The Moderates Song

Welllll

You never hear a moderate on the radio

Phoning in to a phone in show:

“I have listened to all sides of the discussion

And feel it’s a complex issue with many repercussions

Oh we must all tread carefully

And try and find common ground.”

You never see a moderate in a footy stand

Standing up to shout and wave their hands:

“Oi referee! You do a bloody hard job

And we’re collectively grateful to you sonny-bob

Cause without you we don’t have a game

And we forgive your human mistakes cause they make us the same.”

You never see a moderate on a protest march

With a banner lofted high and proud and such:

“This is a legitimate way to express an opinion

And I must admit that our position

Is based somewhat on emotion

And could do with challenging too.”

Maybe if we did, things would be better

You’d open the local paper to read the letters:

“On the subject of Mr. Stayaway’s scribble

I must admit I found myself a little

Intrigued by his contention that if we’ll

Discuss the facts and drop the bluster

We’ll see the truth behind the rhetoric.”

Maybe if we did, we could move on

Power in truth and love and song:

“We’re not saying that we know it all

Good grief, we ain’t saying that at all.

But if we begin from a standpoint of openness

We can redefine the word ‘success;

To mean giving credence to what’s there

Not nebulous oppositional politics where

The onus is on us to choose a team

To shout from the sidelines, screaming, obscene

At each other whilst our pockets are picked

And we’re kicking each other, not against the pricks.”

Wellll

Wouldn’t that be nice? Maybe moderately so?

To accept and embrace our communal faults for those

Impostors and invigorators, thoughts and feelings

Whilst simultaneously recognising

That humans are fundamentally good

If only we could listen more. If only we would.