The Wiggle Baron wrote:Ive got to say, the whole US election race has fallen completely out of my radar (Its been an absoloutely mental few months for me).
Would anyone care to fill me in on why this is so momentous? I understand the idea of a black president being elected as being something historic, aswell as an example of how much a country can change in a relatively short amount of time. But, further than that race really shouldn't come into it.
So, if thats the case (and feel free to say it isn't, I really would love to hear people opinions on it) is it then simply down to his persona/policies? Because, and again please do feel free to tell me why im wrong, in my opinion the persona of a politician will be a finely tuned front created by psychologists and advisors to make someone appear exactly as people want them to appear, and the policies made pre-election day will be lies.
Just to add that I am in no way trying to dampen peoples spirits about this! Its just a political skeptic trying to understand how something I know very little about has caused the kind of celebration/emotion it has. I DEFINITELY didn't see Marley blasting out of a window at 3am with 500 people dancing in the streets when Gordon Brown did his thang
ok, i am gonna make an attempt to explain. unfortunately i will have to shorten the story of the right wing takeover of our government in the last 20 years, but i will attempt to do so anyway. this will be a bit of a novel, so bear with me (and realize that i am still fired up from the celebratory feelings this week, so i may sound a bit idealistic).
so yeah, it starts about the time of reagan, when the conservative movement really found its legs and gained some steam. while many laud reagan as this great leader, he was only great if you were rich and white. if you were poor, of color, female, gay, had AIDS...you were pretty much fucked. and the movement that begat reagan continued on its merry way, even through the clinton years, with the rise of newt gingrich and his "contract ON america" (as i like to call it).
with this conservatism (the idea that people who hate government should RUN government being one of the oxymorons that left me scratching my head) came a really nasty streak of christian fundamentalism that attempted to insert religious dictates into secular government.
so many of us were already feeling like there was a war upon us and our lives, long before george w bush ever came to power.
but then there was bush. and then 9/11, which the bush administration has used to start 2 wars, to sweep aside civil liberties and gut the constitution, to implement torture, etc. then you have the sweeping destruction of our environment (and this affects the entire world, not just bush), the culture war upon the poor, the people of color, the women, and gay people. i could write for days, but these things for starters.
and throughout all of this, the bush administration completely ignored the real needs of the american people, and fed us this line of fear and meanness that has cast a pall upon our country (and many others).
we fought hard to get rid of him in 2004, but for many of us, john kerry was just a "not bush" candidate, and not someone that most of us could really get behind. and we lost. color me unsurprised.
so here we are, still in those 2 wars, spending 10 billion a month in iraq alone, in a devastating economic crisis, with high unemployment, bleeding jobs, 46 million people with no healthcare and those with it can't afford it either, and we have all just felt this black cloud hanging over us.
so here comes a candidate who we all know is just a man, with all a man's imperfections, but who speaks to our better angels. who asks US to be a part of the government that for so long has looked down upon us with a sneer. who asked us to believe in something bigger than just ourselves, and asked us to get off our asses and play a part in our government. and we did. and we won.
and we watched this republican machine that has held power over us for so long, simply FALL APART in the process.
so we look at this as a new era. one where the repub machine is in shambles, where we have participated in the election of our president, and where we are being asked to continue participating.
we are looking at a man who, in many ways, embodies the promises of an american dream that has been unfulfilled, and even squandered for so long. and yes, it must be addressed that, for many, to look up at that podium and see a man of color, in a country that still bears the scars of slavery and racism, is to realize that all the promises that were denied, and all the dreams deferred, are now just a little bit more possible. it doesn't ERASE slavery or racism, but less than a half century removed from the civil rights era, it shows that we can move forward.
i also feel that obama has a measured, thoughtful approach to politics, and after the knee jerk, we-will-do-what-we-want-regardless-of-consequence approach that the bushies have exercised for the past 8 years, i feel that we can begin to heal our relations with the rest of the world, and to solve the mountain of problems in front of us domestically. will he be perfect? no. no one is. but i would rather have thoughtful, rational, intelligent approaches to domestic and foreign issues, than a dumbass cowboy puppet controlled by oil.
now, i am a cynical optimist. i believe our american political system is broken, run through with the sword of money and power. and i don't believe that obama is a saviour. i don't think that HE can solve everything (if anything at all). but i DO believe that he has inspired a generation to become involved in their own country, and that self-determination is a valuable asset in a country that, for at least 8 years, has bordered on tyranny, if not fallen right over the precipice into it. and after so many years of fear-mongering and nastiness, we were challenged to stay positive, to think we could do it ourselves, and to cast aside the fear that has been fed to us for so long. that in itself, is a transformation for this country.
change has never happened from the top down. it has always happened from the bottom up, and i for one, think that barack obama understands that. is he still influenced by money? sure. they all are. but he knows to his core that the people united can never be defeated. and he has been the catalyst for that unification. so if he fucks up, he knows we can take him down just as fast as we put him there.
the joy that i personally feel right now, is more about what the PEOPLE in this country have done to unite, and to organize and to win. i worked as a volunteer on the campaign, and met SO many people willing to take time out of their lives and go door to door and talk to strangers (and that's just some of the hard work that was done), and it was all of those people i met that have fed my spirit for the last year. i feel as if a pall has been lifted, i can breathe again, and after a bit of celebration, it's time to roll up my sleeves and get back to work on the ground level. and now i know there are people who are willing to work hard for the same reasons.
i hope this gives you some insight. it's just my perspective, but i think a lot of people feel the same way.
)