Thunder Road

Waves of revolution no longer need only be heard crashing on the shores of distant regimes when the gauntlet for change lies at our feet. Though the echoing clamor seems to have left Washington, DC like the hollow hoofbeats of a retreating army, its force drives across the country with fresh thunder. What Congress and the White House think they have exiled, we the people will return to their door.

You see, they don't acknowledge an upswell they no longer hear. They listen for the quiet, because to them an angry but apathetic constituency is the same as a happy one. They have no responsibility to satisfy the silent. So if the story is no longer on the front pages of the Washington Post or New York Times, to them the issues have "etherized."

But Chicago, Indianapolis, Miami - you know what the renewal of the Patriot Act really means. Birmingham, Little Rock, Lincoln - you know what it is like to have a loved one die for lies. New York, Memphis, Santa Fe - you know what happens to your in-need communities when corporations are allowed to write laws that benefit themselves at your expense.

And New Orleans, well, you probably know the best of all what courruption and mismanagement in government costs every individual in a community.

Congress is intended to be a place for visionaries, not vested interests; for families, not fancy vacations; for the workers, not the WalMarts.

That we all have a right to happiness is a founding principal in this country. That some feel it's okay that their happiness comes at the expense of others is to evade the responsibilities of leadership. Our representatives serve at our pleasure, not those of corporate special interests. To that extent, it's not too late to let your voices be heard. The time, in fact, is now.

Bush is coming to my town tomorrow and I am going to be there with all the others that Washington's feigned ignorance has awakened. We are the thunder that will return the clamor to Capitol Hill and the steps of the White House. Don't let the noise echo out to sea; send it back to DC.

When we stand up, they must stand down.