We tend to assume that they way things are today was some how predetermined, rather then being what it is- the contingent outcome of choices made by past generations. As those with living memories of the Depression pass from the scene, they leave a country in which everyone has come of age in a world dominated, both economically and militarily, by America. A world in which our power and preeminence is presumed… in which one generation always does better then the next.. in which entry into the meritocracy of good paying professional jobs is open to anyone with some brains and a bit of drive and ambition… and it is hard for many folks to imagine a world in which those comfortable presumptions no longer hold true.

That world though, if we are not careful, is right around the corner. That is why, despite all the slings and arrows, despite all the children who just won’t play nicely in the sandbox.. it is absolutely critical for people of good will to get involved in public affairs- now.