Barack Obama and the The Death of America

[damndude]

i'll say what i think some people may be thinking themselves.
john mccain't has it right. some of us do love our country more than others.

some of us love this country so much that we are willing to be called unpatriotic if it means brining troops home from an illegal war.

some of us love this country so much that we are willing to be called baby killers if it means preserving an individual's right to decide their own fate with their own god understating that an encroachment on their rights now may mean an encroachment on one of our rights later.

some of us love this country so much that we understand that it is the right of every american to have their own opinion and the pursue their own religious beliefs even if we don't agree. we don't call them communists, socialists, terrorists.

some of us love country so much that we recognize its flaws aa failures, recognize that it is damaged and broken. we recognize that it is not working for too many people. we recognize that those we were supposed to trust ca sometimes let us down. we recognize that those that were suppose to care about us really didn't give a damn at all. we recognize that some people, instead of making government work for the people are more interested in making government work for themselves.
we recognize these things and we work to CHANGE them.

we are DEMOCRATS.

there is one of us in particular who loves this country so much that the obvious obstacles and the possible risk to his own life were worth the challenge to help save us from the possibility of what could be. as the election gets closer and closer i am more and more convinced that the election of barack obama is a fated event, a meant to be action, a collective willing into existence a general to lead a reluctant army that realized too late that it was at war.
i believe no less than the death of america is what is at stake with his defeat.

this isn't me being hyperbolic either. i truly believe this.
i don't know how many of you other there feel a certain uneasiness regard the crossroads that we seem to find ourselves but mine is real and seems almost tangible.

the united states is virtually bankrupt. the government spies on its own people. we are involved in two loosing wars. we have mobilized an entire region of the world to nuclear ambitions as a result of direct threats of unilateral military action from our government in our name. we can't even trust our own elections as honest. our business no longer believe in 'made in the usa' but instead in 'deposited off shore and out of reach'. a political candidate almost openly stokes the notion of justifiable assassination by labeling his opponent as anti-american while at the same time supporting some of the most anti-American policies to be put forth in generations. a woman would support government infringement on the right of other women. an abused soldier would see other soldiers abused and, having the power and the ability to stop that abuse, supports its continuation. a candidate for president, old enough to die in office in his first term, plucks from obscurity a culturally, socially, legally an constitutionally ignorant running from nowhere simply because she is a woman and set forth to label questions of her fitness to serve as sexist. while working families are being put onto he streets with barely a sign of compassion from the president, yet, at the prospect of a collapse to the wall street investment banks responsible there is a political cal to action rivaling the call to war with the wrong country.

lets face it. for real americans living in real america, we pretty much suck right now.
barack obama represents the opportunity for us all to say that we have had enough.
he represents the chance for the the dream of the founding fathers to finally come to be reality, 'that all men are created equal' and that we all have the right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'.
the fact that a black man is perhaps the last best hope for our country having been born and rooted in slavery and racism is fitting irony. the fact that he is the reinvention of fdr an jfk two of the greatest presidents that steered america through some its most difficult times is not happenstance. the fact that he follows a war hero and an environmentalist after their defeat at the hands of the ignorant and intolerant is essential to the preparation of america to finally realize that we are ready for this man, a black man, or a woman, hillary clinton, to lead us. maybe the passed eight years was needed to make America realize that maybe what it wanted was no what it needed, that a president yo can have a beer with is not a president who will be clear minded to take care of you.

this election represents for me no less than the future of america. i believe hat barack obama is the future. i believe that the outcome in two weeks will determine all of our futures. i believe. do you? i have hope. what about the rest of you?

[FirstLight]

1. Here! Here!

SO well said!

After hearing todays news cycle and the words of terrorist, socalist and communist thrown around with such reckless abandon to scare people into voting against their best interests is, unfortunately, not new for the opposition.

What sucks is that this time we are better equipped to see them coming at us, and we can now fight back by claiming our rights as amreicans. WE choose, WE decide...WE are going to take this mess back and rebuild it.

if we don't, you are right...america will cease to be anything remotely resembling the constitution.

I always thought that democracy was a great idea with smaller groups, but that it couldn't work on a lage scale because the logistics would undermine the process..
But by seeing this campaign, and seeing how Obama works...FROM THE GROUND UP...I see that this is not just possible, but necessary.
I also feel that we have a greater hope of winning than we had been afforded since 2000. That election, we were blindsided, shocked to think that something so devious as stealing the election could happen. NOT HERE, we cried, we are america! but it did. and again in 2004, much to our chagrin and the world's peril.

This time we have more numbers, no matter how many they try to purge. This time, their own party is fed up and wanting change, this time we know it is NOW or never. Our children's, and even our own quality of life, hangs in the balance. Either we change our world now - or we will see what the fundies have been drooling for all along... total breakdown and chaos...
I have a hard time believing that even the rich can be safe from water shortages, global change and mass starvation caused by either our environment turning on us or a nuclear exchange (however "limited") I think they know this too.

I have hope, I am still nervous. Until I see that wonderful man take the oath and get to work, I will be nervous.
The ones that brought us to this precipice may want to cut and run, or they may want to stay in power to glean from it the last vestiges of their own self glorificaion. Time will tell...

[ClayZ]

2. I believe!

K and R

[obiwan]

3. Don't be such an optimist!

I survived Nixon, Vietnam, and this. I imagine I will survive a lot worse. Besides, civilizations are living organisms. They are born, they lead a life, and they die. Ask the Greeks and the Romans. No society is immortal. If you think we are, you are sadly delusional.

Karma, my friend. What happens to the U.S. doesn't really matter in the long run.

[TooRaLoo]

4. Damn, dude.

The name fits. Rec'd.

[calimary]

5. Great essay!

Yeah, I have hope, too. And I LOVE your point about those of us willing to be called "unpatriotic" because of what we believe. We've certainly been called worse.

I do wonder how some of these people were brought up. When they screwed up as kids and their moms tried to correct their behavior, did that mean they weren't loved or cared about nonetheless? Evidently not. Nobody on that side seems to care that it's NOT "my country, right or wrong." They forget about the "if wrong, to be put right" part. Yes, when you don't want to accept a status quo that's wrong and selfish and shortsighted and meanspirited and completely foolish, and you want to steer your errant country AWAY from such things, THAT'S loving your country, too.

[Laelth]

6. Hear, hear! k&r

:dem:

-Laelth

[kestrel91316]

7. Hear, hear!!! Give the dude a gold star!!!