In 1980 the Dukes of Hazard was the number one show in America. The United States Hockey Team defeated the dreaded Soviet Union Hockey Team 4-3 in one of the great 'sports as political statement' games, ranking up there with Jesse Owens and Joe Louis. It was also the time that a young adolescent felt a shift in political viewpoints. The proverbial pendulum took a hard right turn. Perhaps US hostages being held in Iran, a perceived weak president and a guy who promised America would be back was just what this country needed. I raised holy Hell as a young liberal. "He's only gonna lead us to WWIII and this time there will be no turning back!" St. Ronald of Eureka did not lead us to WWIII but his logical extension the Shrub sure did. But, as i love to do I digress, (and before anyone gets upset I know the war on terror is not technically World War III)
Twenty-eight years later we see that the 'conservative' agenda has run it's course. It has not shrunk government in fact, it has exacerbated it for the average person. It shrunk it for CEO's and banks making them less accountable but for ole Blue, Purple and even average Red, it has given folks like us more red tape, more red tape, more work to get our fingers into the ever shrinking American Pie. George Carlin (RIP) said that "It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." I am almost that cynical but due to the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, I maintain a shred of hope that the citizenry of the country I love will do the proper thing.
November of '08 we did. We elected Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States. It was momentous. It was groundbreaking, we went from a campaign of fear and in a direct slap in the face we stood and said NO let's go in this direction.
BHO has maintained that we would have to be the change we want to be and we has the people that elected him have done shockingly little to aid him. That being said I think that we have to remember BHO though doing an amazing job in a thankless time, is only the first step toward the US becoming the country she can be. Grand, sweeping changes will not occur during his presidency. He has done great things already including saving what used to be the symbol of America, GM. I being from Michigan was not fond of the move. but less than two years later, GM was paying off it's debt and going back and becoming in a tough time slowly profitable again. We knew that change wasn't going to come easy, there would be resistance and there would be some for whom, the change wasn't fast enough. People like me wax nostalgic over FDR, thinking if he waved his cigarette holder in the air, magic happened. Well it just wasn't so, No one had a bigger majority to work with than FDR this is why he could pass his legislation through and no Republican could stop him. I think that if we stop, take a breath and look around we on the left will realize, some of us old enough to realize it, the proverbial pendulum swung hard to the left in November, 2008. BHO is the start and a great start he is. I look forward to the next 14-22 years with excitement and hope for our nation
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