Chapter 1

The Emergencies of Our Times
We must find the means to respond


It seems that each day more Americans realize that a sort of social madness, rooted in greed and selfishness, totally devoid of honor or honesty, and often rationalized by extremist cultural and religious beliefs, has taken firm hold of our nation. Reality itself seems to constantly recede, to be replaced by Orwellian invention that serves the wealthy and powerful at our expense, or else by self-indulgent pretense, as our political ‘leaders’ lay aside simple reason and common sense in favor of political expediency and selfish gain. Each day more of us are forced to watch in disbelief and frustration as this social madness leads us, unerringly it all too often seems, down a path to ruin. More of us each day are fearful for the security of our friends and families, and more of us are acutely anxious for our children’s future.

Many of us are very hopeful that after the horrific years of the Bush regime, a new administration will begin to reverse our long slide toward an unfair and immoral economy that divides the nation into a social elite of ‘haves’, and a lower caste of ‘have-nots’, while squeezing an ever shrinking middle class into a constant state of fretful worry and unrelenting anxiety. Many of us are hopeful that this new administration will usher in the “change” it has promised us so consistently, and that a corrupt authoritarian government that is controlled by the rich and powerful, who use its power to exploit and victimize the common people, can be brought back under the control of the nation’s citizens.

Although we avidly hope that those who have put their faith into Barack Obama’s promise of “change” will see their hopes rewarded, we are skeptical that the soaring oratory of a political candidate can overcome the heavily entrenched power of the status quo, once that candidate has attained office, and must directly confront the realities of the powers arrayed against him.

We believe that even the most heroic intentions must be backed up by the effectively organized and mobilized power of the nation’s citizens, in order for inspiring speeches to be translated into effective social policies that will benefit the nation’s Common Good. We believe that we must not depend on others, and especially not on a solitary political ‘savior’, (as many seem to expect Barack Obama to be), but rather that we must take it upon ourselves to set this nation back on a course towards realizing Lincoln’s dream of America as a nation “of The People, by The People, and for The People”.


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