After studying how once-democratic nations slide into fascism, writer Naomi Wolf came to a horrifying conclusion: in the last five years, the United States has taken all of the steps that have historically led to the end of republican government. Wolf issued a call to patriotic dissent in her 2007 book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to A Young Patriot. A sample chapter is available here (.pdf).

Before I came to BlogHer, the term mommyblogger meant nothing to me, even though I'm a mother and I blog. I was shocked that there was so much vitriol directed at women for whom motherhood was a focus for writing. It's perfectly logical that mommybloggers would be a political force, just as they are a marketing force.