Like many of you, I watched yesterday with a sense of hope for our country's future. I don't naively believe that we will enter a post partisan era, where we put aside party differences and try to govern, but I do hope that we can stop the gotcha politics that have ruled this country since the 80's. What I hope for is that we can achieve a national debate where men and women of good conscience can disagree on our path, but still work toward the greater good of the country, together. I'm sure that's a bit naive as well.
At the end of the day we are all Americans and the problems we face are shared by everyone. We know our economy isn't as strong as it once was. We know that our manufacturing base is not what it should be. We know that we can't keep sending 700 billion a year to the middle east in oil money and continue to live securely inside our own borders. Now we need to know that we are stronger together then we are divided. We need to remember that it isn't how fast we row toward our goal, but realizing that we are all in the same boat.
Since the Vietnam and Civil rights riots of the 60's, we've been fighting an ideological civil cold war. Both side counting their victories, while as a nation we were defeated. Suddenly the government of the people, by the people and for the people was the source of all problems. We convinced ourselves that we would be better off on our own then working as a collective. The same society that put a man on the moon and bridged a continent with the railroad, now can't agree to keep our bridges from falling into the rivers.
Since Katrina some of this has changed and I see a greater desire to come together as a country. Sure, you can still find people that are very bitter and want a fight (see the ugliness that emerged at the end of the campaign). But in the end I feel like the realization that we need each other sunk in during the last few years of Bush. Our leaders are always a reflection of who we want to be as a people and I hope the election of Obama and the hope for the future he so often points toward are a reflection of where we want to go as a people.
At least that is what I hope and today I'm filled with hope.
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2 comments:
Yes, yes, yes.
We have so many challenges ahead of us--not just crumbling infrastructure, crumbling economy, and total dependence on foreign oil, but also global warming, the fundamental unsustainability of a buy something new today culture, and the resulting kind of spiritual bankruptcy. Partisonship doesn't help any of this.
We all need to remember that we are fundamentally social animals, that we can't have individual good if we don't have the common good. I am hopeful that we will all pick up the burdens necessary to rebuild our world, support our communities, save the planet, and love our neighbors.
Love to you all, Sandra
with you all the way grandson.. You put it all in good clear order/
Love you much
Grandpa and Grandma
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