Pump up the volume.

I appreciated the gentleness with which Matthew Rothschild reviewed Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark ("Recipes for Hope," April issue). Her message of encouragement and hope is indeed necessary in this perilous political climate.

But we cannot have that become a political tranquilizer. Solnit's book, unintentionally to be sure, becomes just that. In the first place, our active opposition to the neocon cult must be robust and loud. An important reason that the progressive message is not being heard to the extent that it should is that it has been entrusted to the Democratic Party that has virtually silenced it. It is difficult to know how many Americans would subscribe to the progressive agenda since they have not heard it.

Second, we simply do not have the time for "slowly creating groundswells that eventually lead to sea changes." In the areas of environmental protection and public education alone, we are almost out of time. Ecological disasters are staring us in the face. And millions of public school students have already been denied those educational opportunities that would empower their adult lives.

Phrases of hesitancy that we too often hear from Democrats these days--"lie low," "reach out," "come together"--are trumpet calls for retreat. What we need is anger and decisiveness in sufficient volume to be heard and understood.

John Pierre Ameer

Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts