[Stands on slightly smaller soapbox this time]
“Support your country at all times and your government when it deserves it.” Mark Twain
Through a series of events that I still do not quite comprehend I have found myself living in Delaware, the first state. While it is nice to know that I am in a place that can process paperwork quickly it is nicer to know that I am a short drive from Philadelphia. After all of the events of the past week I felt that it was time for me to go and pay my respects to the place where our country was founded and reflect on how far we have come.
When you think about it we are still an incredibly young nation. We only declared independence a little over 230 years ago. Held against the history of countries such as Greece or England or China we pale in comparison. We are a nation founded by people who left for an unknown land, who built a government based on a dream they weren’t sure was obtainable and then melded it over the centuries as people from around the world immigrated with the hope that this would be the place that they dreamed of. When the words “a more perfect union” were written here that is what they were striving for. Our government may not be flawless but that is what we hope to achieve.
It has been a tough time for those of us who believe in those words. Who go through every day drawing upon “the better angels of our nature.” The government of my country was operating in a way that went against everything that I held dear. I did not believe that I would see the day when we went to war on false pretenses and those that raised their voices in protests were shouted down as being unpatriotic. I could not imagine a government sponsoring torture and imprisonment without charges. I have always felt that the United States should stand for justice and not vengeance. But on the world stage that is precisely what we seemed to represent.
But what struck me most was the sense of darkness and fear that permeated the country. One of the pictures above is from an art exhibit outside the National Constitution Center. In it, they had for each president an eye chart based on the frequency various words appeared in the State of the Union address. What I took was a picture of President Bush’s and it proves my point. Terror, Iraq, Al Qaeda, Homeland, Regimes, Murder these were the words that were most used in addressing the nation. We became a nation of fear. Fear of attack, fear of war, fear of the unknown. We became a nation that stayed home at night, locked behind three deadbolts, nervous at the slightest sound. That wears on a society. While we must be on guard and we must protect ourselves and our interests we cannot become a nation that is scared of its own shadow.
That is the reason why I believe Obama won so convincingly. We no longer wanted to be governed by fear. That is why there was such blowback when Palin brought up William Ayers. We did not want a political campaign filled with personal attacks and fear mongering. We want to have hope for the future. To think that the next four years may be a return to what we have always hoped for the country to be. Obama is an outsider, though a politician nonetheless. It is why he defeated Clinton in the primaries as we did not want to have the presidency rest in the hands of the same two families for over twenty years. We wanted someone with a fresh insight and conviction and, as corny as it sounds, someone to believe in.
And maybe the first positive statement that we can make about his presidency is not that he has become the first African American to be elected president but that throughout the campaign his race did not appear to be a factor. It seemed to be an afterthought as though his candidacy transcended race. His presidency does not mean that racism no longer exists, as it certainly does and will remain our nation’s original sin, but it means that the words “all men are created equal” now take on a truer meaning. That alone speaks volumes.
On Wednesday morning we did not awake to a world of rainbows and unicorns. We awoke to a dreary world with a faltering economy and an overtaxed military. As I sighed with relief on election night that I could now support my country and my government it dawned on me that the election was the easy part. Now is where all the hard work begins. It will not be easy but I have faith in the country again. All because of the following image.
The most amazing sight from election night was that of people dancing in the streets in celebration. I’m still amazed that we can change governments through an election. That everyone, educated and uneducated, gets a single vote to decide who is the best for the future and then that person is placed in charge. No tanks, no presidents for life, just a simple count of hands. But as cynical and blasé as we might become to the process it is still amazing. And instead of just accepting the news, instead of the riots that people feared, all that occurred Tuesday night was celebration. It is a victory of reclaiming our own nation. Now we can only hope that we truly form that more perfect union.
[Packs up soapbox]
Best of 120 Minutes: Going back to very, very early R.E.M. for this one. I still list Murmur as one of my Desert Island Discs mainly because I have yet to figure out what any of the songs actually mean. At least I would have something to study while living on coconuts and the occasional fish.
The five random CDs for the week (and ending the random CD project, to be elaborated on further later this week):
1) Cat Power “The Covers Record”
2) Death Cab for Cutie “Narrow Stairs”
3) Jon Dee Graham “Summerland”
4) Josh Rouse “Best of the Rykodisc Years”
5) Old Crow Medicine Show “EUTAW”
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