How I See Obama's Victory and How It Will Affect America
After some thinking, listening, watching, reading and what have you about what I and many others did on November 4th, I felt compelled to write my thoughts once again.
President-elect Obama represents a lot of things. He brings about feelings of hope, feelings of elation, feelings of reassurance, notions of unity, and a myriad of other great things.
With the election of Obama, my hope and faith in the American public and government has been slightly rejuvenated. Especially with the Democrats gaining a filibuster-proof House and Senate. I can't really explain why but I have the highest expectations out of the incoming presidential administration. I really want to stray away form using the word "change" since it's been way over-used this year but I really see America going a new, different, and positive direction under the leadership of Obama.
In the last eight years we've seen tremendous acts of violence, wars, economic downturns (and heading towards a depression), unemployment skyrocketing, education getting the axe across the nation, and seeing a black man elected to the highest position one can hold in this country. Whether you see his victory as a great achievement of race or you see it as the American people coming together and saying "enough is enough," doesn't matter because this man has brought the biggest and best thing this country needed: hope.
Hope really brings a mixed set of emotions to the table when you think about it. For me, it brings happiness, sadness, disappointment, joy, anger, and surprise (in a good way). Call me a cynic, but even with the highest hopes there's always room for failure.
I really don't see the failure because I'm really positive about this guy. Unlike past and present candidates, he seems like the genuine article. Obama is probably the most inspirational and best public speaker I've seen in a very long time. His ability to instill this hope into people has not been seen from a politician in decades.
I truly believe in the policies he'll work to get put into motion. Naysay socialism all you like, but what this country needs a little bit more of is some socialism to help repair the nation. Screw spending billions of dollars on a never-ending war. Screw spending billions of dollars on weapons and military. I'd like to see most, if not all, of that money going towards social progress in America. Making the schools better and more caught up technologically, ensuring everyone access to proper medical care whether they pay for it from a private insurer or are given it through a national program, making it easier for people to become citizens of this country instead of measures preventing them from doing so, helping rural areas gain access to broadband Internet, making public transit a thing to be proud and easy to access for all, breaking down the control corporations have over our country, and whatever else I can't think of off the top of my head.
I know Obama hasn't mentioned much of some of those above but his policies will pave the way for them. We've seen that the trickle down economics just don't work and benefit only the top 5% or so of the country. Isn't most of this country sitting smack dab in the middle class or working poor? That doesn't help this country at all.
Whether redistributing the wealth means actually giving people money or giving more access to jobs/opportunity will be an economic boon for the entire country, not just the top 5% who don't put nearly as much into the economy and government as the bottom 95%. There is absolutely no reason people at the top can't give a helping hand to the people crawling and scraping just to get by. Wait, they didn't earn it or work for it so they don't deserve it? Sure, they didn't but don't they deserve an equal opportunity to get off the ground and take care of themselves or their family? Wait, that's downright un-Capitalistic! That's socialist! Glory be to socialism if having more policies that are remotely socialist in our government and daily lives.
I've never understood the stigma of socialism being mixed into our country. It's not bad. Look at social security, look at welfare, look at food stamps, look at medicare/medicaid, look at WIC, and other social programs. Yes, they have people that are exploiting them but on a larger and more important scale they benefit a lot of people who would otherwise be destitute. Some of them could use some heavy reform, I won't ignore that, but on a large scale they're very effective and good for the people who are on them. The stigma that anyone on those programs is a lazy, free-loading slob that has no place in normal society is downright wrong and unfair. Many families work very hard and benefit a lot from these programs and without them they would be in a very bad spot in life, especially their children.
So, I really think that Obama's policies and the doorways they will open will benefit everyone in our country, bottom to top. However, if he or his policies fail it will the another note in the history books. I really don't see them failing though.
Addendum: It's been pointed out to me that for the good ol' United States of America to even stay in the United Nations, we'd have to maintain socialist programs like social security, welfare, and workers' unions. Also, Wal-Mart's business tactics can get us kicked out of the UN because they do not allow workers to form unions.
President-elect Obama represents a lot of things. He brings about feelings of hope, feelings of elation, feelings of reassurance, notions of unity, and a myriad of other great things.
With the election of Obama, my hope and faith in the American public and government has been slightly rejuvenated. Especially with the Democrats gaining a filibuster-proof House and Senate. I can't really explain why but I have the highest expectations out of the incoming presidential administration. I really want to stray away form using the word "change" since it's been way over-used this year but I really see America going a new, different, and positive direction under the leadership of Obama.
In the last eight years we've seen tremendous acts of violence, wars, economic downturns (and heading towards a depression), unemployment skyrocketing, education getting the axe across the nation, and seeing a black man elected to the highest position one can hold in this country. Whether you see his victory as a great achievement of race or you see it as the American people coming together and saying "enough is enough," doesn't matter because this man has brought the biggest and best thing this country needed: hope.
Hope really brings a mixed set of emotions to the table when you think about it. For me, it brings happiness, sadness, disappointment, joy, anger, and surprise (in a good way). Call me a cynic, but even with the highest hopes there's always room for failure.
I really don't see the failure because I'm really positive about this guy. Unlike past and present candidates, he seems like the genuine article. Obama is probably the most inspirational and best public speaker I've seen in a very long time. His ability to instill this hope into people has not been seen from a politician in decades.
I truly believe in the policies he'll work to get put into motion. Naysay socialism all you like, but what this country needs a little bit more of is some socialism to help repair the nation. Screw spending billions of dollars on a never-ending war. Screw spending billions of dollars on weapons and military. I'd like to see most, if not all, of that money going towards social progress in America. Making the schools better and more caught up technologically, ensuring everyone access to proper medical care whether they pay for it from a private insurer or are given it through a national program, making it easier for people to become citizens of this country instead of measures preventing them from doing so, helping rural areas gain access to broadband Internet, making public transit a thing to be proud and easy to access for all, breaking down the control corporations have over our country, and whatever else I can't think of off the top of my head.
I know Obama hasn't mentioned much of some of those above but his policies will pave the way for them. We've seen that the trickle down economics just don't work and benefit only the top 5% or so of the country. Isn't most of this country sitting smack dab in the middle class or working poor? That doesn't help this country at all.
Whether redistributing the wealth means actually giving people money or giving more access to jobs/opportunity will be an economic boon for the entire country, not just the top 5% who don't put nearly as much into the economy and government as the bottom 95%. There is absolutely no reason people at the top can't give a helping hand to the people crawling and scraping just to get by. Wait, they didn't earn it or work for it so they don't deserve it? Sure, they didn't but don't they deserve an equal opportunity to get off the ground and take care of themselves or their family? Wait, that's downright un-Capitalistic! That's socialist! Glory be to socialism if having more policies that are remotely socialist in our government and daily lives.
I've never understood the stigma of socialism being mixed into our country. It's not bad. Look at social security, look at welfare, look at food stamps, look at medicare/medicaid, look at WIC, and other social programs. Yes, they have people that are exploiting them but on a larger and more important scale they benefit a lot of people who would otherwise be destitute. Some of them could use some heavy reform, I won't ignore that, but on a large scale they're very effective and good for the people who are on them. The stigma that anyone on those programs is a lazy, free-loading slob that has no place in normal society is downright wrong and unfair. Many families work very hard and benefit a lot from these programs and without them they would be in a very bad spot in life, especially their children.
So, I really think that Obama's policies and the doorways they will open will benefit everyone in our country, bottom to top. However, if he or his policies fail it will the another note in the history books. I really don't see them failing though.
Addendum: It's been pointed out to me that for the good ol' United States of America to even stay in the United Nations, we'd have to maintain socialist programs like social security, welfare, and workers' unions. Also, Wal-Mart's business tactics can get us kicked out of the UN because they do not allow workers to form unions.
