millions of us were in shock at the results and methods of bush's wins. we were in horror that gore and kerry walked away, and no substantial investigations into voter fraud conducted. we knew america's future would be grim. time and information proved us "paranoids" right. fake wars and trampling of constitutional rights along with human rights confirmed our ugliest fears. my latest fear? the continued support by senate republicans for bush's policies suggests another terrorist attack is imminent, and they're positioning themselves on the side of this unpopular dictator in the white house who's not going anywhere. "be patient, boys, we learned from the midterms." cheney will make good on his promise that another attack will occur if democrats won the midterms. memos of impending doom will be ignored as they were by condi. passe comatotus, habeas corpus, labels of enemy combatants. bush has been busy undermining democracy and readying to stay in power, putin and musharoff style. UNLESS... IMPEACHMENT! now. pelosi and the democrats can get the ball rolling without any more excuses. it only took 2 months for clinton. this divider and his evil puppet master have to be held accountable as well as their henchman. why isn't harriet myers in jail for refusing to appear before the senate? is she above the law? it appears they all are! blumenthal is ignoring the past if he believes these elections will be free and fair since nothing prevents bush from staying in power in the event of a "crisis" of his choosing. a state of emergency separates us from a full scale shut down of elections. think it can't happen? some didn't think they could spy on us without a court order, or go to war on a preconceived pre911 PNAC agenda, or infiltrate and corrupt the justice system WITH IMPUNITY. impeachment is our only assurance that we still have a constitutional democracy. crimes have been ignored for too long. democrats had better use every power available and start standing firm for the laws already on the books. nuke the senate if republicans won't stop obstructing the will of the people. have all night sessions that extend through the holidays if need be. we are at crossroads. it will take a hell of a lot more than a "dauntless democrat" to get rid of this wartime profiteering president. it will take many dauntless democrats to do the will of the people NOW to prevent voter fraud and manipulation of the vote count in 2008 as well as end the war, and impeach these lawbreakers. we don't want to be saying "hello again" to bush. i hope i'm wrong, but all of my worst fears since 2000 have been realized under republican domination, and then some!

I'm going to miss your insightful, densly-packed sentences. You're the only columnist at Salon whose essays I've never failed to read, and you've been a beacon of sanity in a fog of corruption.

Good luck.

...no actually. Hillary is not a person suitable to restore anything. She is part of the problem having been part of Washington for the last 16 years nearly. But that aside, these profound problems you see are not restricted to the sole actions of one party over the other. They are endemic to the system as it exists now which operates to keep entrenched in power one or the other of the parties. No other explanation can be had for the dissolute failure of the Democrats to do anything of importance to reign in this abject failure of a president. The central problem is one of not just changing America's government which is dysfunctional, but rather redressing America vis-a-vis the world. For 60 years, it has been astride the world, meddling in other country's affairs, deposing elected leaders, and supporting unelected ones in the name of national security or other interests. It has failed to project its power in a reflective way of its own supposed principles and prostrated it on the altar of special interests or economic ones. The Israeli-Palestinian problem could have been resolved a long time ago. Simply no longer support Israel's punitive policies toward Palestine, give no more money to Israel or weapons, and be a real neutral arbiter. To now find that the reflector is having trouble finding its true north seems only novel to you. Like Bush and Quayle you seem to have sleepwalked through the sixties, that great decade of upheaval whose central lesson is American democracy doesnt work so well because it depends on Americans, and most of them are a shallow lot.

A revolution is required, but Hillary is hardly the vessel for that undertaking. The changes required to return to the status quo ante are minimal in any event. Close Guantanamo. Leave Iraq. Prosecute those who have undermined the Constitution, aka, most of the people now in power. Cut the military in half and leave 130 countries. End the electoral college. Enact term limits and a balance budge amendment. Separate the Social Security funds from the rest of the government and require the Federal government to pay them back, ad infinitum. These will not be done by Hillary. She is part of the problem, not the solution.

I am disheartened to hear that Mr. Blumenthal will no longer be writing for Salon. I have been increasingly relying on his articles to sort through some of the 'big picture' issues in U.S. politics. The writer's strike has taken from the public the excellent (and funny) analysis and commentary offered by "The Daily Show" and I worry that with these voices not being able to share their views we will have less help to sort through the morass of rhetoric and bombast just when we need it most, in the critical run up to the primaries in the New Year.

I have very mixed feelings about Clinton. I probably agree with her stated positions the least out of any of the Democratic candidates, and yet she is the strongest politically because, as you mentioned (and I agree absolutely with this assessment) she has taken everything that they can throw at her, and she is still standing. The attacks she's already endured at the hands of the right wing noise machine are a strength for her, not a weakenss. The r.w.n.m. will make loyal Fox News viewers and partisan talk radio listeners feel just as much disgust for any Democratic candidate; with Clinton, we've already seen the attacks, and she's had years to deal with them, to know how to respond. The last thing we need is another Dukakis, Gore, or Kerry, who is ultimately unable or unwilling to fight hard enough and well enough to win.

And, for what it's worth, my faith in Clinton's positions on important issues increases if she's soliciting advice from you.