While Wall Street is still trying to find its legs, a battered Uncle Sam is dusting himself off to once again proudly stand upright before the world. 'We are all Americans' is once again the sentiment across the globe. But this time, it is not a sympathetic expression of solidarity over a tragic event; rather it seems to have sprung from a heartfelt desire to see America succeed at her best. For those of us that voted this November Fourth in what looks to be a record turnout, regardless of how we voted, we can savor and relish every emotion that comes from having wielded our most coveted right -- that of expressing our highest democratic ideals through a single vote. We are Americans, and everything that we do, whether we stumble and fall or rise greatly and succeed, we do so in a very big way.
And this nation, our beloved United States of America being founded just over two hundred years ago is yet again shining as a beacon of hope to all that desire the unfettered freedom and privilege that comes of a democracy such as ours. Yet, as this report from MSNBC news shows, with such hope of freedom comes the weight of gravity and a sobering realization that the world does indeed expect us to be forthright in upholding these ideals --
Ours is a courageous democracy -- a democracy that consistently looks toward its highest ideals. It is a democracy wrought with blood, much of it being spilled as we have time and again cast ourselves violently upon upon the cornerstone upon which this nation was built -- Whether here on our shores in civil strife or abroad to defeat fascism and in defense of those oppressed by dictators, for better or worse the guiding light of our endeavor has always been the pursuit of our highest American ideal of freedom and liberty. It may yet be too early to tell, but I think that we all, in no small measure yet again touched that cornerstone as we cast our votes. Whether we voted for President Elect Obama, or we voted for Sen. McCain -- we voted, and history was made as a consequence. Our still young and oftentimes fledgling democracy did something no other western representative democracy has done - elected a person of color. In doing so, we fulfilled the creed of our founding fathers' Declaration of Independence in ways that they themselves would be astonished at.
And, in doing so we have garnered the astonished admiration of the world by earnestly and without patronizing presuppositions bringing to fruition the dreams and aspirations expressed by Dr. Martin Luther King only a few short decades ago.
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