Change is inevitable; progress is optional

This is just a thought I'm batting around, rather than some kind of essay.

In Britain, it seems to me that the class divide is still as pronounced as it has ever been; what has changed in the last seventy years is that class has changed from an impenetrable caste system into a state of mind. I would posit the following:

For the working class, work is no more than a means to obtain money, no more or less valid a means of getting money than any other (crime, gambling, random fortune). Life for the working class is nothing more than an endless merry-go-round of unfulfilling work, lounging in front of the television, getting drunk in the pub, and monotonous unloving sex with anyone drunk enough to consent. Gossip and tabloid tittle-tattle of vacuous celebrities and reality TV attempt to fill the gaping void at the heart of such a lifestyle; music is nothing more than transient entertainment, political debate to be avoided, and the arts are a lost cause. Sport is no more than an excuse for tribalism and violence, while latent racism, conservatism and sexism underscore reality.

The criterion for the middle class, I would offer, is that it is characterized by a desire to learn, to grow and to find work that is fulfilling and productive, rather than merely paying wages.

What separated the working class from the middle class seventy years ago was one's means; today, it is one's aspirations. In other words, class has ceased to be economic and become cultural.

Midterms solidify GOP majorities; where now for the anti-war crowd?

To the delight of those, like myself, who wish to see Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq put to an end, those who will lead us to war now control both Houses of Congress and the White House. They have just won a victory where the number one campaign issue has been, over and over again, that they will remove Saddam Hussein. The American people have in every way handed this administration not simply an endorsement, but a blank cheque to militarily intervene in Iraq. President Bush has made it clear repeatedly that if the UN doesn't act, the US military WILL. Given that war on Iraq is now beyond all sensible question a case of WHEN and not IF, where do those who oppose this war go from here? True, as one person I spoke to mentioned, they can take "to the streets, to our computers, to our fax machines, to our post offices, to our friends" to continue the fight - for what, though? They can no longer frighten Congressmen with the bogeyman of being voted out of office by the anti-war crowd, because the elections have proved that either the anti-war lobby is insignificantly small, or that if it IS popular, it cannot mobilize is supporters in any numbers. In either eventuality, by the time we next go to the ballot box, we will know which of us was right. All the tools that those opposed to removing Saddam could have used to hold back war are now controlled by those dragging us forward. The public have signalled that, at best, they want Saddam removed, or that at worst, that they don't care either way.