At the moment, I?m looking at a schematic of the London ?Tube? system following the terrorist bombings, musing that the schematic on its walls for the passengers there is considered a modern graphic arts classic. Today is the latest installment of the little ?War of the Worlds,? that began in earnest 9/ll; I say ?little? because it would be hard to compare it to, say, WWII. But significant. That tragic attack, of course, is the one W hijacked to, in large measure, justify his attack on Iraq.

There had been global issues of social justice between America and the Middle East for years: the Palestinian issue, our exploitation of ?their? oil, and our political and military support of despotic reigns in the region, etc. It only took the one clever man in the right circumstances to fashion a jihad out of those prone to religious fanaticism. Who was bin Laden? Yes, it galvanized right wing support for W, and he ran with it, but there is also no denying that it finally awakened (in bold face) the left wing to the several decades of either neglect or exploitation of much of the world by a long series of American leaders, beginning most notably with Ronald Reagan. I do not think I am rationalizing when I claim the half-million who marched in N.Y., February 15, 2003, represents a remarkable reawakening and resurgence of millions?really, throughout the world?of strangely dormant liberals; Van Winkles, who, presumably, would have gone on sleeping, still dreaming lewdly of antics in the Oval Office. Now, it is claimed the conservatives were busy all along organizing politically. I?m not sure I buy that, or, at least, the part where it is argued they did so amazingly successfully. I mean, apart from the spasm of the Great Depression and FDR?s rise to power, our history doesn?t exactly argue a tremendous liberal past. And he was no comrade.

At any rate, we are now?from a Progressive?s point-of-view?at a really delicious impasse. I mean, Bush barely beat Kerry, particularly if one factors in Ohio. Remember, the Red States are mainly small states, and most of them are truly Lilliputian in nature.

When I first called Clinton a neo-liberal over three years ago, I heard a lot of groans. I wonder if there?s still any groaning out there. And Progressives now have a substantial grasp of what gives in the world, many of whom were in Never-never not so long ago.

We owe much to W. The liberal wing of the American political scene has been re-tooled, re-invented, strangely re-invigorated, and in no mood for half-measures. It?s really amazing when one thinks about it, and this is not self-congratulatory b.s. Oh, yes, we have the three branches of government against us, and it could very well be argued, the judiciary, as well. But we are holding fast, and people are moving on several fronts to advance Progessive agendas as one can view from the efforts of the FreePress movement to place the actions of the FCC in full light.

One of the real problems remaining, however, is the threat of the 2008 Presidential race to again place Progressives in the humiliating position they occupied in both 2000 and 2004 by forcing them to choose between who they want and who can win, or more accurately, who might win. This is humiliation the Democrats bring about by choosing a candidate from the duopolistic wing of the party, e.g., John Kerry, who was just so much ketchup spilled on our shirts the last time around. These kinds of ?choices,? of course, reduce the Democratic Party to the level of Corporatism we all abhor. It is unapologetically neo-liberal and is indistinguishable from the Republican cacophonies. My backbrain sings, I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes, on the road to Shambala. I want to vote for my brother, as well. Not someone who echoes the old, dead materialism of a corporate America run rampant.

Concluding, for now, if you grant the point there is a relative impasse in the American electorate, as a whole, what can we reasonably expect (from an optimistic point-of-view) in the near term? What I?m trying to suggest is there is real human improvement both in terms of the individuals involved and their involvement, itself, in our relative political condition. Wherever they marched in ?03, we have real friends. People who are the psychic lodestone of our earth. If there is anyway we can make it out of here, it will be through them. And we must not forget the dance?to dance. It may be our song and dance that leads the vote. If there are two bad candidates in ?08, we will dismiss them immediately as irrelevant, and continue to grow. Not only is it the only thing we can do, it is the fun thing. If one lists to the Right, we will forget him, fighting our rearguard actions as we go. If to the Left, we will encourage him(her) at every opportunity towards our p.v. One day, we will have our own?and the Maypole, besides.