Due to things like the casual paternalism of a good number of our elected officials, I'm persuaded that publishing needs to be added to the base curriculum of all American public schools and universities. My view:

• Publishing is one of the essential personal skills, like balancing a bank statement or passing a driver's test. Publishing should be on the list of state standards for public high schools; it should be in the general education requirements for American universities. Democracy requires it, and technology now makes it possible. If you can save a Word file as a pdf and load it onto the website of one of the on-demand printers, you can publish a book that preserves the stories of your community or asks the questions your activist group is trying to keep up in public view. If you can sent an email you can publish a blog that tracks the words and actions of an elected official or an email newsletter that lets people know what's happening in your neighborhood. Publishing is about as easy as writing a letter to the editor used to be, and it is more important.

After publishing is well in place, next comes organizing.