Politics Must Temper Greed with Dreams

 

A poem for Presidents Day:

 

Politics must temper greed with dreams,
Regarding both as reasons to seek power,
Ends that would forego non-peaceful means
So long as each in turn might claim its hour.
In such ebb and flow the Founders found
Democracy, that perfect imperfection,
Establishing for all a common ground:
None rule without winning an election.
The key to governance is compromise,
Seeking a consensus that will yield,
'Mid interest groups of every stripe and size,
Distinct majorities that power wield.
Autocrats take power by violent means,
Yet democrats take power through greed and dreams.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Renaissance Castle. By Doug Maxwell. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/polit2.html. For more poems for Presidents Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/presidentsdaypoems.html .