The problem is not Maria Cantwell. It's us.

It seems like there is not enough of an understanding of where people are getting their passion for changing things. I've said many times that I am not anti-Maria. I am upset at some of her votes, but I think she has done a great job. What I hear too often is that she has done a good enough job and should be reelected. To my mind, that's hogwash. Every election is a test of the vision of the party and the people who work towards the goal of creating a society they can live in. Every reelection is by definition an evaluation of the incumbent and a test to see of the incumbent deserves another term in office.

We hit the Hubbard Curve in December of 2005. I'm convinced of that. The glaciers are melting at an increasing rate. Pollution is killing people. Depleated Uranium is spreading around the globe from the Middle East. We are held in the grip of world wide terror by the people we call our leaders. And too many of us are lemmings headed towards the cliff. If we don't change course, the children that we are bringing into the world are going to die in the world we have created. We have to face up to that fact, and be ready for the changes it will require.

It's not enough that one out of every 10,000 people start riding their bicycles. We have to stop driving cars. It's not enough that we're planting some trees to replenish what we have cut down for profit. We have to stop clearing our forests. It's not enough that we allow the teaching of evolution in schools. Every girl needs a full understanding of all the methods of birth control available to her, and the right of a woman to make her own choices when and how to have children must not be regulated by any government. And I'm not talking about the US. I'm talking about the world. In the US, we have revolutions every two years on a national level. They're called elections. That kind of revolution is needed in every country on every continent, and it has to come with the price of a full education for all people everywhere on what our choices are and how to make those choices.

That is the kind of change that the Progressive Movement is demanding. We must stop moving towards that cliff, because it is all or nothing. We either all change course, or we all go over. It can either be a gradual change, or it can be a sudden change. But change must happen. There is no other choice if we want to survive as a country, as a society, and as a species.