What Happened?

Surrounded by historical writings,
I ponder every last consequence.
I picture myself at the Constitutional Convention,
praying for a compromise.
Through the tiring battle of give and take,
a new government formed from the work of great minds.

Too bad we lost those patient minds,
I muse as I page through further writings.
"Give and take" reverted to "take"
as new idealist politicians disregarded war's consequence.
Some tried their best to compromise,
but their efforts seemed archaic in the new land's conventions.

Once they bound the nation with war-drawn blood, they formed a new convention:
thirst for wealth cultivated, quenched by relentless minds.
To these barrons, there would be no compromise.
Conquer! Exploit!-these words explode in newspaper writings.
Once again, no one pondered the consequence
of this imperialist thirst, to take take take.

As progressive thought swept through the nation, people would still take
wealth and prosperity at all costs-a tradition, a convention.
Soon, though, we'd face the consequence
of our isolation: a knee-quaking xenophobic state of mind.
I find the ugly truth in twentieth century writings.
Between the lines, I see no one would accept any compromise.

They didn't want new imperial roles to be "compromised".
Nor did they want other countries to seek any form of government they could take.
They never utter cultural ignorance in their writings,
but they don't need to do so; it's ingrained into every man's conventions.
The government toils, sculpting many people's minds
through misinformation and inventing doomsday consequences.

That route held a grave consequence.
People spurned compromise.
"We crave the world!" echoed in many people's minds.
Slamming old rules, idealists refused to take
government lullabies. They were bucking convention
through brainwashing, protesting rallies and writing.

I look at these writings with knowledge of the consequences,
knowing American conventions left little room for compromise.
It was a concept no one cared to take, a concept that died due to idealistic, stubborn minds.