But We Need To Be Very Clear:

And That Is What Is Behind The Abrupt Rise In Climate Change Denial Among Hardcore Conservatives: They Have Come To Understand That As Soon As They Admit That Climate Change Is Real, They Will Lose The Central Ideological Battle Of Our Time—whether We Need To Plan And Manage Our Societies To Reflect Our Goals And Values, Or Whether That Task Can Be Left To The Magic Of The Market.

The Net Is More Than An Organizing Tool - It Has Become An Organizing Model, A Blueprint For Decentralized But Cooperative Decision-making. It Facilitates The Process Of Information Sharing To Such An Extent That Many Groups Can Work In Concert With One Another Without The Need To Achieve Monolithic Consensus.

And Most Of All, It Means Continually Drawing Connections Among These Seemingly Disparate Struggles—asserting, For Instance, That The Logic That Would Cut Pensions, Food Stamps, And Health Care Before Increasing Taxes On The Rich Is The Same Logic That Would Blast The Bedrock Of The Earth To Get The Last Vapors Of Gas And The Last Drops Of Oil Before Making The Shift To Renewable Energy.

The Widespread Abuse Of Prisoners Is A Virtually Foolproof Indication That Politicians Are Trying To Impose A System--whether Political, Religious Or Economic--that Is Rejected By Large Numbers Of The People They Are Ruling. Just As Ecologists Define Ecosystems By The Presence Of Certain "indicator Species" Of Plants And Birds, Torture Is An Indicator Species Of A Regime That Is Engaged In A Deeply Anti-democratic Project, Even If That Regime Happens To Have Come To Power Through Elections.

The Parties With The Most Gain Never Show Up On The Battlefield.