On Christmas Eve at midnight mass, I turned to my son and said, "I've got it!  I know what Polka music is!  I know how it fits into the universe!"   Later, as we drove home, I explained my inspiration.

Briefly stated, the Polka is the rhythm of modern civilization.  If the Polka beat were destroyed, civilization would collapse.

Because this sounds preposterous, I sent my inspiration to a friend, who is one of the world's leading automotive engineers.  He replied that, scientifically, the idea could not be refuted.

To understand this revolutionary idea you need to know that the Polka beat is simply, one... two.  Or, more precisely, it is 0...1.   Mathematicians would call it a binary beat.

You see, when humans walk, march or run, the leg becomes a pendulum.  It moves forward and back to its starting point, or 1, 0.  And, when humans walk, march, or run at a fixed pace they use the binary beat.  In other words, two beats of equal duration.

Now, the binary beat is all around us and exists abundantly in nature.  For example, when you drop a rubber ball, it bounces down and up.  The difference between nature and civilization is that gravity diminishes the beat until the ball stops.  In civilization, humans fix the beat.  If people thought a bouncing rubber ball was useful, they could make it bounce up and down indefinitely.

Modern civilizations use the binary beat to sequence, measure, align, transmit and create power.   One of the first people in recorded history to use the binary beat were the Greeks.  They used it as a timing device to align their new tactical weapon the phalanx.  They called it the March.

Then, as civilization advanced, people used the binary beat to create clocks, radio, television, computers, internal combustion engines, and pulse jet engines.  These inventions are the muscle, heart, and brain of modern civilization.

To explain the binary nature of these inventions let's examine radio waves.

Every radio station has an electronic device called an oscillator.  This device creates an
electrical current that races up and down a long wire inside a radio tower.  Now, accordion
to Michael Faraday, if an electric current moves inside a wire, the wire becomes a
magnet.  James Maxwell theorized that if we move the current back and forth inside the wire fast
enough, we can broadcast this magnetic force over great distances.  Heinrich Hertz proved
Maxwell's theory.  Marconi broadcast the human voice across the Atlantic ocean.

Up, down... tick, tock... combustion, exhaust...  one, two.... 0, 1... Let's Polka.

Now, if the binary beat (Polka/ March) is the rhythm of modern civilization.  And, if these civilizations use March tempo to train their soldiers and sing their anthems, then Polka music has an amazing power.  It has the power to become the fixed star of the new Millennium.  It has the power to become a harbor for people who worship God, love their family and are loyal to their country.  But, it has these powers only if Polka musicians create morally correct songs honoring God, family, and country.