The Earth-Toned Pill

Enough has already been said about the pros and cons of Barack Obama's politics, of the historic nature of this election, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum...

What I did want to take the time to do is to write about my personal thoughts regarding his ascendancy to the post of president of our country from the perspective of an amateur historian, former soldier and private citizen.

I think of myself as politically middle of the road, and my party affiliation is officially Libertarian in order for me to feel as though I am doing a small part towards breaking the current two-party gridlock that is strangling our country. I'm absolutely sick of the corporate-controlled, big-business, big-money party politics, and I can't stand that Nancy Pelosi and Ann Coulter seem to now be examples of mainstream standard bearers for both parties, whereas a few decades ago we used to call such people the 'kook fringe'.

I almost didn't vote this year, mainly because I am admitantly quite pessimistic about the direction of our nation, its politics, and (more importantly) our culture, and I felt as though neither candidate was a truly positive option for the country. Obama's agenda is unfortunately far too liberal for me, and I personally think he was elected by and large for the wrong reasons by a mostly uninformed electorate. McCain, on the other hand, showed a fundemental lack of understanding on the core issues such as the economy, and his decision making on such important topics like his running mate seem just plain erratic and strange. In the end, I fealt like the only real choices for people truly desiring change were Ralph Nader or Ron Paul, neither of which had the slightest chance from the beginning... (thanks in part to our completely biased and fundamentally flawed media system)

But something happened over the last few days. No, my core beliefs and theories haven't changed, but I started to buy into Barack Obama's call to the banner of CHANGE.

To make a long story short, I did vote for him and can count myself as one of the millions that did. But I did this not because I didn't want to actually vote my convictions and choose Nader or Paul, or because I felt like I was just throwing my vote away by not voting Obama or McCain; I voted Obama because, like all Americans, I am ready for a change and I need something to believe in despite the poor economic outlook, continuing wars abroad, threat of terrorism, etc...

I just want to believe that this really is one of those Kennedy-esque moments that comes barely once a lifetime where the American people demand true change and tangible reform, and I don't think I could live with myself if I wasn't a part of that massive, crashing wave.

You said what I needed to hear, Mr President-Elect, but what I need you to do now is to make good on your rhetoric.

I'm not expecting miracles, just please keep your campaign promise to be the true agent of change that we all so sorely need to see in our government and culture.

Good luck, President Obama.