On  September 11, 2001, the rooster crowed.  A new age was upon us but the world was slow to awaken.  Stumbling in the early morning darkness we knocked over two countries, alienated our friends, and disrupted world commerce.  The people of the United States have finally wiped the sleep from their eyes and the Dawn of the 21st Century is breaking.

We can see clearly in the misty early morning light the ways of war have changed.  Great powers that might topple our government by force have diminished.  Surgical strikes by small bands of terrorists serve well to disrupt our interdependent life flow.

We can see the ways of free markets bear fruit only when the playing field is truly free.  Tariffs enacted in the past by partisans to protect corporate friends served to drive prices up.  A lack of tariffs, labeled as free trade, serve to give the advantage to countries who have not processed and incorporated the ideals of worker and environmental rights.

We can see the effects of technology.  The interconnectedness of the internet has served to subvert corporate controlled media and machine controlled politics.  The local newspaper in this writer’s home town is decidedly Republican – it would be unfair to conservatives to simply lump all things Republican with all things conservative.  Conservative is a value system, Republican is a Party with self serving interests.  But the local newspaper no longer holds sway over the local populace.  The access to other news sources is as close as a keyboard.

We recognize today that we humans share a planet with all other living creatures, botanical or zoological.  The fate and destiny of the human species is connected to the fate and destiny of the ‘least of these.’  “Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me.”

We are watching the demise of old time politics.  Old fashioned Party politics is breaking down with a better educated and better connected general populace.  If Party politics ruled in 2008 then Hillary Clinton would be facing Mike Huckabee.  The Clinton dynasty has been making party connections across the country for thirty years.  Huckabee was a faithful stalwart of Republican ideology and a strict Party selection process would have granted either Huckabee or Romney the ticket.    But this year, as the voters awaken to the new realities of life in the 21st Century, the old fashioned Party politics is taking a back seat to a determined populace.

We see the voices of extremists being relegated to a back seat.  Limbaugh, Coulter, Reverend Hagee, and Hannity on the right.  Sharpton, Michael Moore, Reverend Wright, and Jane Fonda on the left.  These voices have shouted into the darkness, but have been brushed aside as a nuisance.  The common sense of the people of this great nation is standing up to lunacy – lunacy that once had an influential voice.

Barack Obama and John McCain both reflect a new sort of candidate for each of their respective Parties.  Neither has gained advantage by catering to the system of spoils established by Party Bosses.  Each of them has presented themselves honestly as individuals who are not Party regulars.  The people chose these two on purpose – these two are the Rough Riders of a new age.

They will charge the hill and nothing will stop them.

We are at the Dawn of something very different than has been witnessed in the history of man.  This is an exciting time to be alive.