If Lincoln were alive today,

Imagine his dismay.

He’d thought that after Civil War

We’d long endure, but now

He wouldn’t be so sure:

When Maniacs And Goons Abound,

He’d stand again on hallowed ground

And would insist

That every patriot resist.

*

If TR were alive today

And found us in such disarray

He’d bust abusers of the public trust

And shake a stick against the likes of Musk.

He’d rail against the greed that’s torn apart

The safety net his efforts helped to start,

And from his bully pulpit he’d insist

That every patriot resist.

*

If Eisenhower lived today

I know he’d be the first to say

We’ve lost our way.

A CinC who praises Hitler’s generals?

Who’d blithely waste our soldiers’ lives

On lucre territorial?

Who mocks the likes of John McCain,

Thinks nothing of inflicting pain

On prisoners of war?

Ike would find this all insane.

He’d square his five-starred shoulders and insist

That every patriot resist.

Background: Heather Cox Richardson, who is a national treasure, published a column this morning explaining that Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, and Eisenhower, all Republicans, shared a worldview that fell out of favor during the Reagan years: an active federal government is needed to protect ordinary people from rapacious corporations and those who built their power and wealth on the backs of others. In Richardson’s words, we are watching “a group of reactionaries dismantle the government that serves the needs of ordinary Americans and work, once again, to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of an elite.”

I’ve been toying with this poem for a couple of days. Richardson’s column persuaded me to finish it.