In the Name of the Public Good
By, J.P. Medved
The judges were old, the judges were cold.
They defended the Public Good.
Their mandate was clear, today they would hear
Who rejected the Public Good.
The verdict from them: ten men they’d condemn
For ignoring the Public Good.
There is no reprieve, if you don’t believe
In adoring the Public Good.
The men were famous, their actions shameless:
They’d reviled the Public Good.
Salesmen and bankers, merchants and traders
Were on trial for the Public Good.
Their crimes were excess, achievement, success
For themselves, not the Public Good.
The judges intoned, “You’ll be publicly stoned;
Selfish pride hurts the Public Good.”
“Thus our law decrees: you’ll die on your knees
In the name of the Public Good.
For profits you’ve lusted, your freedom has rusted
The chains called the Public Good.
We judges decide it, we judges apply it,
We ourselves, are the Public Good.
We'll take what you made, through your honest trade
And keep it, for our 'Public Good.'