San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly

Stephen Colley 

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

We’ve got Antitrust, BLM, CFPB,

and the DEA, EPA, FDIC,
FCC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, plus the Fed
and the GSA running us into the red,
 
while the FDA, FTC, Homeland Security
(TSA too) and ICE guard our futurity.
Medicare, NLRB, NSA
redistribute and regulate, day after day,
 
helped by OSHA, the OMB, PBGC,
RRB, SBA, SSA, SEC.
 
And a White House that every four years is re-leased
ensures all of bureaucracy’s wheels stay well greased
for directors, detectors, correctors, collectors.
So who will protect us from all our protectors?