The (Dis) Charge the Tea Party Made*

*With Apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Dark fatigue dark fatigue
Dark fatigue slumber.
Piled high the National Debt.
It's such a big number.
Taxes there to evade,
Lines in the sand were made.
Bring down the National Debt.
Planned spending to encumber.

Default on bills not paid,
Bond ratings would degrade,
This was the game they played,
All through the summer.
Theirs not to question why.
Theirs just to shrink the pie,
Ending the Keynesian lie.
Bring down the National Debt.
Planned spending to encumber.

Nightmares to the right of them,
Nightmares to the left of them,
Nightmares and more mayhem,
The Tea Party thundered.
New tax they did dispel.
Hard bargains they made well.
Troubled by National Debt
Demons of Budget hell.
Planned spending to encumber.

They took Obama's dare.
Shutdown they did not care.
Democrats they did scare.
Threatening default while
All the world wondered.
Unified their members spoke.
The country is going broke.
With Congress
A deal was stroke,
Cuts a small number.
Unfinished business
More spending to encumber.

Nightmares to the right of them,
Nightmares to the left of them,
Nightmares and more mayhem,
The Tea Party thundered.
Sad story to foretell,
Criticism that would swell,
Anger could not be quelled,
Reducing the National Debt
Would not go well,
The principal outcome,
Our politics made dumber.

When will the darkness fade?
Hopeful for this we prayed,
Pleasant dreams and slumber.
Default for now was stayed.
Yet this did not forbade
Stock market as stumbler.

Washington Chain Saw Massacre - NYTimes.com via kwout