Poetry in Motion

When running for political office, some candidates have a campaign slogan: "Reformer with Results" (remember that Bush 2000 goodie?), "Give 'Em Hell Harry." Others have a campaign song: "Right Here, Right Now" was Clinton's ditty in 1992 (presumably not a reference to one of his pick-up lines).

But Roy Moore -- the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who lost his job because he wouldn't remove a granite monument to the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building -- has got something better. He's running for governor on the GOP ticket (against incumbent GOP governor Bob Riley), and he has a stirring, self-authored poem.

The debate about whether Moore deserves credit for the work appears to be settled. What's not so clear is what he means in the sixth stanza, referring to the moral decay that has transpired due to the government we've "voted in" -- aren't they Republicans? Watch out, Bush.

America the Beautiful,
or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
I'm glad they'll never see.

Babies piled in dumpsters,
Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty;
your house is on the sand.

Our children wander aimlessly
poisoned by cocaine,
Choosing to indulge their lusts,
when God has said abstain.

From sea to shining sea,
our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love
and a need to always pray.

We've kept God in our temples,
how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool,
and Heaven is His throne.

We've voted in a government
that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges
who throw reason out the door,

Too soft to place a killer
in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby
before he leaves the womb.

You think that God's not angry,
that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait
before His judgment comes?

How are we to face our God,
from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do,
but stem this evil tide?

If we who are His children,
will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face
and mend our evil way:

Then God will hear from Heaven
and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land
and those who live within.

But, America the Beautiful,
if you don't - then you will see,
A sad but Holy God
withdraw His hand from Thee.

~Judge Roy Moore