This year's US presidential election seems to be stacking up as a choice between Hope and Fear.
I don't believe the argument that there is no significant difference between the Democratic and Republican ideologies.
Barack is the candidate for Hope and McCain for Fear. Hillary is using Hope to campaign against the Republicans and fear that Barack is incompetent to win if he gets the nomination.
Republicans would probably call Fear "Pragmatism", and Hope "Idealism". But we've had "pragmatism" over the last 8 years and it hasn't been too convincing. The argument that "it would have been worse if we hadn't been pragmatic" sounds like Fear to me.
I think Barack is doing a good idea of distinguishing Hope from Idealism in his campaign speeches. But i would like to add that we are a nation founded on Ideals.
The 3 American ideals are Freedom, Independence and Equality. The Declaration of Independence stated that "All Men are Created Equal" is a self-evident truth and gave us the right to "liberty and the pursuit of happiness". We are bound to these principles from the moment of our conception. This is the fabric of the nation. It's more important than our recent economic prosperity. We got lucky and won WWII, and became the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the history of the world. That bit of luck was greatly helped by our ideals, which attracted the Jewish scientists who built the Atomic Bomb to America. But prosperity and world power is NOT what America has ever been ABOUT. We were a great nation BEFORE we were powerful. We can be greater in the future. Prosperity comes and goes, but having a solid ideological foundation can be permanent if we refuse to give it up.
As we all know, the fabric of America been forever flawed. We don't have perfect freedom, independence or equality today. It is better today than it was in the founders' days, or in the Civil War. It has always been a very painful work in progress. I, for one, am going to leap on the chance in this election to renew the reparation of the flaws in our national fabric.
I'm voting with Hope.
5 comments:
I'm voting for Hillary, but I would love to see Barak as the Democratic canditate for Vice President. He can run for Prez in 4 or 8 years, depending on Hillary's standing. I think she would be good for our nation and give us 8 years of peace and prosperity.
Steve,
Well put...
Our country has been driven by a heightened state of fear for the past 6 1/2 years. Fundamental rights and freedoms are set aside in the name of "national security". Where once we could pride ourselves on the fact that there were certain things that American's just didn't do, (or at the very least, didn't like to do...) we now have no hesitation in doing as a matter of policy...
While the America about which we were taught as children has always been an elusive, if not mythical, place, full of contradictions and hypocrisies, you always had the feeling that over time, we were making our way towards that destination... (Let's not forget that two of our top candidates would not have been able to vote at the time the American ideals were put to paper by our founding fathers...)
Over these past several years, it has felt like we have taken a detour from this journey.
It now appears that we have a chance to get back on that path. I am not so naive as to think that this will be accomplished in one fell swoop. I am hopeful, however, that we now have candidates who will takes us further along this path. Rather than clinging to the America of our past, they are moving hopefully towards the America of our future. I will not be content to support those paralyzed by the fear that keeps us in the America of the past, nor will I let the anger and frustration of the past eight years pressure me into the pragmatic choice. It is time to make a move towards the America of the future. The one about which we were taught. The one which challenged us to strive for something beyond ourselves and beyond our blemished, inconsistent past. The one, at the risk of being cliche, of hope...
-mb
Obama for president, Hillary as VP, and hope again for this country of ours. Beautifully put Steve and Mike.
Hillary for President, Barack for Veep, and a better future for Sara Mei!!!
The fear for me is of yet another administration asleep at the wheel with blinders on and earplugs in. This was the cause of 911 being allowed to happen. My hope is that we can actually change for the better. I've heard it said about America that we always do things the right way - after we've tried all the wrong ways.
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