It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of
a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into
privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing
algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the
planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times. It's all over the papers: Moveon.org is running its own primary for Democratic presidential candidates. If over 50% of members vote for any one candidate, Moveon.org will give its early endorsement. Some campaigns are complaining that they weren't involved in the process and that they weren't given the opportunity to lobby staff members. Well, that's kind of the point. The beauty of Moveon.org's idea is that it's pure democracy. All candidates were given the opportunity to answer the same questions, determined by member vote. Other than that involvement, it's the members who run the process. I can see how this may be upsetting to traditional politicians, but what an amazing thing for those who want to believe in a political process again. It's also a great public confirmation that rank-and-file Democrats are committed to rank-and-file democracy. As part of the primary process, Moveon.org has published each candidate's answers to the questions voted most relevant by members. Click here for all the candidates' responses, side by side. It's a real eye opener. Sneak preview: we'll have an analysis of the candidates' statements up on Irregular Times this week. Return to the Irregular Times Main Page
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