Strategic planner Thomas P.M. Barnett took the stage Sunday night with his vision for the world’s future. As he reports on his blog, he sold the place out. Interacting with his animated PowerPoint graphics like a weatherman, he forecast the need for “a new vernacular, a new tool set” that will enable us to bridge the transition from war to sustained peace in a post-Cold War world. Among other things, he suggested the creation of a tentatively named “Department of Everything Else” to take care of what the Department of Defense and the State Department do not. He points out that the question today is not “How’s the war in Iraq going?” but rather “How’s the peace in Iraq going?” The war ended May 2003. Now we’re waging peace… for which we’re poorly equipped.

As Barnett laid out his solution, he called attention to the looming social security crisis in China, where demography follows a 4:2:1 ratio—1 child must eventually support 2 parents and 4 grandparents. Of course, the U.S. has social security troubles of its own and the nation is grasping for ways to sustain the bulge of retiring baby boomers. But is President Bush’s panacea of privatization really the answer? Salon writer and vociferous critic Joe Conason just so happens to be scheduled to make a stop here to offer a critique of the Bush administration’s proposed social security reforms this Sunday, October 30. Should be another thought-provoking Sunday night. UPDATE: Mr. Conason unfortunately won’t be able to make it, we just learned. Ticket holders will receive full refunds, of course.