Your lives must teach you, too, that good cannot flourish in the midst of evil; that freedom and all the things that go to make up a truly satisfying and worthwhile life, must sometimes be purchased very dearly.

- Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in their final letter to their young children before execution

The arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. –MLK

We find ourselves in a bad way. Over the past eight years in the United States the Constitution has been harmed and threatened and despite campaign promises the harm and threats continue. We find ourselves at a moment which may define this great nation.

As long as we wait as an American public for a complete and unblemished figurehead we will continue to be disappointed.

No matter who emerges from the crowd, on some level he or she will be flawed, just as every human being on this planet is flawed. The figurehead of a movement can always be attacked and dethroned on a personal issue, no matter how minute, rendering him or her crippled and then the movement harmed.

And so, it may be time to find common ground with those across the political spectrum whom you are able to find common ground on a single issue. And then proceed to protest that issue until its bitter end.

It seems I can not wake on a single morning in this nation without reading of another incident of a cop shooting or tasering an innocent civilian, innocent people being killed in Pakistan, Iraq or Afghanistan. Well, its time to stand up. Also the money being stolen from the elderly and the disabled by government thugs and the working poor gives me a reason for pause. The rich and the poor now have one thing in common; they are a victim of highway robbery by the United States government and the Federal Reserve. Tax increases and job loss at the hand of government bailouts.

Everyday when I listen to talk radio there are constantly people calling in asking, “What can little old me do about what is going on?”

Well I have an answer for you.

(Now for a non partisan way of protesting things you hate.) First of all, if you are reading this post you have access to the internet. First you must recognize the problem. Pick an issue; it can be anything from the Federal Reserve to Big Government spending to Police Brutality and then everything in between. Once you believe you have a great idea for combating an issue which you oppose, present it across the spectrum of online political forums.

I will refrain from mentioning any political forums here, as not to alienate any person who might be interested, but simple research on the web should connect you with what you are looking for. (If you are left confused you can email me at boothshaun@gmail.com and I will point you in the right direction, as I have contacts at both ends of the spectrum of political discourse.)

After the initial posting of your idea, then you must actively seek out like minded people through message boards and your own community connections. Then begin brainstorming ideas with these like minded people about what you might be able to do in your own area, whether it is protests, distribution of literature and media, or simply talking to your friends and neighbors.

It is also important to survey your own life and see what local institutions you may already be embedded. Whether it is a church, a local political party, or university begin seeking out like minded people in the institutions of which you are already involved.

Then once you have a few like minded people together, declare a meeting point, whether it is meetup.com, an email list or a personal website. Make sure to give the people that will be interested in your message a place to express their interest in that message.

Then plan your first event, whether it is a meeting in someone’s living room or a meetup at a restaurant, it is a good idea to keep it social. There you can plan your first action event. Your first action event can be anything from a screening of a political film at your local library to a political demonstration. Remember, it doesn’t have to be successful; it just has to take place for the first time.

Make sure to film this event and then report back to the message boards and email lists where you first advertised this event and share the video of the event. Show how much fun it was meeting with like minded people and then build on your first event and hold a second event. And then repeat. In time you will have become part of a nation wide political movement.

I sometimes look back on a very magical time in our country’s history which took place during the last election when people from across the country were meeting in living rooms from New York to Milwaukee to San Francisco to Austin. They were discussing their political candidates; they largely met these people through the internet.

We have been blessed as a population in the industrialized world to organize in a matter of days on the internet, and now it is time we take advantage of this privilege early and often.

We can not let single events such as the coming Tea Parties be co-opted by the political Right. We must rise up again…early and often.

Again let me reintegrate that, rather than buying into a broad ideological spectrum the answer is to fight these crimes by the elite with our comrades on a case by case basis.

It is time to stop believing that these freedoms are a manmade freedom or a luxury, it’s a birthright.

In the end it is about personalization; it is about the bitter end; the possibility of tyranny, the people you love losing their freedoms, and only then you standing up for those freedoms no matter what the cost.

Love lies not in the lines drawn on the battlefields of political campaigns or military war but in the webs of people in our own complex lives…friends and family whom we truly love… it is time to realize this simple but unspoken truth. Drawing courage from this common love will be our victory; divisions which lead to the dismissing of this love will be our end.

Somewhere history is not chosen.

And so now, the halls interwoven and unassuming, lie unmistakably open…and free.

(Dedicated to those I love…wherever you may be.)