Huzzah, America!
I have been soaking in everyone else's posts about The Election, etc., and agreeing with almost every word: the utter glory, the irritation at Prop8, the cautious hope, the awareness of how historical a moment this is (not so much, I personally feel, for the racial significance (even though that rocks too--the BBC headline: 'America slams a door on its racist past') but because this nation voted for the ideal of hope, for being determined to try for the best, and how often do you see that anymore, really, without it being immediately disparaged as naive?)
So I'm flooded in the joy of everyone's joy,in my hope for everyone's hope, and yet, for myself, there's a spin: I look at who we elected, and I think: you're a good man. You're a politician, and you have to play the game with the money and the words, but you're a good man. The kind of man who humbly demands respect by the quality of his character. A man who will be as honest as possible. A man it would, actually, be an honor to serve.
In a flash of understanding, I comprehended what leadership was: the power given by the adoration, the respect (not the fear) of so many people, by the need for an embodiment to their desperate hope. And then I suddenly understood why nationalism existed, not in its origins but at that moment, for myself, because I wanted to say, yes, fuck yes, I'm an American, and it wouldn't sound stupid or unsophisticated or having to be explained at length as no, I despise our current idiot, that not how I'm an American (I'm an American because I can despise him, whch is what this american freedom is), no, to say I'm an American because I was so moved by the choices and the energy of the people within these somewhat-arbitrarily determined borders.
And as some point out, very wisely, Obama, for all that, is no messiah--now comes the hard work, and the governing, and the practical choices that will sometimes fail, and the politics. But in a way, it doesn't really matter--because all those things are more easily, more happily attempted under a spirit of hope than another spirit. I most deeply wish to believe that what we voted for was not just a good man but an ethos.
As for Prop 8--it's a hateful setback, but, come on my friends, not the end of the world. Does anyone think it'll just die down? That anyone intelligent will accept this? Civil rights issues always have the most ornery opponents: fear and veiled self-loathing; but they only have one end, long though the road is. There is no real possible choice for this country but to accept love--it's just--am I explaining myself?--it's just that in the whole context, this doesn't matter. Gay rights will happen--it is written into whatever Platonic morality exists--we just have to keep being loud. Really, I'm just not worried for the end. Just annoyed.
And, guys? He may not be the messiah, but we do now have a President who mentioned gay rights IN HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH. Along with minority rights and disabled rights. Oh, ho, the times, they are a changin'. For the better. For the hopeful. Huzzah! I'm an American.
So I'm flooded in the joy of everyone's joy,in my hope for everyone's hope, and yet, for myself, there's a spin: I look at who we elected, and I think: you're a good man. You're a politician, and you have to play the game with the money and the words, but you're a good man. The kind of man who humbly demands respect by the quality of his character. A man who will be as honest as possible. A man it would, actually, be an honor to serve.
In a flash of understanding, I comprehended what leadership was: the power given by the adoration, the respect (not the fear) of so many people, by the need for an embodiment to their desperate hope. And then I suddenly understood why nationalism existed, not in its origins but at that moment, for myself, because I wanted to say, yes, fuck yes, I'm an American, and it wouldn't sound stupid or unsophisticated or having to be explained at length as no, I despise our current idiot, that not how I'm an American (I'm an American because I can despise him, whch is what this american freedom is), no, to say I'm an American because I was so moved by the choices and the energy of the people within these somewhat-arbitrarily determined borders.
And as some point out, very wisely, Obama, for all that, is no messiah--now comes the hard work, and the governing, and the practical choices that will sometimes fail, and the politics. But in a way, it doesn't really matter--because all those things are more easily, more happily attempted under a spirit of hope than another spirit. I most deeply wish to believe that what we voted for was not just a good man but an ethos.
As for Prop 8--it's a hateful setback, but, come on my friends, not the end of the world. Does anyone think it'll just die down? That anyone intelligent will accept this? Civil rights issues always have the most ornery opponents: fear and veiled self-loathing; but they only have one end, long though the road is. There is no real possible choice for this country but to accept love--it's just--am I explaining myself?--it's just that in the whole context, this doesn't matter. Gay rights will happen--it is written into whatever Platonic morality exists--we just have to keep being loud. Really, I'm just not worried for the end. Just annoyed.
And, guys? He may not be the messiah, but we do now have a President who mentioned gay rights IN HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH. Along with minority rights and disabled rights. Oh, ho, the times, they are a changin'. For the better. For the hopeful. Huzzah! I'm an American.