"You call this liberty?!"
He stated a little louder than necessary
"They are taking away all of our rights man, all of 'em!"
His eyes flitted about wildly in his head
"It's all part of the New World Order, and we're all sheep!"
All I could think was
It is easy to rant, to rave
Against a government
That guarantees an individual
The right to rant and rave
How loud would his voice had been
If this were the Soviet Union
In 1948?
Would he have cursed Stalin as readily
As he curses his duly elected representatives?
Would he have stood with the refuseniks
In Leningrad, in 1970?
Would he have protested against the Gulags
In front of the Kremlin
Or even from a barstool?
"It's getting so a man can't do shit without being hassled!"
He said as he tried to get the bartenders attention
"They use anything as an excuse to deny a man a voice!"
He finished his drink while ordering another
"It's Brandenburg all over again man, all over again!"
Surprised by his reference to Brandenburg v. Ohio
I wondered if he would stand up for a woman
Who wished to wear pants in Afghanistan
Or wear her hair down
In Saudi Arabia
Would he challenge a man in Pakistan
Who had a vial of acid in his hands
With which he planned to punish his sister
For dishonoring their family
By choosing not to wed the man they sold her to?
Every coward dreams of being a hero
From the safety of the stands
Every self-anointed savior has the answer
And, if given just half a chance
Will gladly show the world the error of its ways
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