It is looking backward to see if the button being pushed is a weak or a strong point. It was precisely at the strong points that were aimed at by Mohandas Ghandi, and he made them weak points. So much so, that he evoked a very strong leader, Winston Churchill to bleat "the mighty British Empire has been brought to its knees by a dirty little man in diapers." Ghandi pushed on because he believed he was right. He was a leader capable of articulating his position well enough to reach out and unite the people of India. Ghandi gave the people of India a vision that change was possible if they would participate in that change. A great example of the Roman principle of "Potestas en Populi" (power is in the people).

I will concede that we can't swim backwards in the tide of history and that globalization is a reality. This makes it very difficult to maintain a national identity and it might not be possible. The US will be important as a major market for the global corporation and they will be forced to create some sort of balance to keep this a reasonably stable market. If they should fail in this it will only be a temporary set back until Latin America replaces the US as an insatiable market---Brazil is making great strides in this direction now.

Hopefully the leader we need will come on the scene soon and we can return to a government responsive to the people and not just corporate interests.

Publius