Ten million bloggers and counting!

The 1970s was a story of quiet but determined growth among Christian conservatives. First there was Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority. Then along came the Christian Coalition and a marriage between Pat Robertson and political guru Ralph Reed, one of this nation's smartest organizers.

The often quiet, behind-the-scenes conservative activism of the 1970s has rewritten American history as we know it. It has given us 16 years of Republicans in the White House. It has given us a judiciary whose ideological orientation is rarely liberal but very often staunchly to the right. For ten years, it has given us Republican control of the U.S. House.

But the political pendulum always swings in America and now it is swinging back. Columnist Jim Hightower writes of the power that new media, local media, noncorporate media is beginning to play in this transition:

Thousands of hardy, grassroots people have been working steadily and creatively over the years in every area of media, and the result of their combined efforts is that a new media force is now flowering coast to coast ­ a force of hundreds of media outlets that is unabashedly progressive, fiercely independent, diverse, dispersed, and democratic. Some of these outlets are nationally known, others only locally known; some are brand new, others have been plugging away for decades. But the significant thing is that, collectively, they are a force to be reckoned with, celebrated, strategically deployed and deliberately expanded.

To read the whole article -- and this is a must read for anyone who engages in media advocacy -- go here.