America the Grand Coulee

The Grand Coulee Dam, built during the first Bush Depression, is the metaphor that is us.

Had Smedley Butler not spoken out, the salmon would still be running, the Spokane Tribe would still be a fish people, and Sherman Alexie may have become John Stockton.  Just to clarify, John would not have become Sherman.

Had Smedley not stopped the Roosevelt coup, the Columbia River would have actually rolled on.  The CCC’s would not have built anything, Wall Street would have been left to do as it pleased, the Industrialists would have become Corporatists, and you white folks would still be drinking out of your own water fountains.

Had we had another Smedley Butler or two, we may have become a crankier version of Canada.  Now how nice would that have been?  Curling could have been so much better with our influence.

America the Grand Coulee…giving so much throughout history, yet taking away even more.

For you historical purists out there…the fish/river blocking Chief Joseph Dam, would be the second coming of the Bush clan.

Thank you…and good evening.