Lantern Honesty Poem by Bill Upton

The political season has begun
Although elections are more than a year away,
Yet, every day
Each step and misstep from the candidates
Makes the headlines and gets catalogued
For future rebuttal and frame of reference.
It is remarkable how many ideas get introduced
Every four years on how to fix America,
But we seem to keep sinking deeper into increasingly worse
Economic,
Social,
And moral quagmires.
We need to wise up to the fact that most of these 'ideas'
Are theoretical and politically motivated
And seldom birth into problem- solving realities.
We get fooled every four years.
Our hearts and our ears betray us as we try to believe
Another set of rescue plans for the Red, White, and Blue-
Plans hatched from and influenced by superficial voter appeal,
Lobbyist pressures, and popularity contests.
We are suckers for patriotic rhetoric,
Even though we understand that many times it is artificial
And phony.
We long to find someone worthy of our trust,
But after dissecting hundreds of political stands and maneuvers,
After trying to understand the misspeaks, the cover ups,
The non-disclosures with the shady mechanisms put in place
To attract the vote,
I'm afraid we will end up as Diogenes, the Cynic,
The ancient Greek philosopher who spent his life wandering
In broad daylight with his lantern,
Looking, searching for an honest man.
Just one,
Only to perish with his mission...
In vain.