I will admit that political strategizing is not one of my strong points. I don’t believe there is any quick fix, political or otherwise, to our complicated social problems. It is true that effective solutions will require some materialistic sacrifices from all of us. As Ladd also pointed out, we can see specific examples of how social change begins to occur with the populist WTO protests around the country, particularly in Seattle. These kinds of events are nothing new in US history. In the late 19th and early 20th century, civil protest and the collaboration between upper middle-class Progressives and the working class brought about many reforms; including child labor laws, work place safety, food purity laws, the 40 hour work week, and the 15th and 19th amendments to the Constitution, among other things. Civilized change happens slowly, in small increments. It is obvious that pontificating on any subject is not likely to change anyone’s mind. People change their thinking because they want to. This is also obvious. My contribution to this forum is a personal opinion and an attempt to exchange ideas, nothing more.