• Menu

    • Home
    • About Andy
    • Blog
    • Newsletter
    • Donate
    • Voter Information
    • Videos
    • Contact
  • Home
  • About Andy
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Voter Information
  • Videos
  • Contact
The First Step to Tyranny
November 21, 2016

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” — George Orwell

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of [the Civil Rights era] was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first step to tyranny is blame
Laced with fear:
Immigrants, minorities, The Other—
All who stand between the masses
And the glory of yesteryear,
When all was simple and all were tame.

The first step to tyranny is steep
And tenuous: not a leap
But a slip and then a fall, too soft
To wake the silent majority from their sleep—
They whose silence keeps
Awake the vulnerable, who tremble and weep.

The first step to tyranny is also the last,
For the logger is never content
With just one tree, and neither does the despot
Stop at doors or borders or courts, but rather
Has his henchmen sent
To tear down laws and bury the past.

And the first step to tyranny is not subtle,
Unless you are among those who at first
Have no cause for concern,
Who may rejoice at the new world order.
But know this: once the damn of terror is burst
Even the silent shall scream as they die in the struggle!

(Visited 248 times, 1 visits today)
AmericaDonald TrumpelectionfascismfreedomHitlerpoetrypoliticsprotestTrumpUSA
Share

poetry  / Politics

You might also like

Free Time
February 26, 2023
My Poetry Manuscript Is Complete!
February 20, 2023
Ode to My Favorite Poetry Podcast, Now Featuring a Car Commercial
February 19, 2023

Leave A Reply


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Search

  • Popular Posts

    • The Problem With the Proverb About Teaching a Man to Fish
    • Template Letters to Send the Board of Governors of the USPS
    • The Problem With DEI
    • The Dark Knight and Me: an Essay
    • Questions On Nike, Colin Kaepernick, and Corporate…
  • Recent Posts

    • Free Time
    • My Poetry Manuscript Is Complete!
    • Ode to My Favorite Poetry Podcast, Now Featuring a Car Commercial
    • We’ll Never Green the Economy Like This
    • A Pricing Conundrum
  • Blog Categories

    • America on the Brink
    • Be The Change
    • book review
    • brown
    • Business
    • Capital Good Fund
    • Certitude
    • Cycling
    • environment
    • featured
    • Huffington Post
    • micro credit
    • movie reviews
    • Musings
    • News
    • philosophy
    • poetry
    • Politics
    • Pragmatic Idealsim
    • Prose
    • Renewable Energy
    • Thesis
    • travel
    • TreeHugger Job
    • Uncategorized
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Check out my newsletter, Be The Change

    Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.



  • Get In Touch

    Contact Andy
  • My Goal

    My goal is to foster an economy that alleviates poverty, provides meaningful, sustainable and just jobs, and protects and restores the environment.
  • Sign Up!


© Copyright Andy Posner | Site design by RI Web Gurus