These came from a collection called Liberty Poems, published in 1900, when I was searching for a particular person's work.
THREE EASY STEPS DOWN HILL.
We've Jingoes. How they love the flag!
And here’s a Jingo song:
“That flag is right in any fight;
Our country, right or wrong.”
We’ve partisans. They’re lower still,
And here’s the party song:
“When at the polls, you have no souls;
Our party, right or wrong.”
We’ve boodlers. Down another step,
And here’s the boodler’s song:
“We take no bluff: we want the stuff;
Our pockets, right or wrong.”
James J. Dooling.
I had to look up some words to be sure I knew their precise meaning:
Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests.
In politics, a partisan is a committed member of a political party. In multi-party systems, the term is used for politicians who strongly support their party's policies and are reluctant to compromise with their political opponents.
In the United States, the meaning of the term has changed dramatically over the last 60 years. Before the American National Election Study (described in Angus Campbell et al., in The American Voter) began in 1952, an individual's partisan tendencies were typically determined from their voting behavior. Since then, "partisan" has come to refer to an individual with a psychological identification with one or the other of the major parties.
Boodle:
- the lot, pack, or crowd: Send the whole boodle back to the factory.
- a large quantity of something, especially money: He's worth a boodle.
- a bribe or other illicit payment, especially to or from a politician; graft.
- stolen goods; loot; booty; swag.
- verb: to obtain money dishonestly, as by bribery or swindling.
And further on, by the same person,
“OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG.”
“Our country, right or wrong,” the Jingoes shriek.
The phrase seems strong to those whose brains are weak.
The same thought put in other words sounds odd:
When God’s against us, why, then, down with God!
James J. Dooling.
Continuing through the book, whose subtitle is "Inspired by the Crisis of 1898-1900", I find another:
PHILIPPINA; OR, “AMERICA UP TO DATE.”
Thy country, ’tis for me,
We’ll take the liberty
To thee to cling.
Land where the panthers glide,
Land where the apes reside
On every mountain-side,
To thee I sing.
We’ll guard thy rocks and rills,
Thy “rocks” shall foot the bills,
To thee we’ll cling.
Land of the cocoanut,
We shout for freedom, but,
In every Tagal hut,
Let’s freedom wring.
James J. Dooling.
Searching for more Dooling work, I found a short book of poems --16 pages -- including these, entitled Rhymes without treason. at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002027309k;view=1up;seq=1
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