with the bloody US intervention in Vietnam, he realized the war would just escalate and spread if people did not engage in acts that physically confronted the war machine and disrupted the normal functioning of the political process, which, left to its own devices, was leading to more and more devastation in Indochina. Howard had a historical perspective that informed his understanding of what you can achieve through civil disobedience. He points out in this speech that the United States was founded through radical acts of civil disobedience against the King of England. That civil disobedience, even revolution, is OK. We celebrate it in our schools and songs and movies. But now, no, you must obey the rule of law, no matter how unjust....

"The history of civil disobedience in this country and in other parts of the world shows that people may at first sight be put off by civil disobedience, but at second sight, at second thought, they learn that the protesters against war are right, and after a while they join us in their own way, and that's why we must carry on."....

"We live in the greatest nation on earth." Really? Does that mean we have the best protections for children, the best health care system, the least inequality, the best quality of life? That's not the case. So what does it mean? It really means, as Obama said, we have the "strongest military on earth. "We can impose our will on other people. But it's not "our" will, really. It's the will of the ruling class, the people with the power, with influence, who profit from war, who benefit from US hegemony, while the vast majority of us do not. There was another version of American exceptionalism that was also striking in Obama's speech. He called out "the idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you're willing to try." This is just nonsense. First of all, plenty of people work very hard and never make it in this country. Obama here is updating, and further entrenching, the Reaganite myth about people who are poor or marginalized having only themselves to blame for their condition.....

Technological development meant that war necessarily will involve devastation of civilians.....

"There's something about the national political structure itself - no matter who is in power, whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power - which gets in the way of solving the basic human problems that have to be solved in our time." That's a profound insight. Once you realize that, you come to see the role of activism differently. You see electoral politics differently. And I think you come to appreciate that we have to put pressure on whoever the president is, whichever party is in power. If you don't understand this, then I think you end up like the many people who, tragically, became apologists for Obama's continuation - and in some cases escalation - of Bush policies, defending the very actions, such as the president's authority to kill people, including US citizens, without due process, that they would have been shouting bloody murder about if they had been carried out by George W. Bush.

.....his work caught on with so many people, and has had such a profound influence on how people view history and view themselves, is that he gave people a sense of skepticism, a sense of history, that enables them to cut through the media charade to begin to see how power really works and how we might change that.