The Dotted Line

[enigma]

I arrived on this sceptred isle,
making no contractual agreement,
an innocent child with no voice,
indoctrinated to the democratic way,
meaning little personal choice,
in our societal ballet.

schools teach behave or be punished,
jump through these burning hoops,
dogmatic education is intellectually cruel,
but what choice can children take,
born here under governmental rule,
wearing shackles they cannot break.

every four years an election,
an illusion of public control,
nothing more than an an idle spectator,
throwing votes like confetti,
towards a democratically elected dictator,
whose mind is small and petty.

permission required for lawful protest,
is not a good sign for freedom,
its just a political gang war,
those who have the most believers,
are those that call the score,
the great public deceivers.

and what of the free press,
simplifying catastrophic corporate crime,
yet portraying petty crimes apocalyptic,
never mind that when told to,
they spout propaganda rhetoric,
written by a simple minded few.

making blanket laws is oppressive,
not everyone will fit underneath,
this they decide and you will obey,
is no way for us to live,
in a healthy and free way,
siphoning liberty through a sieve.

a single vote for one and all,
one for racists and one for the tolerant,
but with money you can buy them,
who would try democracy,
in a mental asylum,
only those too blind to see.

democracy is merely new age religion,
where politicians are priests,
and the prime minister is pope,
elect them with your prayers,
and you'll receive some false hope,
along with false humble stares.

our sins replaced with crimes,
heretics are now all criminals,
and if you disagree with their decision,
you will be swiftly caught,
no one suspects the metropolitan inquisition,
now policing your inner thought.

what is * is not always wrong,
stealing bread to feed a family,
what is legal is often worse,
stealing pensions to pay your bonus,
are we really stuck with this curse?
what brought about this lowness?

if thirty percent vote labour,
twenty five liberal and twenty five conservative,
with the last twenty going to the rest,
that's thirty percent ruling the population,
which is despotic at best,
I know no other translation.

democracy benefits the wealthy,
leaving scraps for the rest,
doing mind numbing menial chore,
is an everyday occurrence now,
whilst their mansions are protected by law,
and police who took the vow.

so if I'm truly under obligation,
to live my life by your rules,
then I tell you now that's fine,
so long as you can show me,
where I signed on the dotted line,
otherwise I consider myself free.

[Clare]

I do like your 'The Dotted Line'.
Of course the first rule of all Democratic Governments is that nobody is allowed to opt out,
all who live under them given the chance to elect the leader and taken as having signed on the dotted line.
BB 1984.

[GrimDad]

And the real irony is that those who rule and see themselves as the winners are really losers too.

[Skryl]

The tv series "The Line-Up" was a weekly favorite in our house when I was a kid. As I recall it was very well made, but I dont think Ive seen an episode since then. The movie is terrific. I saw it again sometime back on Encore Mystery and also would love to see it on DVD. It would be great to see it show up on TCM too.