Selling Ourselves a Bad Dream
(in a "Non-Standard" 14-line Sonnet style)
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Unending war on those who pose no threat
leaves little for a fight with those who do.
And running up a monumental debt
has squandered all we earned since World War II.
Not that these past eight decades haven’t whet
our appetite for B. S. that we spew
convincing no one but ourselves how great
a military we possess despite
its string of losses, some would say a spate,
which, added up, attest to our real plight:
that costly failure’s our defining trait.
Admittedly, it’s not a pleasant sight.
“The Most Expensive Military”? Yes.
“The Greatest”? Hardly. That requires success.

“To their North and their South they’ve weak neighbors.
To their East and their West they’ve got fish.”
What von Bismark observed just belabors
things a non-U.S. country would wish:
Like, it shouldn’t need sharp knives or sabers
except to carve dinner’s main dish.
Few lands boast a U.S. location:
one that offers secure borders plus
resources, trade routes, population,
and whatever’s left to discuss.
Still, critical thought constipation
has made quite a weakling of us:
Bitching (not fixing) from first light of dawn.
Dogs bark but the circus moves on.