People often ask me why I write crime fiction. Why, they ask, don't you write romance novels, or maybe one of those nice Oprah books?

Okay, let's get something straight. Ricky don't do chick lit. Close quotes.

I think most people who write crime fiction tend to have similar views of the world. We tend to believe that there is a lot of evil out there that needs a good squashing, and perhaps we feel just a little powerless to do anything about it.

Our protagonists, though, because they are immortal, fearless, impervious to bullets, and generally smarter than the average bear, can wade right into the midst of evil and give it the shellacking it deserves.

Would that it were so easy in the real world.

Last night, I attended an Arlo Guthrie concert in Charlotte. Yeah, that Arlo Guthrie. The "Alice's Restaurant" guy. Yes, before you ask, he is about a gazillion years old. He's got this long gray hair, and a grizzled moustache and beard, and his voice has more than a touch of gravel in it at times, but you can tell that the fire still burns bright inside of him.

This was an unusual crowd for normally ramrod straight, evangelical, right-wing, my-country-right-or-wrong Charlotte. Somehow, in the city that made banking sexy - if only for bankers - Arlo managed to draw a full house of idealistic anti-war peacenik dreamers. For three hours, we were transported back to the Time of Tricky Dick. The house was energized against an unjust, stupid, opportunistic war. Arlo told a lengthy, somewhat rambling story involving Joseph from the Bible, and Moses, and David slaying Goliath, and then tied it into a central theme, which was that one person can have the most dramatic impact, if he or she comes along and does the right thing at the right time.

Elaine, my lovely bride, and I left the theater to walk to our car. I mused that, regrettably, we weren't doing enough to stop our own senseless, unjust, stupid, opportunistic undeclared war. Cindy Sheehan and the most recent march on Washington, it seems, was a good start. I worry, though, that without some kind of organized movement, the whole shebang is going to lose momentum and sputter to a halt.

This has been a tough several months. I haven't blogged as frequently as I probably should have, because of the vagaries of book deadlines, work commitments, family tragedy, etc. I think that needs to change. I have a feeling I'll be venting somewhat more frequently in these pages, if only to add my voice to the crescendo of criticism of our miserable failure of an administration and its incredibly dangerous policies. As Arlo said in "Alice's Restaurant", if a hundred, or five hundred, or five hundred thousand people do it, then it's a movement,and maybe we've forgotten just how powerful a movement can be.

I think it's time to rediscover the Power of the People. There's some beaucoup evil loose in this country right now, and I think it could use a little squashing. Anybody with me?

Let's roll.

Catcha later.
R