Ten years ago today

Ten years ago, on March 1, 2000, Doris "Granny D" Haddock ended a 14-month, 3,200 mile trek across country to draw attention to how big money politics have deformed government and democracy. The final leg of the walk took her, and those who were walking with her that day, through Arlington National Cemetery. She ascended the east steps of the U.S. Capitol and made the following remarks:

So here we are, Senators, at your doorstep: We the people. How did you dare think we do not care about our country? How did you dare think that we would not come here to these steps to denounce your corruptions in the name of all who have given their lives to our country's defense and improvement? How did you dare think we were so unpatriotic to have forgotten all those rows upon rows of graves that mark how much we, as a people, care for our freedom and our equality?
 
This morning we began our walk among the graves of Arlington --so that those spirits, some of whom may be old friends, might join us today and that we might ask of them now, Did you, brave spirits, give your lives for a government where we might stand together as free and equal citizens, or did you give your lives so that laws might be sold to the highest bidder, turning this temple of our Fair Republic into a bawdy house where anything and everything is done for a price? We hear your answers in the wind.