Bailout? Yes, we're bailing.

So here we are in the absurdist theatre called 2008. House Republicans who worship the "free market" capitalism that we never had join forces with House Democrats who are skeptical of the Bush Presidency and its support of wealthy malefactors--and both groups are listening to their angry constituents. Finally! Haven't those constituents been trying to tell them for a couple of years now that they disapprove of a foolish, wasteful war; that they want health insurance; that they want politicians to quit meddling with their private lives; that they want everyday people to receive as much attention from their government as millionaires?

Now I wonder if those angry people on the phones will vote out the representatives with their tin ears, those fawning servants of the powerful and wealthy? Will there finally be a mass rejection of incumbents? But in how many districts will there be a good choice? You know my inclination: open up our electoral system to third parties. Create a truly democratic process. For now, all I can suggest is for voters to look past flag pins, fear-mongering, and slick advertising and to examine what candidates say about real issues. Good luck finding a candidate who understands those issues and offers fresh ideas or shows a willingness to stand up for all of us, and for our planet. Whomever we elect, we'd better keep watching them come January. Don't wait for the next crisis to get on the phone or write those letters, or stand in those protest lines.

After eight years of incompetent, secretive, arrogant, corrupt government, don't expect overnight change. It may take another eight years to begin undoing the damage wreaked not only by the Bush administration and four foolish Congresses, but also by the Clinton and Gingrich administration, and Poppa Bush, and the Republican wolf-in-saint's-clothing Ronald Reagan. Remember those flawed but intelligent and principled leaders we once had, including the much-maligned Jimmy Carter (who gets smarter and more courageous every year, unlike John McCain), the tragic Lyndon Johnson (still a better President overall than anyone we've seen lately), the promising John F. Kennedy, the cautious but insightful Dwight Eisenhower, the fiery Harry S. Truman, and the Happy Warrior, FDR, God bless him?

I don't agree with many things that those Presidents did, and our country made many serious missteps during all those decades. But we also established programs for the poor, the middle class, the workers and the farmers; we slowly but surely established rights for all citizens (a basis for such rights in the law, at least); and we struggled to realize the meaning of responsible freedom and to support freedom-loving people around the world. (Usually that support came from non-governmental groups and individuals, not from our fumbling government with its tendency to crawl into bed with dictators.)

The best way to celebrate the values enshrined in our Constitution and to realize the highest potential of humanity is to investigate our history and our present situation with skeptical, critical minds. We must stop letting powerful people and corporations manipulate us. We must stop being Pavlov's dogs, salivating at the sound of the national anthem, blindly saluting those who wear the flag without honoring it, snarling in fear when demagogues wave bloody hunks of meat in front of our noses, telling us "sic 'em!" and pointing at scapegoats. All of us who work hard, believe in honesty and fair play, love our families and our country AND our world must band together. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, humanists, Wiccans, and agnostics; Democrats, Republicans, liberarians, Greens, socialists; men and women; black, white, brown, tan, and beige; urban, suburban, exurban, rural; North, South, East, and West. We are one nation, under the Constitution, dedicated to liberty and justice for all.

So, as we bail out our sinking ship of state and race to plug all the holes, let's not be intimidated into putting dishonest, selfish speculators into the lifeboats. Let's call speculation what it is: gambling with other people's money. Let's call excessive interest what it is: usury. Let's call "surges" and "security measures" and "Operation Freedom" what they are: aggression, naked and unprincipled wars. Let's try steering this ship of state together rather than entrusting it to fools and fearmongers and greedy plutocrats.