Mrs. Arnold,
I wonder what you think will be the place of literary traditions in constructing the epic about "The Wrath of the American People". In a culture that seems to increasingly lend itself to sound bites and cliches how can the average American break the hold that the mainstream media has on them? Even for us "idiot liberals", how can we say something productive to the community at large without rehearsing the same old worn out lines? I guess what I am getting at is how can we become a community again in the sense of having a shared vision of the good life. In America today I don't think it is even very common for members of the same family to share such a vision. So how can we even hope for a change brought about by public debate and deliberation if we are all talking past eachother?

Trite as it sounds, advances in knowledge bring changes. Fundamentally, human beings still behave as they always have. Technology has great potential to be used for malevolence. Isn't it time technology be used to destroy hated forms of authority?
Isn't it time we rebuilt our democracy? No more elected representatives that are bought and sold, instead, each household can now represent itself. For example, instead of Oracle being tasked for databases that are used as a terror weapon against you, let's use Oracle as a weapon against those old undesirable, malevolent types of brutality that history is full of.

if we continue to use the frame of greco/roman culture as our template. yes..we are doomed. it has never worked and is not working now. while we are all suffering from information overload, you do not need to 'understand' and 'research' a problem to death to find the solutions. the solutions are so very simple. you find them in various true spiritual efforts. you choose the one. the answers are in your heart. the answer is saying no. simplistic...yes... effective yes. these kind of efforts will not be easy.

We need a less humane world and a more inhumane one. Somewhere in history people got the words confused. To be benign is to be inhuman or nonhuman, to be irrationally violent and cruel is strictly human. It was perverse human arrogance that twisted the words around.

One of the great aspects of the Illiad was the respect that Homer showed for Nature between the grotesque violence. He admired the tenacity of a fly in striving to harass a man--or the self-respect of bees that defend themselves against bratty children, or the lion searching for stolen cubs.

The message of the Illiad was that all life resides within Troy.

Humanity is the victim of the seemingly indestructable momentum of the voracious greedy machine that dictates what the world's human culture looks like.

Was it Voltaire who said "tend your own garden?" Perhaps that was the only true alternative for those not represented by the current and past political systems. It seemed that to get involved only sullied those with truly the "common good" at heart or simply crushed them to oblivion.

Maybe that was the only way those people could psychically and spirtually survive - by creating for themselves the world they envisioned.

That's no longer a viable approach as we all have become vulnerable to extinction by the practices of the short-sighted unconsciously (or not) mendacious throngs that scrurry about trying to either rule the world or get their small, or otherwise, piece of the pie.

The existing paradigm of the world view of the ruling class no longer works and never really did for most. That view now is indeed dangerous and threatening to our existence.

Perhaps the real solution is to simply bypass the existing power structure and become such an overwhelming and undeniable presence that we shift the "rules" without really asking permission of those in charge.

I don't know how this could come about. Seeing how quickly and profoundly the world galvanized in its protest of the impending invasion of Iraq by the United States, or the under-the-radar uprising of Latinos in this country to protest immigration "reform," or how Howard Dean and Jerry Brown were able to raise so much money in their quest to become President of the United States hould give us pause.

I think those examples may offer a mere glimpse of the possibilities for how the "people" can take back the world from those who only wish to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.

So we've now degenerated further from hollow men into hollow speakers. This would tend to validate Madam Pelosi's position as third behind in the Bush-Cheney succession line; NO improvement! Time to retable IMPEACHMENT, instead; but with Lalapeloser's pre-emptive recusal.

Caroline

you don't mention peak oil, the imminent financial catastrophe, global pandemics, and famine. It's true that foreign policy is a real bummer, but did you forget that the global food surplus is down to approximately 53 days, less than half of normal? The margin is beginning to crumble, for pete's sake, and soon famine will weaken immune systems, induce pandemics, and provoke more wars, lots of local conflagrations, perhaps even in Kent as fights erupt at Ben & Jerry's over the last tub of Cherry Garcia.

Hey cheer up!

The key is modesty. One must modestly admit that the world may not go the way one wishes. It may blow itself all to hell. We've known this since 1945.

As a fellow traveler, I advise you to die with your boots on, so to speak, like Patroclus.

That way we will want to have your body back and we will cherish your memory.

Why, I wonder, do we assume that we moderns are supposed to be oh-so-much-better than the ancient Greeks? What sort of progress fantasy is at work here? Perhaps we are worse than the ancient Greeks.

Speaking of progress, btw, some have suggested that the Greeks' anthropomorphic gods represented a step up from the theriomorphic gods of others, say the Egyptians.

Mrs. Arnold: You know what Nietzsche said in his prophetic last book re-written by his sister 'The Will to Power', that as a consequence of progress and technology, individualism and intelligence would decrease in people, in fact he wrote that mankind doesn't go forward, doesn't advance, the Renasance, and XVII Century were far more advanced than XVIII, XIX, XX, and XXI Century,. in fact i he wrote about a de-volution theory in which we will head to the ape barbaric stage again. However in another book 'Human all too Human' he said that in the future, mankind will be so smart, so awaken, that beurocratic states, and military states and governments won't be possible. In another part of 'The Will to Power' Part 758, he said that in the future workers will be in power, it's related to Marxist theory of workers-ownership, I hope Marx and Nietzsche were right in that theory, because i hate to see workers (the creators of wealth) behave like slaves :-)

Let's hope there are voices left to sing it, or pass down the new oral tradition that might explain how a world given so many riches, chose (under direct threat of its darkest masters) to waste these treasures on the ways and means to kill off one another, and in so-doing, annihilate the living systems that might have sustained the progeny of each to lend his/her tale to the great human tragi-comedy. Human nature CAN change if fed ideals. Those in church-state power elites of all times have generally elected to keep the masses blind, dumb or hungry to maintain their control. What we have seen in human history is the outcome of these divisive mechanisms. We have seen moments of blinding beauty, glimpses into what the mortal beast is capable of when it raises its eyes to the heavens and transcends the less noble features of its nature. WRITERS (thanks, Caroline) recognize this ever vital potential and keep the torch lit as mankind like a snake undulates through progressive (like this one) Dark Ages.

"'I sing the Wrath of Achilles' … proclaims the opening verse of the Iliad." Actually, it doesn't. The Greek (in transliteration) is "menin aeide thea Peleiadeo Achileos" -- "The anger sing, goddess, of Peleus's son, Achilles . . . ". The poem's very first word is "anger". And the poet does not announce that he will sing of the anger -- he invokes, with the imperative mode ("aeide" -- Sing!) the goddess, whom he bids to sing the anger. Some centuries later, things had changed. Virgil does indeed began in the first person "Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris . . " - "Of arms and the man I sing, who first from the shores of Troy . . . ", although Virgil too invoked the divine: "Musa, mihi causas memora .. " "Muse, recall to me the causes . . . "

In every society, the "enlightened" are always in the minority, and tend to frustrate themselves to death over the question: why can't "the people" see the light? As Mulder use to say, "The truth is out there." And, today, there is more truth out there than in any time in history. Yet, still, "the people" choose fast food, Idol, Hilton, Exxon, Bush, Bush-lite, Bush Dems, etc. Why? It used to be called brainwashing, which most find impossible to accept because they believe themselves impervious, and they cannot believe their "leaders" would ever do such a thing (in spite of the well known fact that our, and other, governments have been trying to perfect mind control since the word mind was coined.) Why do you think politicians turn to ad and PR agencies for campaign help? Cause no one warps our minds better than Madison Ave.

In spite of the hard work of the enlightened, we cannot de-program people who have been saturated with the same lies and propaganda for 5 hours a day, year after year. Hell, I can't even convince my sister-in-law Libby deserves as much jail time as possible.

Maybe it's time to accept the neocrazies "creative destruction" theory. Maybe the USA needs to collapse, implode, whatever, before "the people" break from their trance.

"I suspect it is not a good idea to tell pension funds what they can't invest in, but how do I know?"

You don't Caroline. Pension funds belong to the people, not to corporations. And the people don't have a say when this vast amount of money is funding neocon wars and other malevolent enterprises designed to fleece the public. Nader has been talking about this for years. Look it up.

"I suspect it is not a good idea to tell pension funds what they can't invest in, but how do I know?"
Tell them what? . . .
Don't be Bad Guys but make sure you send me my check . . . That comes first . . . Then you can be a good guy . . . Just a little bit, not to much.
Someone some place said it better than I . . . "Be the change you want the world to be" . . . When that happens in a large enough scale, then and only then will this talk have a place in the world discussion. Until then it's just talk, talk, talk . . .

In a world of lies...the truth becomes subversive, simply by existing. The spin doctors are the ones who must exert all that extra effort so as to twist and redefine the truth to fit their agendas. All it takes is a little amoral cynicism to dispense with the stray twinge of guilt about purposefully distorting the truth. How does one keep up with it all?
The ju-jitsu of truth uses the enemy's strength against him. He lies but you don't have to. Any level of truth can stand by itself, whereas a group of lies must be continually hidden or otherwise supported by even more lies. The truth stands solidly, it is what it is, regardless of what is thrown against it. Truth once put out there, waits for history to return to it after the spin and lies have done. No one uses Goebbels Nazi propaganda to describe WW2 though once that was all that was to be had in German textbooks and newspapers. The truth awaited history's return. So the way to conserve strength, the ju-jitsu part, is to put the truth out there and let it fend for itself. It doesn't need any further tending or cultivation. Add a piece of truth to the others and it forms a lasting mosaic that withstands time. Lies rarely if ever really do. State the truth and then let it go. Sow a seed and twenty years later come back to find a tree, though you did nothing to help that tree grow in all that time. There was never any need to. Just sow a seed of truth, in a manure pile of lies and someday the manure will be gone but that one seed is now all grown into a strong tree completely on it's own. The truth is only subversive to the lies that are told trying to hide it. Sow a seed of truth and then sit back and relax, it'll do the work all on it's own. Save your strength for the next time, the truth is it's own strength. Call it the house edge.

So are we supposed to shut up because we can't tell the difference between reign and rein (a mistake I have personally made). Is the oral tradition only for those with great spell/grammar checkers? Just because I have a lame operating system am I to be left out? There's a heavy dose of bull in this article. I say (echoing that rightist) "Shut up and sing". Let a hundred flowers bloom. Who cares about redundancy and error? Don't you realize most blogs are for personal catharsis anyway? And maybe we're all inching our way to enlightenment. And maybe catastrophe theory is right and we'll spill over the inflection point and something wonderful will come from it, spelling errors, trite phrases and all. There, see, now I feel better.

I just reread the article and I'd like to curb my previous comment. It's not bull, but I think it expresses an exhaustion and information overload that is unnecessary. It's all very simple and doesn't require an epic to express the rage we should be feeling. Torture is wrong, tricking your own country into war is wrong. Bush is "wrong". Again, it's simple, when your conscience tells you something is wrong, it probably is. Always remember "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck". You'll never go wrong!

A few comments ago, someone mentioned Nader.
Ralph Nader has been telling the truth for decades. He gives me hope. He seems to know how to make things better. He is particularly good at picking talented people to work hard on issues that advance public policy. I hope he runs in 2008. Ralph Nader is a good man and a good leader.

BugsBBunny III (what a name !) : Awesome post.

I suppose the challenge today is in regards to time.

Peace,
Ken
* I support HRes-333 Impeach the VP
***** time is of the essence *****

Caroline Arnold concludes"We need an epic..."

Although rather long, its hardly an epic but but my "Prophecies of Arrogance" has these opening lines:

Perhaps there is no room for conscience
in a world run by criminal negligence.
But, as a robber and a thief,
I swear there is a wound and a night beyond relief,
and that hate is too mild a word
for that which I despise, to which I weld this curse:
Prince-of-this-World, your feet are lice,
your cloak is rot and your halo -- buzzing flies!

Instead of all the fixation on the current world picture, could we fixate on something closer to home, like a national aquaduct system to redirect flood waters to parts of our nation experiencing drought. We will redirect all that manpower and monies currently being spent on outside projects and start focussing on the inner health of our nation. Our army will be focused on national projects, our corporations will be able to make pleanty of profit by retooling and redesigning their manufactureing facilities to meet all of the demands for the masses of equipment and manpower that will be needed to rejuvinate our youthful nation and, invigorate our peoples to invest our time and money in ourselves.
There will be no problem with our neighbors trying to slip through our defences when our national endeavors include projects that benefit all of North America. There is work for all those who seek it. Work will set us free. So let us play, let us start designing and building our dreams of tomorrow, let us return our own nation to it's roots of manifest destiny and declare to all the peoples of all the world, this is what we can do, this is what we have done, can you do any better?
And as far as our political relationships we will endeavor to trade peaceably with all nations. We will not become embroiled in your internal affairs.If a nation decides on civil war, by all means let them proceed with gusto, and get it over with. After all, all peoples are entitled to seek out their own forms of government, their own manifest destinies. We in the U.S. had our family fued and we survived. Let's get it on people. Our future is now, and now is the time to get started, Let's do it, what do you say? Let's stop getting involved in other peoples family affairs and concentrate on our own family. Would't that be a cool breeze of a welcomed change?

May the Gods bless us all, A-Man....LMJ

An American Renaissance

I sense your despair about the world seemingly becoming more chaotic, unfathomable, and uncontrollable. Many people feel anxiety when looking at the world around us because they wonder how it's possible to "restore" order and sanity. The truth of the matter is that the world has probably never been more "ordered" than it is today, and that is likely the problem. The power elite of the world have sought to control it for their own aggrandizement, which has succeeded in enriching them, while producing chaos for the rest of us. The solution to what ails our planet is not more control, but less control and more freedom. More individually directed "chaos" and less centrally directed "order."

I didn't start out seeing government as a problem. As a youngster government seemed irrelevant to me: relatively benign, relatively inexpensive to support, occasionally annoying, at times beneficial. But today's government is so huge and intrusive, not to mention nefarious, that it's a huge problem. Of course today's government is largely an extension of the global corporate machine. Government is, among other things, the enforcer for the corporations. Government-enforced laws legitimize the heinous behavior of corporations. While I didn't start out seeing big government or corporations as problems, decades of observation of their behavior have convinced me that a big central government in fascist alliance with corporate monopolies is a huge problem.

People who look for a top-down solution are looking in the wrong place. Top-down is the model that has wrought the problems we see around us today. The solution lies in a bottom-up model, starting with individuals.

How can individuals change the planet? Quite easily, actually. We don't have to organize. We don't have to engage in massive protests. We don't have to resort to violent revolution. We merely have to alter our behavior in such a way that benefits ourselves and renders the power elite irrelevant.

How can we do this? First and foremost, by rejecting the materialistic model that's been imposed on us. Contrary to the ads blaring from every orifice, we don't need to be rich, have a big house, or drive a fancy car. We don't need fancy clothes, smelly perfumes, or disgusting fast food. We don't need 500 TV channels of commercials and shopping and sick, predatory shows, ten gazillion-bit-per-second internet access, or cheap airline tickets. Notice that all of these "essentials" are provided by big corporations. By rejecting them we can render the corporations irrelevant.

How would we benefit by doing this? Rejecting the materialistic, consumerist model implies going back to a simpler existence. That's not to say a primitive existence. I'm not suggesting we go live in caves. But what's wrong with living in a small house in the rural countryside, nurturing a backyard garden, watching your kids play in the fields, and sitting in a rocking chair on a neighbor's porch, just talking? Thanks to the mass migration from the rural areas to the urban areas, there are vast numbers of rural houses available for purchase at prices that would make most city dwellers swoon. Imagine buying one of these houses and either paying for it in full or financing it for $300 per month? Compare that to the $3,000 per month that a lot of city people pay just for their mortgage. How about property taxes of $400 per year?

After reducing your housing cost, the next thing is to get rid of your big, expensive car. Buy an old, small car that gets good fuel economy and pay it off. Pay off all of your debts if possible, too, to get out from under the debt-based slavery that's been imposed on you.

Stop buying new things unless absolutely necessary. Buy used things whenever possible. Stop buying from corporate entities whenever possible. Buy from local manufacturers, service providers, and farms.

Start your own backyard garden and challenge yourself to grow most of the produce that you eat. Maybe even get a couple of chickens to produce eggs. I can personally attest that home raised chickens produce much better eggs than you can get in the grocery store.

Between reduced housing, transportation, and food costs, the lower paying job you're likely to have won't be a problem. And one benefit of a lower paying job is lower income taxes. Moreover, the job you have will probably be more labor intensive that the job you have in the city, which will have health benefits. The quality of your home grown food will be superior to that offered by the corporate food system, further improving your health. You will have more time to spend with family and friends.

If enough people went back to their rural roots in this way, became more self sufficient, and quit feeding the power elite, the power elite would gradually become irrelevant. Society would become less homogeneous and more resilient. We would see a resurgence in trade crafts, small scale industry, and personal responsibility. Globalization and all its ugly consequences will disappear, pollution would be reduced, and people would again be in control of their destiny. One thing I've observed, and which has been confirmed by numerous studies, is that people who are less materialistic are happier. One can go to the most abjectly "poor" village in Africa and find people who are happier than Americans who live in materialistic splendor. I look around my small town in rural Kentucky and see people who are happier than those in San Francisco, where I lived for a long time.

Is my prescription practical? Absolutely. Is it easy? No. Is it worthwhile? Absolutely. Do I follow my own advice? Yes, and I'm glad I made the switch.

Dave Eriqat

In one sentence, Ms Arnold struck the nail on the head ... "We the people aren't in control of our own government any more."

The question is, what are we going to do about it?

I know what it took before. It took a sizable portion of the American people, probably some 30% to40%, to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to creating the America we once had.

The only question to me is whether a large portion of today's Americans will make the same pledge to return to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

"There's a heavy dose of bull in this article." I agree with remark in spite of its author's later refutation. Petty spelling errors do not count for much in our gross corruption of language: liberals vs. conservatives, freedom vs. what? & c. But even here there is nothing new; just read the Analects of Confucius of 2,500 years ago. What is the first thing to do in order to improve human conditions? Rectify words, advised Confucius.

Based on this to deny progress will be an utter fallacy. In eras of desperation even such otherwise thoughtful people like Augustine succumb to rejection of reason, that is, skeptical thinking. But to say that little was changed since the Trojan War is an assault on reason.

We are still evolving species and winners of Greek Olympiads would be laughed out of modern high school competitions. To expect that evolution of reasoning faculties, a phenomena of about 6,000 years old would speed ahead with the same rate as evolution of emotions is nothing but wishful thinking, that most solid foundation of dogmatism, be it religious or secular.

Here is a perfect evolutionary advise, given by BugsBBunny III: "Sow a seed of truth and then sit back and relax, it'll do the work all on it's own." Cannot be said better.

Based on this to deny progress will be utter fallacy.
In eras of desparation even such othervise

Great article by Caroline Arnold. What she fails to mention, maybe it wasn't her intention to mention this, is the travesty of redefining words and/or phrases. When a word loses it's meaning, because it is assigned to a different meaning, than the original meaning, the idea behind the original meaning can get lost, because there is no longer a word to capture it. When meaning gets lost, thinking becomes narrower. The intellectual base underneath civilized society becomes narrower. It is like losing one tool from an extensive tool chest. The function of some tools can be easily accomplished by the adjusted use of a different tool, the loss of other tools simply means that certain things can not be done anymore.

As most bi-lingual people will agree, sometimes it is impossible to translate a word from one language to the other, because that word has a very specific meaning in the first language, and there is simply no single word in the other language that exactly captures the meaning. Trying to explain in the other language is often difficult, because the speakers of the other language are not familiar with the idea, the meaning that the bi-lingual speakers tries to convey.

All these comments are great and point toward a hope that must exist in order for us to continue.

The sixties were a revolution in spite of protestations to the contrary. Was the world transformed into paradise? No. But how the world was seen, thought about, and talked about was changed forever. This, in turn, changed how many chose to go about in the world. The revolution probably more accurately changed to an evolution but nonetheless still was profound.

This process remains true today and is reflected in almost every comment to Caroline's piece.

Hope is what every being needs. Sometimes we have to look hard for it, but that shouldn't and doesn't diminish its truth.

Caroline's dispair (if I'm reading her correctly) and all the responses give me hope - makes me feel better.

Watching Bill Moyer's "Journal" and "Now" on PBS last Friday night gave me hope. All people interviewed on those two shows offered an enlightened response to today's world that embraces humanity and approaches the world with love rather than fear. The power and courage was truly inspiring and awesome (in the true sense of the word).

Busbbunny: Great posting on the POWER of truth, which like gravity, doesn't require an argument to hold true to its own power.
Dave Eriqat: Good guidance which I have personally followed. I love having a low mortgage so I can plan my day as I see fit (freelance writing). There is no "authority" to answer to, and having graduated from the media's mantras to a different ethos is indeed liberating. I recommend it!
Arjenboatsma: Very true about language. I've had a lot of fun with my Spanish speaking friends on this. Just a quick analogy to lighten things up, we grow weary with the world and must ABSORB humor as a vitamin for the spirit! When I was privileged to spend time in Singapore, I was invited to an exclusive club. It was hilarious watching Chinese professionals doing duets of Karyoke, and while most was sung back and forth in Cantonese, they had a number of American songs. It was a trip watching them sing Olivia Newton John!
LMjakamike: It's a question of priorities. We have so much creativity and resources as a nation, if only it was not squandered on old barbarian models of empire and imperialism. Years ago I thought (before this war), how empowering it would be if enlisted personnel spent time in inner cities teaching building trades to young, unemployed mostly people of color. To finance the improvements of city block after city block, I thought the corporate world--with its love of logos and naming things--could implant say a COKE logo on the side of a building as a tribute to itself for financing the redevelopment of that sector. This would get kids out of trouble, equip them with skills for life, and rebuild the underworld, the dark net of Hades capillaries that our cities in many regions have become. It's a win: win situation for all parties, unlike war, where there always are designated "necessary losers."

Blogging is changing the English language. I have reservations about this, but I am sure I will come, in time, to accept it. After all, there's nothing inherently sacred about the construction of any language. However, I must admit that I find it disturbing that our schools continue to turn out graduates who think "it's" is a possessive rather than a contraction, believe "alot" is a word, and who don't know which nouns are proper (requiring capitalization) or where commas go in sentences.

A large number of speakers of English don't realize that you actually can use the word "me" after the word "and," as in "come talk to Jane and me" instead of the dreadful "come talk to Jane and I." Most don't know that, in America, periods and commas go inside the quotes. (Not in England - it's one of the odd differences in our use of the language). That so many don't know how to spell or punctuate correctly is a reflection of the failure of our school system, not of the blogger, writer or speaker.

I've said this in other places, but it bears repeating. If you want to know what's wrong with the American school system, just get any group of school adminstrators together and have them write a paragraph or two. Upon reading their essays, it becomes crystal clear immediately. I've been working in a large county school system for 20 years, and in that time I've encountered perhaps three or four administrators who can write more than two sentences together that don't make one cringe. I am positive this is not unique to West Virginia, since I've also had experience in schools in other states. It's not possible to have a truly effective school system when those who decide what our children should be learning are not scholars.

I edit all the student handbooks for our county, and last week I got a request from an assistant principal to add the sentence, "Student vehicles that are towed will be responsible for wrecking costs." I sent him an email telling him I'd changed it to "Students whose vehicles are towed are responsible for wrecking costs" since I don't believe the vehicles have money of their own.

When so-called educators write this kind of garbage on a regular basis, it's time to make some changes in our approach to education. Perhaps we are simply on the road to a language with no rules. One point of interest to me is that many of the "English only" supporters probably have no concept of the integrity of language as long as they don't have to be subjected to Spanish or some other "foreign" tongue. Funny how someone who might say "I don't got none" could be offended, for example, by Spanish translations on road signs or in stores.

It's no surprise to me that bloggers don't know the difference between "rein" and "reign" or "cynic" and "synch." They don't know the difference between the subject and object of sentences or when it is proper to use "myself" rather than "me" or "I."

Under No Child Left Behind, education is all about passing tests, so I don't expect things to change much in the near future. I find this to be unfortunate.

An excellent article! The degradation of language isn't just a peripheral or nitpicky concern. It's obvious how basic vocabulary & sentence complexity have declined over the past three or four decades, and so has complexity of thought. I've no doubt that one of the reasons so many people think in black & white is because the paucity of their language allows for no colors or subtle shades. A crude, simplistic language breeds a crude, simplistic culture & national mythology -- and we can see the horrible results all around us today.

It's hard, actually, to get a handle on this article because it's (not its) about several different things. Does it really matter if we have a unified "oral tradition" or blogging tradition, or whatever? Whether you say (of course, I should use "write") "tow the line" or "toe the line" the words are merely shorthand for a sentiment that everyone understands: shut up and get in line. Tho (yes, I no) I have to say (comma? or, even better, coma?) I've wondered what "tow" the line is supposed to reflect. Something with motorboats I guess.
The overall impression I get from the author is that she really just wants to end the cacophony by hysterically shouting "SHUUUT UUUUUUP!!!" And then, what? A clear and utterly consistent worldview that all will confirm and hold dear will drop from heaven? Never happen. Our only hope is for the gradual evolutionary process that previous posters mention.
Okay, I'm sending this through Word Spell Checker now…

Dave Eriqat:

Thank you for your post. You're right about the wonderful opportunity that the rural / urban shift has opened up for like-minded people.

In the small town of Sac City, Iowa – a really lovely place – there are homes for sale with lots the size of three lots in any major metropolitan area. Here's just one example that I saw the other day: 5 acres of land PLUS a three bedroom house for $85,000.

No kidding. $85,000 for 5 acres of prime land to raise your own food, have a few chickens, and watch your kids play baseball and swim on the swimteam and take dance lessons and perform at one of the few remaining Chataqua buildings left in the country.

Someone in another thread mentioned about changing the world by living simply and organically with like-minded companions. It is possible.

Are there 15 families or 30 individuals out there who are tired of the big city? Please come to Sac City, Iowa. Sac City needs you as much as you need it. It can be the first chapter in your own new epic.

I have an epic for you -- how about recalling all the Republicans who continue to vote the party line? Obstructing justice and ignoring the will of the people, while being party loyalists who are unashamed that they are hurting so many people the world over, not in the least the people of the United States of America!

And all for what? Money and Power. But they will lose come the next election in a Voter Tsunami that has never been seen before. It will sweep the halls of Congress and the Senate floor of the debris that inhabits it now. Nature has a way of getting rid of the deadwood.