« a happiness there was | Main | letting boys »

appeals to pre-democratic traditions

effectively neutralize democracy,
traps discussion of the here and now in an in-tolerant past,
smartly framing not rights, constitution nor contract
but pre-democratic status and prejudices
that tradition will never allow
an entry into discussion;

thus tolerance -a product of democracy-
is made wordless, becomes silent
within a regime of traditional coercion