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Thank the gods and goddesses.
Thank you, America.
Thank you to everyone who stood in line for hours to cast his or her vote.
Thank you, everyone who said they "don’t vote" but "had to" this time.
Thank you to Barack Obama for rallying this nation to remember our unity and power as citizens. But mostly, I thank President Elect Obama for going out of his way to bring those who did not “earn” his vote, that he respects their opinion and will be their president, too.
It’s easy to gloat. But it’s much more helpful to live by example. There are no losers this time. Not unless we alienate those very people who most need our support: The Republicans and other parties who may not fully understand Obama’s Blueprint for Change. (You can download it here. Or by visiting http://www.barackobama.com and downloading it from his site.)
The point is, my fellow Yankee Doodles, by electing Barack Obama as President, we've taken a very large step toward redeeming ourselves in the eyes of the nations whose respect we have lost over the years. We have said yes to self-respect as a nation, yes to the idea that we are responsible for each other's well-being, and yes to an end of the overpowering glare of corporate greed and corruption.
Look, I was a proud Libertarian for many years*. My thought was that government should stay out of my personal and professional life. Why? Because a corrupt government (and aren't they all?) would take away my right to express myself; earn the money I wanted; marry (or at least legally recognize) the person of whatever gender I fell in love with
; eat, drink, smoke what I chose to; create art I believed in...And all that is true.
Libertarianism requires a lot of faith in the people's good will. The idea is that we should be free to choose any lifestyle we wish without government holding us back. However, if you do harm to others, harm will come to you in the form of punishment. But what we've seen with this recent economy fiasco is that unchecked capitalism can and most likely will screw over the people as greed takes over the human spirit. Perhaps a Libertarian government would have handled this problem differently. However, it may still have happened.
It occurred to me that the Democratic ideal is similar to the Libertarian ideal in that the government should protect and serve without corruption. Right now, there's a possibility that there is a future where we can believe in our government, and trust that it has our best interests, civil liberties, and individual freedoms in mind. Not just for people in a certain tax bracket or people of a certain religious belief, but for everyone.
Incredible.
As for the cries of "Socialism" that we heard so much from Republicans over the last few weeks? To those who are afraid, I ask this: What is so wrong with compassion for your fellow man? If it's your hard-earned money you're worried about, what do you think this government bail-out is? It's welfare for the wealthy. It's our money that got lost...and now it's ultimately our money that will be used for (or at the very least affected by) the bail-out. Personally, I'd rather contribute to national health care than some investment banker's yacht payments.
Here's my idea: Spend the next 74 days before Obama's Presidential inauguration** listening to "the other side." Read Republican blogs and post to them positive messages of unification. Remind Reps that we are in this together. Listen to all sides of the argument and remember the big picture: We are all human beings and we all love this country.
Let the healing begin. Goodness knows we have a lot of it to do.
* Find out where you stand by taking this test. No longer quite Libertarian, I currently rank in the same place as His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Figures.
** Click the link to see my silly countdown clicker.
