In a couple of hours, I will hop on a train to Washington DC to join the march. I wrote my DeStefano blog post, “Maybe, this is about us”. Maybe it is all about us. Maybe it is about all of us remembering who we are, a country that cares about every citizen.

I downloaded a newer version of Winamp today, and I’m listening to AOL Folk Radio. Big corporation AOL. What are they playing? Phil Och’s “What's That I Hear?” Joan Baez, “Diamonds And Rust”, and some rendition of “Johnny, we hardly knew ya”.

Meanwhile, I’m reading emails from various lists. One person wrote, “I am marching in Washington tomorrow. My daughter wrote to me after Dean dropped out of the race:
‘Mom, you just keep on being Howard Dean’.

That is my inspiration.

So, folks, let's keep on being Howard Dean!”

Another person responded, “We are Howard Dean.

But remember --- Howard Dean hasn't marched in (or spoken at) an anti-war rally since the 1960's (that's not his bag and it never really was). He has, however, inspired many of us to voice our conscience when it issn't politically expedient to do so.

That is a spirit that Dean represents. Like Paul Wellstone. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. Like Robert F. Kennedy.

Three of those four are dead. But they were merely vehicles for a spirit that lives in each of us. And has for decades of progressive change in this country.

Remember, as Howard said so often, it's ‘not about Dean’ and it never was about Dean. It's about us. It always has been, even before ‘what I want to know...’ activated our consciences.”

We may disagree about how to keep our country and our citizens safe. We may disagree how to fund and set about rebuilding after Katrina. We may disagree about how best to deal the conflict in Iraq. Yet it is the public dialog about these issues that has always made America strong.

We need strong leaders to inspire us to find the best in each of us and we all need to speak up about what we find.