If you like the idea of revolution (and the joys of idealists who are sudeenly thrust into positions of power), get your hands on a copy of the play Marat/Sade (The persecution and assassination of John/Paul Marat as performed by the inmates of the asylum at Charenton under the direction of the Marquis de Sade). I'm sure it must be on video. I was lucky enough to play a small part in it when I went to college in 1968. The ironies were exquisite. Here my friends and I were out on "the barricades", while I also participated in a play about re-enacting the excesses of the French Revolution as performed by lunatics. "And the revolution came and went and unrest was replaced by discontent".

Mbo- I know you were half-kidding, but revolution is nothing to kid about. Innocent people get hurt and unless you do it right, the strong only get stronger.

Peg - It's a lot less romantic and, in a lot of ways less viscerally satisfying, but you have to DO WHAT YOU CAN, WHERE YOU ARE, WITH WHAT YOU HAVE. If, in your mind, it means supporting a figure like Nader, do so. But don't get carried away with the romance of the crusade or the mystique of the crusader. Nader is nowhere near what you would like to believe he is. How do I know? Because he's just a man. And the system would chew him up and spit him out, even if he could get in the door - which he can't. It is far better to support a "child of the bureaucracy" like Al Gore, who has been raised on the concept of PUBLIC SERVICE since he was a mere tad. Check out his record. It's hard to do, because his handlers have done everything to prevent it, but try to look at him as a man, not as a packaged candidate. His virtues far outweigh his vices. He will govern without embarassing us like Mr. Clinton. Look at your real choice here. And then decide if your idealism is worth turning the keys of the country over to a pirate like Bush and his ilk.

I don't mean to offend. But this is important.