“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge… We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!’”

I heard this quoted a few nights ago on AirAmerica radio. It was mentioned that this was from what would likely be Molly’s last article. I didn’t suspect that she would leave us so soon.

What can I say about this woman that will truly do her justice? I’ve been an admirer for a long time. She had a lot of admirers—and a fair share of detractors, too, who chafed at her plainspoken, clever and witty way of speaking truth to power. On the left, “speaking truth to power” may often sound like a cliché, but there was never anything clichéd about Molly Ivins’ prose. She was one of a kind. And effective.

I listened intently to her last words to us. She was echoing so clearly the thought that had been ringing in my head since last Friday, after I heard George W. Bush insist yet again that, “I’m the decision-maker, I had to come up with a way forward that precluded disaster.” The first time I heard it, I found myself involuntarily—but very consciously—yelling at the radio, “Right, asshole! WE know who the real decider is! It’s US!! So go get a fucking clue!”

I think Molly would not mind my impassioned profanity. She was well known for her own brand of salty directness. In reading her last dispatch, I noticed that she was very direct. Missing for the most part was her characteristic impish barbed wit. After all, this is serious stuff, when the (ostensible) President of the United States dares to (again) brazenly assert that his will reigns supreme over We, The People.

Her sense of urgency, knowing that her own time in this earthly drama was coming to a close, was unmistakable.

She writes, “A surge is not acceptable to the people in this country—we have voted overwhelmingly against this war in polls (about 80 percent of the public is against escalation, and a recent Military Times poll shows only 38 percent of active military want more troops sent) and at the polls. We know this is wrong. The people understand, the people have the right to make this decision, and the people have the obligation to make sure our will is implemented.”

Molly is absolutely right. We had better raise hell. Or else.

We’ll miss you, Molly. We love you. And we’ll continue to raise hell in your stead.

Be at peace,

Steve