Some say that Dean is the new McGovern. Or Mondale. Or Gingrich. Or William Jennings Bryan.
The list goes on. But the simple fact is that Howard Dean is Howard Dean. Plain and simple. He cannot be compared to any figure in political history in the past, and any in the future comparing themselves or others to him will be erring. He is unlike any political figure in history, for he is a man of a new era, where politics and technology combine to bring people together. Never has this been possible: with the Industrial Revolution, technology has done nothing but make the distinction and ethos of distance all the more powerful between urban and rural, rich and poor, black and white...
But the internet is changing all this. The internet knows no color line. There is no "whites only" blogosphere, nor is there a "city-slickers only" section, or "dial-up connections must enter this area". All the people of the internet needed was a message to help them congregate in one place and truly unite.
Howard Dean knows this. He has lifted a mirror and showed us that the message was...us. The people of the United States. For too long we have been deceived into believing that we were simply "human capital". Good men and women have been deterred from the public sector because of the exponentially increasing dependence on money in our supposedly free and fair elections, and the contributions from the uber-wealthy and narrow-minded single-interest groups. For too long we have been told not to enter politics, for the armada of narrow-minded interest groups will decimate even the most principled of citizens.
A Historical Perspective: The year is 1588. The Spanish Armada is dead-set on invading England and enforcing Catholicism upon the island. Before this, no one had dared challenge Spain and its New World dominance. A small, determined band of privateers, led by the "sea dog" Francis Drake (later knighted) of less than twenty ships fought back the enormous Spanish Armada, even though they were outnumbered nearly five to one.
The English privateers had two advantages on their side: cannons and sheer determination. With the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the way was paved for colonization of the East Coast of the North American continent, and the Catholic stranglehold of both political and military might was broken. A century later and beyond, an explosion of thought known as the Enlightenment brought forth some of this millenia's greatest thinkers: Jefferson, Madison, Voltaire, Rousseau, Thomas Paine...
Howard Dean is Howard Dean. There is no dispute about that. But the circumstances between now and 1588 are strikingly similar: a small band of dedicated citizens refuse to bow down to the Armada of right-wing partisans, led by a man who would be a monarch, and his court, the RNC. But like the privateers of centuries past, we too have two potent weapons on our side: the cannons of truth and sheer determination.
I'm not comparing Howard Dean to Sir Francis Drake: I'm not even suggesting the good Doctor be knighted. But we, the citizens of this great nation, are up against a power that has never been challenged and beaten by the truth, and Howard Dean may be the next "sea dog" that breaks the stranglehold on ideas that is stifling this nation.
We are at a nexus in political history: either we fight as hard as we can, and use our cannons of truth to annihilate the Rovian Armada, or...no. There is no other choice. We shall, we must, defeat this Armada, just as Sir Francis Drake did over four centuries ago.