It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 
A quick reminder to all our readers that this year's election is not just about George W. Bush: It's about democracy all across America. It's about a return to balanced, reasonable values from the ground up.

The President and Congress are very important, but just as vital to the those of us with progressive values are our state legislatures. They're not very sexy, but it's from the state legislatures that our representatives in Congress often come. By supporting good progressive candidates at the state level, we can ensure that there will be good progressive candidates for Congress ten years from now, and we can weed out the right-wing extremists at the same time.

Here in my home district, a guy named Doug Malone is running for the New York State Legislature against the Republican incumbent, Robert Oaks. Assemblyman Oaks has supported Governor George Pataki's efforts to slash funding for schools, hospitals, libraries, and even Medicaid. Doug Malone is definitely the underdog, but he's fighting hard to advance an uphill charge against Oaks, because he knows how important it is to get the conservative idealogues out of government.

So, you don't live in New York State's 128th Assembly District. That's not the point. Where you live, there is, or ought to be, an alternative to the conservative Republicans in your state legislature. Although these races don't have the dramatic national sweep of the Presidential race, they are just as vital to our nationwide effort to take back America.

Visit Congress.org to find out what statewide and local races are happening in your territory, and get involved today.

Posted by J. Clifford Cook at 9:09 AM. # (permalink)  




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