Al Gore gives a Martin Luther King Day address outlining his view on what is wrong with American democracy and advocating that something be done about it. It’s a long speech, but well worth a read.

This particular part rings especially true given all the warnings about how our very way of life is under threat from terrorism:

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of nuclear missiles ready to be launched on a moment’s notice to completely annihilate the country? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when the last generation had to fight and win two World Wars simultaneously?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they did. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it’s up to us to do the very same thing!