Yeonmi Park’s Advice to Americans
You don’t ever want to be a
country that’s like North Korea,
where a massive central power
makes its citizenry cower.
But each year, you cede control of
more and more, which is the goal of
those who run in each election,
so you move in that direction.
Every winner’s non-stop waxing
about fairness as they’re taxing
then regifting every dollar,
means you’ll live in equal squalor.
Meanwhile, their nests get more padded
thanks to all the wealth they’ve added
through the microscopic sliver
skimmed from handouts they deliver.
Government must be more local,
so they’ll hear you when you’re vocal,
and it must be made much smaller,
so they’ll listen when you holler.
Not until you can resize it,
and, of course, decentralize it,
and be sure it’s been adjusted,
can your government be trusted.
Poet’s Note: Yeonmi Park defected from North Korea as a 13 year-old in 2007. She has made it her mission to warn that socialism and communism inevitably lead to authoritarianism and oppression. Her widely circulated speeches point out that we are on a perilous path that is headed in that direction. Her prescription is to minimize the size of government to maximize individual liberty. Her book In Order to Live, summarizes her account and is an excellent read.
Warren Bonham is a private equity investor who lives in Southlake, Texas.
Well rhymed and catchy, I like it. It’s stating the obvious and makes for a fun poem to read, thanks. At the very least the poet has earned himself the right to one day say ” see, I told you so,” which is better than nothing.
Wise, poetic advice indeed! Thank you, Warren!
Warren, thanks for trying to get more attention for this remarkably strong and talented young woman. We need thousands like HER, because she’s not some attractive loudmouth activist with only celluloid experience. She’s been through tyranny and slavery. But unlike others with that real experience, she has the intelligence to recognize the social and political masks and the intellectual and sexual chains threatening us. You’ve described some in your poem. Her book “In Order to Live” is a great recommendation. In French, the title is “Je Voulais Juste Vivre,” or “I Just Want to Live.”
With the number of Park’s books and books about her, she is becoming a Solzhenitsyn figure capable of defining and combatting our spiritual crisis. One thing she points out is that the great books of Western civilization tend to be banned in dictatorships.
The photo of her for this post shows her addressing Turning Point USA leaders. Yeonmi Park is exactly ten days older than Charlie Kirk would be if he were still living.
YP for mayor of NYC?
I enjoyed reading that; its one I’ll want to come back to. Yeonmi actually did end up having to “eat the bugs” or starve to death, like Klaus wants the rest of us to, except the elitists, who want to eat the steak. Yeonmi’s books should be required reading for every student everywhere, also Xi Cunxin’s ‘Mao’s Last Dancer,’ both of which are capable of immunizing readers against Soc/Com, with perhaps some exceptions, as some appear to learn only by personal experience, sadly.
Clever poem with a sound message. Pity the New Yorkers didn’t read it before they voted in Mamdani.