"Calm Panic Election Promise," Allen Ginsberg (1992)

From "The Republican Rump," Paul Krugman, The New York Times, November 3:

... the G.O.P.’s long transformation into the party of the unreasonable right, a haven for racists and reactionaries, seems likely to accelerate as a result of the impending defeat. This will pose a dilemma for moderate conservatives. Many of them spent the Bush years in denial, closing their eyes to the administration’s dishonesty and contempt for the rule of law. Some of them have tried to maintain that denial through this year’s election season, even as the McCain-Palin campaign’s tactics have grown ever uglier. But one of these days they’re going to have to realize that the G.O.P. has become the party of intolerance.


End of Millennium
Earth's decay
Fire Air Water tainted
We're the Great Beast--
Dark bed thoughts,
Can't do anything to stop it--
Denial in Government,
in Newspapers of Record--
Like watching gum disease
& not brushing teeth
Getting heart failure,
no rest much stress
Putting salt
on your greasy Pork
Putting sugar in coffee
you're diabetic

Dysesthesia on foot soles
Poor circulation, smoke more cigarettes

Kick your son under the table have another beer
Need President who'll reverse the denial --
The Calm Panic Party
to restore nature's balance.

Allen Ginsberg, 1992
from Cosmopolitan Greetings (1994)