Last night, Barack Obama was elected to the office of President...and afterward all kinds of things happened.
Most notably, one of the major barriers to progress as a nation was knocked down - the issue of Race. No matter how you look at it, history was going to be made during the Democratic National Convention this year - whether the issue of gender was subsided or of race. As it turned out, Obama became the first African-American to be nominated as the primary candidate for a major political party, and the nation moved one step closer toward unity. A small victory for the civil rights activists of the 60s, an equality movement in which some gave their lives to realize. Last night, that effort paid off in what could be deemed the highest esteemed privilege bestowed on an individual. The world rejoiced as the American Citizens voted in the first African-American President...by nearly 7.2 million popular votes, and by more than a 2:1 electoral college vote. The only people not rejoicing - are the Evangelicals, Conservatives, and Republicans...
What I don't understand is why? It has been falsely accused that if an individual doesn't vote a particular way, then they MUST be <fill in the blank>...."if you don't vote Republican, you're not a Christian"..."if you don't vote for Hillary, you're a sexist"..."if you don't vote Obama, you're a racist"..."if you don't vote conservative, you're a socialist". All nonsense!
I'm white, a Right-Centerist, and a Christian. But I also didn't vote. Had I voted, I would have done so in favor of Obama for President, and Republican for all the rest of the ticket. Why? Former Republican Florida Congressman Joe Scarborough put it best on his MSNBC show, Morning Joe, this morning talking about the previous two elections. He mentioned that while he was in Congress, the turning point for him was the moment he realized his party didn't have exclusive rights to the definition of the Truth. Once he came to that realization, it opened the doors for him to consider all points of view from both sides of the isle, and learn how to keep an open mind when finding solutions for the nation. That being the case, he also noted how during the last two elections, the Evangelicals were all kinds of excited that George W. Bush won. However, during this one, the McCain voters are all crying "Terrorist", "Socialst", "Communist", etc...
Really? Seriously? Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have the absolute definition of what is Right and True in the universe, or for this nation. I was glad when Bill Clinton won, and I was glad when George W. Bush won. Now I'm glad Obama won. My loyalties don't lie on voting purely for religious reasons - I don't vote my fear...fear that one will ruin the country over the other, that one will be more immoral than my own morals, or that consciously choosing to have a non-Republican in office is going to end the world. I vote my hopes...that one will bring the necessary change to the country, that one will see that what has been going on hasn't been working and will do something different, and doing so with full knowledge that it's going to come at an expense to the citizens.
During the past 8 years, we've been attacked by terrorists, engaged in a war that has lasted much longer than needed, and should have ended 2 years ago, while losing sight of the actual terrorists responsible for the attacks, taken the country into the largest national debt ever, while finishing it all off with the biggest single-day drops in the global stock market since the Great Depression. You may have thought this was how it was supposed to happen - but I didn't. Now it's time for a change.
I'm not anti-war by any means...but I am anti-tea-party-in-the-desert. If we're going to be in a war, let's be in a war. Let's handle our shit, kick some ass, and come home. War is war...5 years is uncalled for, civilian deaths are part of the inhumanity of war, and costs can be minimized by taking care of business swiftly, justly, and accurately. We're fighting a group of people that are using bazookas/IDEs. We have bombs and planes. There is no reason this cannot be wrapped up in time for the weekend.
I'm not anti-stock market either...but I am anti-free-money-for-businesses when those same businesses are overcharging the people on a no-value-added service/product. Credit Markets: If you can't handle your credit, you lose your shit. Oil Industry: When you start producing clean-burning oil, we'll pay ~$4.00 a gallon; until then, back the f@#$ off. CEOs: it's great that you lead a large corporation to monumental success, but when you get millions while your employees lose their pensions because your people screwed up, that's bullshit; the national sports teams have a salary cap, and get fined - why not CEOs who under-perform or cause the company to go bankrupt?
The country has gotten itself into a hole - and it's the country that is going to have to pay for it. According to McCain, big business would get the break, and the people would have to foot the bill. Well, look at the CEOs, you saw how well that works. Obama proposes making the CEOs and businesses...every entity that makes over $250,000 a year, foot the bill for fixing the nation, so that the individuals will be able to afford and manage all the other ways they're getting screwed. Sure it might mean higher taxes - I know it will. But like it or not, we're a nation, a collective, a complex organism that is interconnected internally and externally with the rest of the world. Don't like it? Move to an island and figure it out for yourself.
McCain's mantra was "Country First"...I don't see any deviation from that mantra with Obama either. It's all a matter of who/what you consider to be the country - the people, or business? People make businesses, not the other way around.
More importantly than all of this, is the ideological change that can be made now. A new era has begun, or can begin. One in which the nation can move forward without regard to race. One in which one race does not have to fear another. There are going to be segments of the population that cannot bring themselves to accept what has happened - and those people, I would consider to be harboring some racial prejudices - not necessarily a racist, but a pre-judgment of a person's character simply due to the color of their skin. I have my own prejudices too - my main one is education. Unfortunately for a long time, there was a substantial amount of people that I came into contact with, both white and minorities, that expressed a certain disinterest in trying to improve their own position through education and effort. Because those people had a lack of self-respect, it was hard to respect them beyond that which is due a fellow human. It wasn't until I started actively surrounding myself with people that did have that self-respect, when I saw that it was not a global, across-the-board condition. Rather, it was a condition, or at best, a choice, brought on by the belief they simply couldn't. They couldn't be better, they couldn't change their situation, they couldn't succeed in life.
That disbelief in themselves was the reason many voters went towards Obama, who's campaign slogan was "Yes we can." He saw the bigger picture, and inspired those people to believe in themselves. With this new inspiration, the nation as individuals now knowingly has the opportunity to make the necessary changes they wish to see in the country.
Personally, I'm excited for progress - a change from a direction which has not been making much progress...a change that involves all the people of the country to push it in the direction that they want to go, and not the lobbyists' direction...a change that will hopefully fix a lot of the problems the nation has been dealing with for a long time now.
And if it doesn't - you can always change it every 2 years - remember, it's the Congress and House of Representatives that make the laws...not the President.
