The election of principled liberal leaders can begin to deal with these problems, but much more will be needed. Nothing short of an American Revolution of the mind will change a status quo so inimical to the public good. Nothing less than massive public engagement will re-animate the body politic, re-establish the primacy of the Constitution and re-assert a claim to American greatness.
It will be an endeavor requiring more ingenuity, more single-mindedness, more sense of purpose, than it took to put Americans on the moon or drive Hitler to suicide.
And if this is to be done, it must begin now, in the long, ticking minutes of the nation's Hour of the Wolf.
It must begin now, against a backdrop of investigations, indictments and long-suppressed revelations. It must begin now, as the old empty bromides and jingoist rhetoric and hatemongering evangelical harangues still echo from sea to shining sea. It must begin now, in the teeth of terrible hatred. It must begin now, inside and outside of politics, in the streets, on the airwaves, in churches, on factory floors, on the Internet, at the much-mistrusted ballot box.
For George W. Bush, failure has been success. For those who love America, no such Orwellian equation is possible. Failure for us means that great challenge and responsibility posed to us by the nation's founders, by the heroes of Appamatox and the martyrs of Mississippi, by many-tongued masses over decades who left Ellis Island and walked into their destinies, by union organizers and suffragists and Freedom Riders and protest marchers, by 230 years of strength and vision and millions of acts of individual courage - that great challenge and responsibility we call America - will not deserve the mourning her passing would inspire in those who still believe in her possibility.
It will be an endeavor requiring more ingenuity, more single-mindedness, more sense of purpose, than it took to put Americans on the moon or drive Hitler to suicide.
And if this is to be done, it must begin now, in the long, ticking minutes of the nation's Hour of the Wolf.
It must begin now, against a backdrop of investigations, indictments and long-suppressed revelations. It must begin now, as the old empty bromides and jingoist rhetoric and hatemongering evangelical harangues still echo from sea to shining sea. It must begin now, in the teeth of terrible hatred. It must begin now, inside and outside of politics, in the streets, on the airwaves, in churches, on factory floors, on the Internet, at the much-mistrusted ballot box.
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