OT, but I wish I had the talent to write an epic about this period in a way that captures the huge loss that this malignant exercise in rightwing social engineering entails, the sweep and reach of decades-long anti-government fervor by conservative zealots, Steve Bannon’s vision of destroying the public sector as a force for good, and the senseless loss of government programs and the needless sacrifice of workers inspired by their mission but who are now silenced by the forces of greed, megalomania and destruction.
Something like this:
In Flanders Fields
BY JOHN MCCRAE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.