Leaks and whispers are a daily routine of news-gathering in Washington.

If you think about it, Washington's overwhelming power in the world is founded on death, the awesome arsenal for killing people.

A profound political question is suddenly on the table: Must the country continue to give precedence to private financial gain and market determinism over human lives and broad public values?

Democracy begins in human conversation. A democratic conversation does not require elaborate rules of procedure or utopian notions of perfect consensus. What it does require is a spirit of mutual respect-people conversing critically with one another in an atmosphere of honesty and shared regard.

The burnt odor in Washington is from the disintegrating authority of the governing classes.

The quest for homeland security is heading ... toward the quasi-militarization of everyday life ... If danger might lurk anywhere, maybe everything must be protected and policed.

People know elections, like television commercials, are not real.