Imagine for a moment you live in colonial America. You know the Brits and Yanks are about ready to rumble, but you don't know exactly when.

Then Paul Revere blows through town hollering that the British are coming. What do you do?

1) Tell Maw and the young'uns to take shelter, grab your musket and charge out to join to local militia.

2) Jump on your horse and spread the word.

3) Take shelter with Maw and the young'uns.

4) Run like hell.

5) Yawn, ignore Paul, pop open another cold one, and go on reading about that shameless hussy Britney Madison.


Ok - fast forward. It's 2007. It's Paul again, but this time his name is Naomi Wolf, he's a woman, and her message is at least as urgent as Paul's was.

We're witnessing developments in real time as they occur against the background of our daily lives. We see them as distinct events separated by weeks, months and years. Precisely because we are living it, it's not always easy to clearly see a pattern, or even be sure a pattern exists. We're too close to the events, and only the distance of time can give us the perspective we need to see more clearly how things fit together.

But there is another way to discern patterns - by comparing the events of today with events in history.

Naomi Wolf is doing that, comparing what is happening in America today with historical democracies that were undermined. Naomi brilliantly lays out how it happened, how it can - is - happening here, and most importantly, what you and I can do about it.

She's consciously patterning her effort after Thomas Paine's pamphlets like Common Sense. She is a modern-day Paul Revere, and her message is too important to ignore.

Her warning rings clear in this conversation with Buzzflash. Read it - then see that Maw and the young'uns read it too. Then share it with the neighbors.

Naomi is not crying wolf.