Political Reflections

I feel like today is a good day in the United States of America. I know that Barak Obama's position on abortion is wrong. But, to be honest, I think President Bush's position wasn't much better. How many babies weren't aborted in the last eight years because George Bush was president? Any? And I think, if we were honest with one another, John McCain's would be worse. He'd push stem cell research just as far as President Obama would. But, setting all of that aside, there are other considerations.

An entire race of Americans, a people unjustly brought here to be our slaves, have hope. A group of people that are constantly told that they are "the other" see in Barak Obama someone who looks like them can become the leader of this country. I've got to believe that somewhere, an African-American child knows that there are other options than sports to get out of poverty. And, idiot racists in this country who had to learn a generation ago that there was nothing to fear from us Catholics, may start to learn the same thing about African-Americans. It's transforming. It's much easier to hate someone when you don't know anything about them. It's much harder when you have to see their smiling, hopeful face leading us through tough times.

I also have hope in this country when same sex marriage bans passed in two states (Florida and Arizona) have passed and, by all appearances, California may have passed too. I think people realize that this would so radically alter the notion of marriage that it would eventually lead to it's destruction. Americans who overwhelmingly supported President-elect Obama could see that this is bad for America. It's one thing to say violence and cruelty have no place toward gays and lesbians, it's quite another to say that marriage is their right. Americans all over the country can see it and, hopefully, we will help the rest of the world to see this as well.