Glenn W. Smith

Who's really stronger, the coyote or the domesticated dog?

We can talk ourselves into damned near anything. We listen for the truth. Sometimes it seems like we assume the theatre's already on fire, and we can find our way out by shouting directions to everyone else. The blogosphere's given power to our voices. But we need to listen, too.

Barack Obama's victory is of such symbolic power that analysis of what it means is difficult. Maybe a place like Texas, where we lost, can give us a clue to the work that lies ahead.

In 2008, America judges the consequences of Karl Rove's actions. For the sake of the future, we can only hope that the young wannabee Rove's out there carving "Bs" into their faces see that the laws of karma still prevail.

If polls aren't telling John McCain and Sarah Palin to suddenly campaign against the socialist specter, who is? The insurancy industry lobbyists who work for McCain, that's who.

Voter suppression and intimidation should be a high crime on a level with treason. Barack Obama's lead in the polls is giving Democrats room to challenge treason democrats, even if the fight detracts from economic messages.

In America, it's a greater sin to vote the unwashed that to prohibit the washed from voting. Until that changes, we are less than a democracy.

A Revolution of the Lie helped lead us into a devastating economic mess. Only a commitment to truth can get us out of it, and that takes an understanding of the nation's problematic relationship with the truth.

America has come some distance from the early 20th Century, when white America longed for a Great White Hope to take the heavyweight boxing championship from its first black winner, fighter Jack Johnson. But looking at the 2008 presidential contest, maybe we haven't come as far as we think. We won't know unless we talk about it.

Americana music is part of a great American cultural tradition of resistance. We'd better sing. And listen. The current political crisis makes this more urgent than ever.