Oh, Now You Want Civility?

Oh, now you want civility?

After years of talk radio hostility,
A campaign of absurdity,
Calls from the podium for brutality,
Assaults on liberty,
And daily Twitter stupidity,
Now you want civility?

The flip side bears some responsibility,
By breathlessly flaming the anxiety,
Indulging in overreactivity,
Choosing to match the animosity,
(Here I just want to rhyme Synchronicity),
And believing in hopeful audacity.

Can we fix a gulf of such enormity,
A divide so fraught with radioactivity,
Pushed to the brink is our collective fragility, Can we retain our bend but not break elasticity,
Will we demonstrate the necessary flexibility,
To achieve our founders' domestic tranquility?

We have the ability,
But it will take great temerity,
To change the tribal mentality,
Stow the vulgarity,
And erase the ideological rigidity,
Yes, we have the ability.

Oh, now we want civility...

(You know, calls from the right for "civility" drive me crazy. They are disingenuous at best, calculated base-baiting at worst. Do I think Trump officials should be shouted at in, or asked to leave,  restaurants? No, I do not. But to decry these actions while defending the bully-in-chief is laughable. The roots of today's culture war were planted long before Trump became president, yet he does his best (worst) each day to escalate  the battle.  If today's lack of civility is a raging wildfire, Trump may not be the smoldering campfire that started it, but he is the Santa Ana winds fanning the flames until they are out of control.

Finally, for funsies, if you haven't already, go back and read my "poem" in Don King's voice.)