Truth in 17 Syllables

Arianna Huffington, in response to an article in The Atlantic Monthly on "The Future of the American dream," wrote a column called "In Pursuit of the American Idea...and a Haiku." Huffington offered her own haikus and invited others to add their own. This one of Arianna's seemed to be the favorite of everyone:

Founding Father George
Famously could not tell lies
George Bush: not so much

but then people commenting made absolutely marvelous haikus themselves.

Jim Neil spoke truth that is too painfully true...

To live without fear
Keep a leash on government
But most just drink beer

I think back to those days immediately post 9/11 when Bush told the American people that the thing they should do was to go shopping and support the economy. We were never invited to participate in the war against terrorism as our parents and grandparents sacrificed in World War II, buying war bonds, rationing on essential food items, etc. They sacrificed "things" and we have sacrificed our fundamental "ideals." While we have been "drinking beer" (or the leisure pasttime of our choice), the Constitution has been gutted and our government has been shaped into something that I suspect the founding fathers would no longer recognize.

Someone with a handle Kira vonConcrete also points out a painful truth for far too many.

I have no healthcare
I'm part of the working poor
Can't stop for Freedom

While billions and trillions of dollars are being sent overseas in pursuit of the freedoms we are losing at home, children are denied medical care, and returning soldiers, who served the ideals of the megalomaniac in the White House are turned out on the streets because they can't find work and don't know how to readjust to this country after several tours of duty in Iraq. “We’re beginning to see, across the country, the first trickle of this generation of warriors in homeless shelters,” said Phil Landis, chairman of Veterans Village of San Diego, a residence and counseling center. “But we anticipate that it’s going to be a tsunami.” (In an article in the New York Times)

Phyllba asks:

Will we still desire
Liberty, justice, freedom
In our world to come?

I don't know that we even think about it any more. We hear that this is what we are trying to bring to the Middle East, but do we still have it here, where voices are being suppressed, the government can eavesdrop on anybody on a whim, the highest custodian of legal ethics in the country can't decide what is and what isn't "torture," and any and all actions by the Executive Branch of the government are "classified information."

Messenger, in a not-quite-haiku writes

American Idea
Unlimited Promises
In need of Repair

Josesprings adds

Scared voters watching
Thirty-second TV ad.
"Bad, Democracy."

while Jaundiceview chimes in with

Truth Justice Freedom
Ideals that were our bedrock
No longer apply

Maia points out the irony in our concern for this country vs. the struggle in other countries.

Marching in the streets
in demand of liberty...
Oops - that's Pakistan.

But perhaps the one that I found most poignant was this not-quite-haiku by Caniculus:

legless, burned, blind flag wrapped corpses drift home each smirk tortures us

Ending with my own feeble attempt to express in 17 syllables the frustration I feel.

Talking heads report,
Shake my head in disbelief.
Where is my country?