All of you reading this? You're a powerful force of good, a bunch of mighty people. Now, go out and promise to do the opposite of this administration: be humble; think deeply; open outward; pull that pointing finger back and figure out how "the other" is just like you (even if it's George Bush or Karl Rove); speak in a clear voice that everyone can understand; move through the world with thoughtfulness, letting go of your entrenched opinions.

Those who imagine that exile will be easily won would do well to consider the travails of Kenneth Nichols O'Keefe.... After his second attempt [to renounce his U.S. citizenship], O'Keefe waited seven months with no response before he tried a more sensational approach. He went back to the consulate at The Hague, retrieved his passport, walked outside, and lit it on fire. Seventeen days later, he received a letter from the State Department informing him that he was still an American, because he had not obtained the right to reside elsewhere. He had succeeded only in breaking the law, since mutilating a passport is illegal. It says so right on the passport.