Tyranny

I first heard it as a new word
in World History class
where it titled a textbook chapter
that was a catalog of European names
I could not pronounce,
along with hints of atrocities
I was too young to imagine.

Later, in American History,
it was the force behind
the patriotic narratives
of midnight rides, tea parties,
and declarations of self-rule.
With musket and muster,
America was being freed
from it by fair-skinned men
who, then hastily took it
as their own raison d’etre
as they expanded south and west.

And now, as if to prove true
the tiresome adage of warning—
   history repeats itself
the word has forced its way
into my own personal story
as a cult of radical lunatics.
My vocabulary holds new names
and words for what is happening:
cruelty, oppression, despotism,
autocracy, dictatorship, oligarchy,
monocracy, greed, insanity,

I can only answer: democracy.

The worst is ahead, I know.
Our country’s condition
incited by a tortuous election,
supported by sniggling cowards,
honored by MAGA flags,
and facilitated by traitors.
The unknown is howling
our horrifying entry into history.
This was Aristotle’s prediction.
Now Trump’s triumph:
tyranny by consent.

by Anne McCrady

NEWSLINKS: CNN, The Hill, MSNBC, New York Times, Legal Quarterly,

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