Precipice of Hope

We are on the precipice of HOPE and the crux of change.  This Tuesday, whether Barack Obama wins the Presidency or not, his running has made history.  The last eight years have been a struggle for all Americans.   Our country was attacked by an act of terrorism too heinous to be imagined; we went to war with Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the actual attack and where no real threat to the United States was found; and our economy has suffered a devastating collapse.  In addition, many of our young men and women have been injured or lost their lives fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and many Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure.  The unemployment rate is higher than it has been in 10 years and the only one’s getting rich in this economy and under President Bush’s administration have been the rich, lobbyist, and oil companies.

In fact in the last five years oil companies have had record profits when the rest of the country has struggled to put food on the table because their  food budgets has been cut in half in order to keep gas in their  vehicles  (try to convince us this hasn’t been price gouging). 

The economy has been so bad that for those of us lucky enough to have jobs we are getting paid less now than when we started because companies have not been able to give their employees raises.  However, employee’s taxes continued to increase as well as the cost of healthcare causing employees to pay higher premiums and more out of pocket expenses.  So although the employee’s gross pay stayed the same,  his take home pay substantially decreased, now subtract from that the higher cost of living, the increase in the cost of gas, food and all the other variables and the average person is surviving on a third less than before.

If ever there was a time since World War II and the Great Depression, that our country needed change, this is it.  When the United States becomes a threat and a joke to foreign countries,  when our votes are tampered with as they were in the past two elections  (something that I am surprised hasn’t caused more of an outcry from us), when our civil liberties have been taken from us like the Patriot Act in the disguise of ”homeland security”, and when so many American citizens live in fear and shame of what our President has done to us and our reputation as a world power, then I say it is time for a change.

We cannot sit and wait any longer, the change must happen now or I fear the direction our country will take and I believe we would only bring more danger and terror to our shores.  Do I believe Senator Obama will bring about enough change to undo some of the damage of the last eight years?  This is where the hope comes in.  I know to some degree a politician is a politician is a politician but at some point, we as a country, have to believe that our system of Democracy works, that the President of these United States is not above the law but is expected to uphold it to a higher standard.  Our next President needs to be a person of high ethics and integrity in order to overcome the obstacles ahead and to fight “business as usual” in Washington.  Do I believe Barack Obama is the man who can and will do this?  Do I believe Barack Obama is our political “Savior”?  God, I hope so.