“I just couldn't let the day go by without writing down some thoughts about it... I was born less than a year before the Watergate scandal, and I think something changed about America during those days. From then until now, political cynicism and pessimism have been the norm, and the true aim of our government -- giving help, liberty, and a voice to the American people -- has been drawn off course. There have been precious few beams of light in the thirty-six years since then, and I have never lived in a world where the government wasn't something to be skeptical of, something to always be on guard about, something that had to be fought against to make things change for the better.
“But today, at least for one day, that feeling has changed.
“In the last week, I've seen more Americans excited about the direction their country is taking than I have in my entire life. I've seen patriotic songs sung without a trace of irony, and a hope on peoples’ faces that isn't already tempered by a lifetime of disappointment. Today we can sense a chance to start over, for all those hopes for our future to be rekindled anew.
“This is all because one particular man takes his seat at the head of our national table. Now that he's our President, we have another chance to make America what it always could have been. Maybe it's beyond something one man can do -- in fact, I know it is. It very well may be that so many dreams pinned to one man will prove to be a burden that no one can possibly carry. Maybe we'll all end up disappointed yet again by the ponderous weight of this thing we call our government. But in spite of all this, there's one thing that's different... as a country, we never really collectively believed that things could be any different.
“But today, we believe. And that's exactly what it takes to give it a chance at being true.”
Fast forward almost four years, to an election night that was anything but certain, when the country was still struggling to come back from the same financial crisis that Obama had inherited in his first term. With bin Laden dead and our overseas wars either ended or winding down, the economy was the issue in the front of everyone’s minds. The current administration had successfully bailed out the auto industry, salvaged the housing market, and implemented a type of national health care that included more people than ever before.
The election should have come down to one big question: Do you think that our continued recovery can be handled better? And if so, should we change tactics midstream?
However, there were portions of this country that were focusing elsewhere. Instead, they were asking questions like: Is the current President really a native-born citizen/Muslim/communist? (yes, no, and no) Has he added more to the national deficit than any other president? (no) Has this president failed to fulfill his promises of economic recovery (ignoring the fact that economy recovered *at* *all*)? And even if the answers to those questions were definitively answered, they would continue to be asked as if they hadn’t.
Because, you see, these same factions had been trying to use the state of the nation’s media to its own ends: say whatever you need to, leave it to the fact-checkers play catch-up, knowing that most people won’t hear anything beyond the initial sound bite. Move on to the next thing, never backtracking to correct or retract what you’ve said, however false it may be. Rely on the 24-hour news cycle to provide the next shiny object to distract. Never admit (even to yourself) that anything you’ve done or said was incorrect, or that you’re going to win by anything less than a landslide.
In the midst of all that, my faith has been reaffirmed. Because the majority of the American public saw through these tactics, and kept the current president in office. After all the rhetoric, false arguments, and half-truths, the majority of this nation (which, ironically, is proven more than ever to be a collection of minorities) listened to it and said, “Nah, we’re going to keep backing this guy.” The alternative was either too shady or too deluded to vote for.
And that’s what I believe now. In a way, it’s an even better victory than it was the first time. Four years ago, I believed in the power one man can wield. Today, I believe in the power that all of us, collectively, can wield.
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