Machiavelli in The Prince, on resistance to societal change

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favor; and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it."

(h/t Revkin, via Planet3.0)

Nevada County Tea Party, meet Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis

July 9 update: minor wording for increased clarity.
After being, as usual, struck dumb by Mark Meckler's dynamic diatribe Wednesday night on how the United Nations (Agenda 21) and sustainability folks (ICLEI) want to take away your freedoms (link, link) - how *do* you bridge a chasm like that? - I realized one helpful resource might be this passage from David T. Moore's Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis (pdf) from the National Defense Intelligence College:

Bryan Welch (of Utne & Mother Earth News)

At the New Life Eco Fest last weekend I caught the Saturday talk by Bryan Welch, publisher of magazines Mother Earth News, Utne Reader (e.g.: Get the Koch Brothers Out of Your Gear ), & Natural Home and Garden.