E.J. Dionne Had It Right

...with the title at least: "Coming Soon: The 21st Century". Jan, 2009 will be the true beginning of the Third Millennium, or, if you will, the Twenty-First Century. After a good lead, he didn't really go into it, surprisingly, instead rehearsing some commonplace wisdom about what's to come.

Basically, we had a false start in 2000 (or, for purists, in 2001). The 2000 election set the tone with total confusion being the winner, and progress denied. September 11, 2001 derailed the initial, tentative notions of the reality with which we finished the last decade, but it put nothing into place. Some thought for a time that the chaotic, sputtering, misdirected efforts which followed amounted to a direction, but the Bushite Recovery ended with complete exhaustion--morally, spiritually, and financially.

So now we begin anew and face the dangerous, but exciting future we have built for ourselves.

With the exception of the fact of overpopulation and resulting overconsumption of resources, we live in a manner not just befit for kings, but of which kings would only have dreamed three centuries ago.

It is time to begin to live the way we all know we should.