Cheers erupted. A champagne cork popped. Fireworks, too. It was 8 p.m. Tuesday night and the network TV station that we were tuned into announced that California’s voting polls had just closed. And that Barack Obama was the unofficial president-elect.
Unless you’ve been comatose for the last several months, you know the back story — an endless war with blood shed on all sides, economic collapse, the layoffs of Americans (check out “The Disposable American“) and a corporate-sponsored government that has treated its citizens as an inexhaustible natural resource — ready to be exploited, used and tossed aside in the name of advancing profits.
But through the apathy, disenfrancisement and general feeling of being a cog in an economic wheel with little control over financial or political affairs, Americans stood up. They registered to vote. They organized. They voted. And they got change.
For anyone who has ever felt that they were a Johnny One Note with no power in the face of any status quo, Tuesday night showed otherwise. For anyone who has ever felt alienated from their government, Tuesday showed that everyone matters. For anyone who has ever stood up on trembling legs to use their voice, Tuesday showed that it can make a difference. And for anyone who believes in the seemingly antiquated notions that character, hard work and thought matter — far more than cheap shots — Tuesday showed that it does.
Here’s to cautious optimism. Inclusion. And healing the divides.
-Christy
Filed under: Books, conversation | Tagged: Blue state, economics, hope, Obama, politics, sustainable economy, War
