last ten years and stored in a notebook somewhere, this poem was an original inspired poem written on this website itself! It is truly rewarding for me to have people enjoying it and agreeing with me! Really!! I wasn't expecting it to have such a positive reaction. It makes me love this site all the more!!!

[Scott Metro]

Excellent political insight
You have the eyes of a patriot...

Enjoyed this my friend

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

I am genuinely a patriot and my family have been inhabiting this land since 1629 in Virginia, so I feel I have the proper claim to say I am a real American in every sense. I want this country to be proud of itself though, and to achieve what we were intended to achieve by the Founding Fathers who were more than clear about what they hoped for our country. Benjamin Franklin looked at John Hancock's chair and after some deliberation he decided the sun carved in it was a RISING sun. We were then a very young nation, but we have nearly forgotten we still ARE, and just over three centuries later we are still among the younger nations of the world. We need to stay true to our ideals and be real Americans! Corporations are not the essence of America. Individualism and taking personal pride in your work are the staples of America. We are the City on the Hill and it is time we started acting like it again!

[Scott Metro]

There are those who wish to engineer us into a man made hell on earth.
Stay strong my brother....patriot here.
Scott

[wordman]

you have a good eye,we the people would go to jail for half the things government does
we always have to be the center of attention,we always want to force our ideas on evey one else
we kill our leaders we kill our accusers we are all about power and greed our fore fathers would be sick
and it is so far out of hand only god can fix it and I believe it want be long

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

We the people deserve to be the ones the United States serves again. We need to remind all those in power that we ARE the power. A little revolution now and then is a good thing, according to Thomas Jefferson, and I don't think anyone could know better than he did how true that is! Instead of forcing false conceptions of our way of life on every other nation at our expense, it is time to remind our OWN politicians we intend to follow rule of law HERE, in OUR country -not just halfway around the globe! I agree our Forefathers would turn in their graves to see where we are right now. I have hope though. We can turn things around. We still have the power, if we would just collectively USE it, to let our government know where we stand. We are not pawns, quite the contrary we are all sentient human beings who will no longer be ignored and told what to do. This greed is UNAMERICAN! We began this country as a diverse group of rebellious idealists. We need to get back to that spirit of America. I honestly believe that WE can fix this. If that is God's will, then let it be so! We can act to bring the United States back into line with what is morally right and also philosophically just. The real American way to handle this is for all of us independent thinkers to let our government know that we want to fix the problems and we don't need government to be our parental figure anymore; We can be our own keepers. Until we take responsibility for ourselves we cannot justifiably traipse into other countries and tell them how things are going to be and demand they follow our system. I could clearly go on about this forever, but it is not a single party issue -this should be across the board. We all should have a stake in seeing that the United States return to a responsible system of government that acts FOR the people, not in spite of them.

[MsJewel]

An intelligent write that leaves much to consider. I really like the last two lines...summing everything up in a powerful way.

:) Julie

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

I am so grateful that I am getting your input on this, and that people have appreciated this poem. It was written in a moment of inspiration, alone with two other poems. I am shocked, honestly, that it came out as well as it did. I really appreciate your reviews because I appreciate your poetry and it is a compliment to have someone with many years of excellent poetry under their belt reviewing me!

[Brandon]

Always good to see another write what is seen through the eyes of truth. Another splendid read and write, sir Robby.

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

Thank you very much, my new friend!

[Justine]

wow...this one smacked me between the eyes. Powerful truths, a bitter pill to swallow for many. We all buy into the big lie, because we want to believe it's true. Hope keeps people in a constant state of powerlessness longing for something to happen that may never occur. Your final stanza offers one way forward, albeit altruistic. As for the "all seeing eye" - that's a whole other story. I like writes that keep the reader engaged and give them something to consider long after the write is done. This did. Great talent and skill :) Justine

[Robert Tusitala O'Neill]

Wow, I really appreciate your comment, Justine! It means a lot to me. I am definitely not egotistical as a poet, so your appreciation could never be taken for granted. I was just inspired today to write this. Oddly enough I was thinking about myself in my last relationship. I bought things, in some cases, because I knew it would solve the problems most easily. I am not a consumer, by any matter of means, but I do admit to buying things I didn't need in some cases just to fix a problem that could better have been solved by closer investigation of the issues at hand. I hate being that way. Perhaps I am indicting the whole country rather than blame myself, but that was my inspiration nonetheless. I was in a position to see where the wrongs arise from, being that I could see my part in it.

For what it is worth, my family arrived in Virginia in 1629 and roughly followed the entire history of this country moving from East to West -from Virginia to Ohio to Colorado, then California. I feel I am true American, but yet this country has moved away from me. During my lifetime I have watched as the uniquely humanist values our United States Government seemed to be inexorably resolved to maintain, eroded into a puppet state run by corrupt corporations steeped in blood lust for wringing every freedom from the populous. I don't think it is an exaggeration. I work for Union Pacific Railroad -a corporation created by Abraham Lincoln himself 151 years ago- and my company has at times had far too much control over where the country has headed. Dick Cheney was the Vice President of Union Pacific before being the national Vice President, for example. I am not a Liberal or a Democrat, though I cannot side with the OTHER parties either...Yet, though I consider myself to be legitimately patriotic in the profound and truthful sense (not the Tea Party, flag-waving superficial sense), I have not been able to support my government or its leaders for well over a decade now. The greatest voice of reason I have heard has been Barack Obama, and even his influence has barely accomplished anything. Not to be depressing, but I really and truly believe we all need to finish the unfinished pyramid. We are allowing the dreams of 1776 to be trampled into dust. We call them old fashioned and out-of-date, but they are at least as viable now as the haphazard barricade to freedom we have erected from the legal system since. Why is it that I felt I had more personal freedom when I lived in London in 2000 and 2001 than I do in my own country now?! They don't even have a national ID, or they didn't then. Didn't we fight a revolution to gain those freedoms?!! Why does Europe have the balls to fight for privacy against the corporations when we kowtow to them here in our own countries? I halfway refer to Canada here, but I am really not familiar with your laws regarding privacy. You may wish to fill me in if I am wrong to include your beautiful, maple-rich country in this rant of mine. I do love it there. Do you ever visit Osoyoos?