47 percent

  by admin    Stewarts Blog     2 Comments

47 percent of us

All of us on this bus

Momma and Dad and Sister Julia – with

Kushing’s Syndrome – that took her to Mayo’s

Before it killed her and took part of all

Our souls

And just me with college loans from the government

And washing dishes – state paid that you

Know – and unemployment between gigs

Just a worthless 47 percenter

Not just us on this bus

Those 19 and 26 year olds who left legs and

Arms and parts of scalps in Iraq and

Afghanistan trying to learn to walk again and

Think without pain and fear and confusion

How can they be 47 percenters, Mr. Romney?

In your house on the hill

See, it ain’t just us

It’s generations of us climbing from the dirt

Up and building America while we scraped

And hurt and died creating TVA and REA and

The highway system and railroads – lots of

Us like John Henry broke our hearts for

America and water systems and sewer

systems. Hey Mitt with your soft hands and

Perfect hair and walk you learned in prep

school, you ever been in the main line of a

sewer system with a shovel and firehose

unclogging the toilets and drains of a whole

city with a rope around your waist in case

the methane overcomes you? No?

That’s just for us sorry 47 percenters.

And Romney’s personal victims at Bain

Capital where he destroyed jobs and families

And part of people’s souls.

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Stewart Acuff is America’s best-known and foremost labor organizer. He is the former organizing Director of the AFL-CIO. Acuff has also written two books: Playing Bigger Than You Are: A Life in Organizing, and Getting America Back to Work, coauthored by Dr. Richard Levins.