THE CHARGE OF THE LIBERTY BRIGADE

Oh great thirst for power and glory,
The yearning blind trust in royalty.
Empires rise, kill, then fall.
Is there not an end to it all?

Aspirations of freedom arise,
But sovereign thoughts compromise.
Loyalty to another, no surprise,
What can one surmise?

We think, sweat, and struggle,
Of freedom and loyalty we juggle.
Oh home of the Hallowed Halls,
Isn’t their finally wisdom on your walls?

There’s been republics past,
Whose philanthropy didn’t last.
And Greek democracies of old,
Whose binders were forced to fold.

Oh those forms of gov’ment in antiquity,
Proved in time, shadows of impostured liberty.
Dangerous policies of mortal coercion,
Became great moral lessons in cohesion.

These lessons opened our hearts and minds,
There must be a glue that ties and binds.
Greek democracies and Roman republics, filled with despotism,
Promised scant hope and protection against allures of socialism.

But remembering the past, as our forefather’s did in procession,
They knew what came before guaranteed disastrous regression.
It taught them, man’s institutions, impious and futile,
Could only serve those who sought to be brutal.

Respect the opinions of others, view with careful scrutiny.
Receive with caution the teachings of creeds with mutiny.
Liberty of the first German republics looked to be so pure.
Their promised freedoms, greed and power filled with allure.

The promise of liberty, we’ve learned, changes to libertinism.
This feeds the sorrowful soul, soon to evolve into fascism.
So what do we interject here to maintain liberty in perpetuity?
A republic in spirit, rejuvenating life, liberty and ingenuity.

No privileged class, no royalty or predestined authority,
Should be allowed to rule absolute, not even the majority.
And for this, a new element of vitality was integrated,
Of Nature! and Nature’s God! inalienable rights incorporated.

The prize was distinction throughout the world,
A new kind of republic, unfurled.
Reverence to the Creator is the key to good government.
Let’s put it right here for perpetual acknowledgement.

Thus, a republic, under God, one nation indivisible,
For putting Man in charge was totally impermissible.
“A government of laws and not of Men,” said John.
This New Republic, they finally agreed on!