HOPE: A PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION FROM STATUS QUO
Election Night – Philadelphia, PA
Exhales and Elation: Moments after Obama's Victory; Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
I remember tuning into MSNBC in my living room… a few minutes before 11 p.m., and all indicators point to another long night. During the last presidential election in 2004, I stayed up until 6 a.m. — futilely praying that Kerry could tow-the-line all the way to the White House — before giving into sleep as commentators continued grappling with words like “to close to call” or “electoral ballots.”
So sure, I step away for a moment… just one moment. In the den my husband and friend are having a chat and enjoying the Philadelphia skyline. All of the sudden, I hear a nonchalant announcement that Barack Obama is our president-elect. Immediately, the cameras cut to Obama Headquarters and the crowd at Grant Park in Chicago. It’s really happening… Shock… complete disbelief… a breathless flood of collective, connected pride… We won! We illustrated to the pundits and talking-heads our desire to take active stewardship in our future.
Humanity, reason, truth, and empowerment: Harvest it, and we welcome democratic participation.
Push us, and we welcome democratic participation. But, it may not be pretty, as sampled during the 2006 midterm-elections.
Our country’s indispensable ideology — many times muddled in the championed capitalism of the “American Dream” — is our Constitutional allegiance to human rights. Perhaps the last 8 years reminded Americans of what we could lose… Politicians, take notice and raise the bar. Our forefathers painstakingly provided the most just and malleable blueprint to-date so that our empire does not succumb to the pages of history as another swinging pendulum.
We are beings of instinct. If presented with talking points that try and spin split peas into pretty-green candied yams, we’ll either push them aside or spit them up. Why? Not because we are fearful of the awful taste. We just don’t like being lied to…
Remember that old adage: Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice and… uhhh… yeah that’s it!
The CLOCK STRIKES 11! Freedom Rings Steps from City Hall Philadelphia
And We Believe in Something, in Someone... Yes We Can!
