The middle of the road is for yellow lines and dead armadillos.

So now is the time, more than ever, for those who truly value all the principles of democracy, especially including dissent, to be the most forceful in speaking up, standing up and speaking out.

The corporations don't have to lobby the government anymore. They are the government.

There's enormous progressive activism and, more often than not, success at the grassroots level - everything from living wage campaigns to efforts to finance our elections are having terrific success.

If it's dangerous to talk to yourself, it's probably even dicier to listen.

But the good news is that out in the countryside, just about every place that's got a zip code has somebody or some group of people battling the economic and political exclusion that Wall Street and Washington are shoving down our throats.

Even a little dog can piss on a big building.