Hope Prevails

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HOPE PREVAILS

I’m glad to have been a part of this great nation on this day. There are all sorts of emotions swirling around in my head and heart, but I don’t think now is the time to dissect them or to elaborate. I’m content to watch the coming together of so many parts of this country, and see the joy in the supporters who worked so long and so hard to make this night a reality.

I’m glad my children could share this night with us, also. I think the world they inherit became a little bit brighter tonight.

That is basically what I wanted to say.



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I had previously typed out a list of the major reasons I voted for Obama. This was in part to document what I was thinking as I headed into this historic election, and in part to reassure others that my decisions were not based on “Obamamania” or an unrealistic idea of the issues. I’ve listed the major categories below. It’s politics and religion, so don’t read if you are bothered by opinions that may be different than yours.

THE WAR: Prior to the start of the war, the leaders of all the major Christian denominations, as well as the Jewish ones, urged in no uncertain terms that Bush give other avenues a chance to resolve the conflict, before launching a war. To be frank, the war in Iraq has me very angry. It was waged for reasons that were at best poorly investigated and at worst outright lies. It has cost our country billions of dollars and weakened us, not protected us. It has funneled countless millions into the pockets of defense corporation CEO’s, while the real heroes, the soldiers, pay the costs (as well as their families and their communities). Billions have disappeared in Iraq, yet soldiers here lose their homes, or cannot get adequate health care. That is wrong. This war has resulted in the pain and suffering of millions of Iraqi people, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents. I am spiritually and viscerally repulsed by the atrocities visited on our people and the world’s people for this pre-emptive conflict. If for no other reason, I supported Obama because he stood against this war, even when it was politically risky to do so. I want a president who feels, like Eisenhower, that “together, we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose”. McCain, as a soldier, seemed to understand this prior to the presidential race. I respected McCain’s stance against torture. But he had either lost his convictions or, worse, ignored them in the run for the presidency. I say this because of McCain’s equating ending the war with “surrender” or “failure”, his unwillingness to dissent with the Bush Administration on the protection of torture policies, and his continued support of the Iraqi conflict. I want my children to grow up in a world as free from war as possible, and Obama is more committed to that reality.

FAITH AND MORALS: This is the most important aspect of my decision, but it’s also the hardest to define one candidate to the other. I have seen Obama talk deeply about his faith, how he wrestles with spiritual questions, and the imperfections and distorted views of the people he previously looked to for spiritual growth. In his honoring of his marriage vows, in his working with the poor and the disadvantaged, in his understanding about what the government can and can’t do to change the hearts of people, Obama models much more closely what I believe to be Christian qualities than McCain does. I was particularly frustrated with the way McCain chose to align himself with the exclusionary and divisive fundamentalist evangelicals when it became politically expedient to do so. The intolerance of others and the condemnation of gays and lesbians these political allies preach is directly hurtful to committed Christians I know both as friends and as family. Those who would deny others a place at God’s table because of who they choose to love have placed more value on archaic Leviticus law than on the teachings and example of Christ. On the abortion question: I know several Christians who could not support Obama because of his stance on abortion. I personally feel that abortion represents in many ways an ultimate failure in the respect and the value of life. But, for reasons that are too complex (but scripturaly considered) to go into here, I do not equate spiritual life as beginning with conception. I also know that attempts to impose government regulations upon these very personal and often tragic circumstances have not been shown to improve, and will often worsen the very societal problem they are trying to prevent. One’s view on abortion cannot be the only measure of one’s faith. I find it incomprehensible that the same people who denounce Obama because of his abortion stance turn a seeming blind eye to other significant Christian concerns such as war, torture, the death penalty, racism, treatment of the poor and outcast, poverty, blasphemy, idol worship (money), care of God’s creation and a host of others. We don’t worship a “single issue” God, and the root causes of abortion will not be changed by supreme court rulings. Ultimately, in the pandering to the religious right, I see the McCain / Palin team as more like the Pharisee loudly praying in the church where all can see, while Obama seems to me (this is only my opinion) more like the one who wrestles with his faith, and keeps it personal and quiet. And yes, I know that one was a tax collector, I’m not going there.

STATESMANSHIP: David McCullough is a biographer of American history. He has written, among other things, John Adams, The Course of Human Events, and 1776. The latter I recently listened to. It is an amazing tale of the first years of the American Revolution, and the men (only men at this point in our nation’s history) who were forging this nation. We have this rich history because these men were, literally, men of letters. They were thoughtful and elegant in their words, and their writings are full of passion and philosophy. These men, these founding fathers were liberally educated. They were scholars. Many had spent time in other countries, other cultures. They were, in a word, elite. Obama has been criticized for having a world-view, for living in different cultures. Obama has been criticized for being too verbally and prosaically elegant (he actually wrote his own books in their entirety, without “ghost writers” (which his opponent did not)). I see in these traits a portion of the solid intellect of Washington, Adams, Monroe, Franklin and the other statesman who founded this amazing country. After 8 years of a President who seemed to communicate in short, mixed-up bursts of words, I think the American people are hungry to finally have a President who can put forth his ideas in the measured, intelligent, and ultimately beautiful way our founding fathers did.

PRINCIPLES: I will acknowledge straight off that Obama’s decision to not take public funding did show a betrayal of a previous promise. While not excusing that, I see this more as a politically expedient necessity, and separate from a shift in promises of a moral nature. He does deserve reproach for that reneging on his word, but I take far less offense with that than I do with McCain’s mud-slinging politicking, betrayal of his previous stance on torture, and his association with the right-wing evangelicals (Dobson, Faldwell’s University) who preach division and intolerance. In both the primaries and the general election, I did not ever see (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) Obama question McCain’s character or integrity. Policies, yes. Character, no. This is not true of McCain/Palin. The mean-spirited attempts to link Obama to Reverand Wright, or Ayers, were character attacks pure and simple. The official campaign arguably did not actively encourage darker rhetoric (racist ideas, or Muslim or terrorist associations), but they certainly created an environment that supported it, and only denounced it when directly confronted with it. Obama always showed respect and courtesy when discussing his opponents, his opponents did not. I understand there are supporters on each side who strayed significantly into the fray of disrespect and cruelty, but I am speaking only of official campaign actions.

SOCIETY: I feel blessed living in this country. I have been given much, and I expect to give much in return. I expect to pay my fair share. And please note: paying my fair share is not “Spreading the wealth around”. I’m not a fan of taxes, but I realize that they build our roads, fund our services, help to support the disabled and the weak, allow for public education, and protect the natural resources of this country. I would have paid over $2,000 less in personal taxes under McCain, to say nothing of the tax reduction for my business. My social security withdrawals stop each July, when I reach the income cap. I don’t consider either of those things fair when so many struggle in this economy. Why should I pay proportionally less because I make more? We have so many social needs in this country, from health care to housing help to funding for mental illness, to a thousand other things. We are all improved when the least of us is supported. This is not a socialist stance, this is a patriotic one. I don’t begrudge anyone what they’ve earned, I just think everyone needs to pay their fair share, and we need to give an extra measure to those who otherwise have nothing. These are the values I see reflected in Obama’s agendas and programs. In McCain’s policies I saw further protections for the wealthiest 10% (which includes me), further erosion of our social services, and a further widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.

RACE: I did not vote for Obama because he is black, but because of the other reasons listed above. That being said, it is time for a black president. The fact that a Christian college not 15 miles from here has had to deal with a lynching effigy hung from a campus tree reminds me that there is an undercurrent of racism throughout this country, not just in the Dixie states. Listening to some of the blatant racist remarks being leveled against Obama has made me ashamed of the attitudes of both the people making the statements, and the ones who keep silent and do not confront those attitudes. I do not expect a black president to end racism in this country, but I do expect that he will show that this country can continue to make progress in healing the wounds of slavery and the ongoing cancer of bigotry. I am thankful that we now have proof, not just hope, that a child of any color can one day grow up to be president.

I am excited about the future of our country. It’s been a good day.

11/04/08