How the War Came Home To St Paul

this is how the war came home
to St Paul Minnesota
Republican National Convention
two thousand and eight
they built a fence to protect the government
from its own people
they put free speech in a cage
and made it a ward of the state

they put spies and infiltrators
on everybody’s trail
so before it even got started
there were people in jail

this is how the war came home
to America
with vice grips on your eyes and ears
no deviations allowed
they rounded up the journalists
took ‘em all away in plastic hand cuffs
disappeared them in behind
a tear gas cloud

they had everyone afraid of the riot police
and the power they flaunt
they had abuse insurance
they could do whatever they want

this is how the war came home
to the presidential elections
they ran an iron candidate
who would lay down the law
with a fundamentalist ridin shot gun
she believed that this was god’s war
and they ran that ticket
like a shock and awe

they arrested 800 people
and they put them in the jail down town
they said you want to exercise democracy
we’re gonna bring the hammer down

this is how the war came home
this is how the war came home


there was Carlos Arredondo
with his flag draped coffin
and the boots that his dead son used to wear
Cindy Sheehan who camped across from
Bush’s Texas ranch
she spent a month down there
there were thousands who marched against
any kind of war
democracy was dying
and that’s what this was for

inside the convention center
where the spectacle was king
it was immaculate choreography
the next best thing to god
and they cheered and swooned
in a patriot’s euphoria
till someone interrupted
and screamed “this is a fraud”

it was the women of Code Pink
and the veterans of Iraq
and were evicted
but everyone knew they would be back

this is how the war came home
to roost
a new geography
in our landscape divide
this is how the war came home
yes it did
we are all collateral damage now
there is no place to hide

and the Mississippi river flowed
and the flags and the guns were shining bright
the sun went down in my American sky
and we were headed into midnight
and I got myself to thinking
some day its gonna all come clear
it don’t matter so much what they do in there
as it matters what we do out here