Group Work

Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
That's what happened two hundred forty-three years ago. A global super power was toppled by a bunch of wealthy land owners got it into their heads that being a colony was not in their best interest and they should, for tax purposes, create a more perfect union. While it is true that my innate cynicism and need to be clever cheapens the history a bit, there is no doubt that what occurred all those year ago is probably worth a fireworks display or two. Facing off against one of the world's most feared armies, a small group of thoughtful committed citizens changed the world. Forever. The notion that the United States tends to treat the United Kingdom like a distant cousin would not have been imaginable when King George was our daddy. 
These days, small groups of thoughtful committed citizens are busy trying to change the world in other ways. Global warming. Human rights. Gun control. Education for all. I would like to believe that every one of those MoveOn petitions could carry the weight of a Declaration of Independence. All the ideas floating out there that suggest that the world in which we live doesn't have to be the way it was last year because things have already been decided. You can change the world. We can change the world. 
The founding fathers did it without cell phones. Without Al Gore's Internet. Thomas Jefferson wrote all those drafts of the Declaration longhand. No global replace. No spell check. Which might have something to do with that whole unalienable/inalienable thing, but he stuck with it. And then fifty-six people signed it. It pushed our proto-country into war with Great Britain and we sent them packing. Sure, we had some help. Thanks, France. But most of all we had that small group of individuals. 
And we still do. 
The world will keep changing for the better because of them. 
Count on it.