"The Peter Principle At Work" lyrics - CHRISTINE LAVIN

Never had we felt our country more divided
Then Republicans came to New York to sway those few undecided
Three miles south of where they gathered in this town
There's a deep dark empty hole in the ground

All of us who live here were shaken by that day
And the weeks and months that followed, some pain never goes away
The delegates all made the pilgrimage down to Ground Zero
Pose for photographs with each reluctant hero

After 9/11 we had the sympathy of the world
Though we cried we felt pride every time our flag unfurled
Three years down the line that sympathy is gone
He said 'mission accomplished' as the battles raged on
How can mission be accomplished with the battles raging on?

We know exactly how many Americans have died in Iraq
But we never see the photos of the coffins coming back
We see photos of the torture that was done in our name
Lots of fingers pointing but no one taking blame

A filmmaker from Flint Michigan makes a movie you won't see
Shines a spotlight on the dark side of our democracy
You'd rather close your eyes than engage us in debate
The platform of the uninformed breeds the politics of hate

New York City is everything so many of you fear
Chinese Korean Russian even Arabic spoken here
Hassidic Jews and lesbians living right next door
To single mothers raising kids while daddy's off to war
There are single fathers raising kids while mommy's off to war

Sent there by a leader who never had a clue
But never had a single doubt about what he should do
He thinks God made him president, heaven knows we didn't do it
Is it time for us to say 'Oh Lawdy, oh Lawdy, somebody blew it'

Or are we witnessing the Peter Principle at work?
The highest level of incompetence still expecting every perk?
Or have we all gone crazy? could we be dead wrong?
Can the righteous be defeated by the stupid and the strong?
Or will we be blacklisted because we wrote this song?