Obama Wins!!!!!!

I was sick with a migraine most of the day but did get myself down to vote. We celebrated Obama's win with a bonfire. I had found a great big log for it at a local park. I also played my drum and rattled some rattles--one I had bought and one that Kimberly made from a gourd. I am very happy about the victory because I feel that FINALLY people like me have triumphed after 40 years! Of course, we owe this to a whole lot of people who weren't even born 40 years ago when we started to challenge the "establishment." I didn't really feel that Bill Clinton was that different or able at that time to really take us in a new direction. For one thing, Bill Clinton WAS our first Native American president, but he wasn't able to admit that publicly. But Barak Obama couldn't hide who he was and he won anyway! I really think things are going to change now. Also, the world is going to respect us so much more now that we've proven we aren't a bunch of racists who would vote down a black person, a person who's father was from Kenya, a person with an African name. I think our image will be so much better in the world now. This is important to me, because I am fluent in French, and I speak Spanish, Russian, and some Italian and Portuguese, and because I love to travel to Canada and particularly Quebec so much. I really have renewed hope for myself. It was almost worth suffering through eight years of Bush to have a president like Obama. This has moved our country ahead light years. I'm going to have the best birthday I've ever had. I will be 56 on January 20. It is going to be a great honor to have my birthday the same day Barack Obama is inaugurated. I really have a lot more courage and energy to go to grad school now, whatever I choose to study. I want to have a job where I can help people and it helps to know there is a president who is like that and who gives our country hope. Up till now, it seems like everything is about picking up the pieces of a country in decline, but I really think there is hope for our country now, and this inspires me in my own life and with my own ambitions.

The Election

It looks good for Obama. If McCain wins, somehow I'll survive. I've survived this long. I survived Reagan and Bush. The old guard is on its way out, one way or another. You can still change things, no matter who's in the White House. You change things by continuing to live the way you believe. You change things by being a vegetarian for decades, by living peace, by not letting one political party own Jesus, by refusing to conform to the norms that are pushed down your throat and make you gag, even when it costs you. You make change by living diversity. Sarah Palin would not be running if we had conformed. Obama would not be running if we had conformed. Four white older guys would be running. McCain, Biden, and two other white older guys of that generation would be running. Even though they say Sarah Palin is very conservative, you don't know who she really is as long as she's under McCain's thumb. Already, she doesn't strike me as someone who would force her views on abortion on everyone. She told Katie Couric one of her best friends is a lesbian. She isn't trying to change her best friend or reject her. No one can survive for good in this country by not changing. Obama will probably win big because Bush cheated twice, got in for eight years, and he and his followers forced their views on us and ruined the country. Now there's a huge backlash against him. But if McCain wins, there will be an even bigger backlash in four years. It's been a long time since the 60's when we dreamed things would change so fast. But things will change. This old guard, this establishment, they are on their way out. Even younger people like Sarah Palin who sympathize with them will have to change--and have changed--if they want to be elected to office.

The Election

Those of us who were hippies in the late 60's were very naive. We did not know how much of a backlash there would be against us and how long it would last. We have suffered most of our lives and been held back by the backlash. We have waited year after year, decade after decade. Yes, we have SIGNIFICANTLY chipped away at the world we protested. The election results on Tuesday will tell us if we have finally triumphed over the decades of backlash against us. If McCain wins, we will have four more years to wait and to continue to chip away at the backlash. If Obama wins, we will be above 50% there. We will have STARTED the process of triumphing over the persistent and cruel backlash. Make no mistake, we WILL triumph over the backlash. Will it be now, will it be four more year, eight more years? Let's hope our time has finally come, but if is hasn't, IT WILL!!!!