Almost a week later there are still so many emotions rolling through me I can't put them down in a coherent pattern. It took a day for the reality of the victory to set in, I think. I thought I would cry and cry but I didn't . I feel so proud that this nation did what was right and looked beyond race and saw the person.
I think some people are quite stunned in the opposite way I am, and disappointed we have a person of color in the highest office of the land. My own obersvations over the last week have seen a quiet resignation from people I know in the far right spectrum. It's almost as if they are mourning for the last shred of America they knew and wanted. It must be a terrible thing to live a life of fear, for they fear everything the Cheney/Rove machine fed them: minorities,muslims, liberals.
I feel like I have taken back the voice I lost in the 2000 election. This was a campaign where volunteers were cherished, unlike others. How smart the Obama campaign staff was to know that volunteers could be the backbone int his race! I have to say I walked a little bit taller November 5. People I knew thanked me for working for the campaign. I felt like I was a part of it which is so powerful.
I had some amazing experiences over the last 5 months. I met one of my heroes, John Lewis, and I got to see Hillary Clinton speak, as well as George Lopez. I met so many different people from all over the city and heard their stories. I spent time in West Las Vegas, one of the oldest parts of town and has primarily black residents. I was welcomed with open arms and made to feel right at home, even though my skin and my faith differ from theirs.
Above all, I have renewed faith in my nation and the promise it has always offered. I look into the faces of young people and I see hope in their eyes. They know it won't be easy, but at least now they know it is possible.
1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our military personnel to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths.
2. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
3. Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.
4. Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.
5. Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.
6. Violating the Constitution by using "signing statements" to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress.
7. Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
8. Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.
9. Subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by asserting a "Unitary Executive Theory" giving unlimited powers to the President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Ann Richards on How to Be a Good Republican:
1. You have to believe that the nation's current 8-year prosperity was due to the work of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, but yesterday's gasoline prices are all Clinton's fault.
2. You have to believe that those privileged from birth achieve success all on their own.
3. You have to be against all government programs, but expect Social Security checks on time.
4. You have to believe that AIDS victims deserve their disease, but smokers with lung cancer and overweight individuals with heart disease don't deserve theirs.
5. You have to appreciate the power rush that comes with sporting a gun.
6. You have to believe...everything Rush Limbaugh says.
7. You have to believe that the agricultural, restaurant, housing and hotel industries can survive without immigrant labor.
8. You have to believe God hates homosexuality, but loves the death penalty.
9. You have to believe society is color-blind and growing up black in America doesn't diminish your opportunities, but you still won't vote for Alan Keyes.
10. You have to believe that pollution is OK as long as it makes a profit.
11. You have to believe in prayer in schools, as long as you don't pray to Allah or Buddha.
12. You have to believe Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde were really faithful husbands.
13. You have to believe speaking a few Spanish phrases makes you instantly popular in the barrio.
14. You have to believe that only your own teenagers are still virgins.
15. You have to be against government interference in business, until your oil company, corporation or Savings and Loan is about to go broke and you beg for a government bail out.
16. You love Jesus and Jesus loves you and, by the way, Jesus shares your hatred for AIDS victims, homosexuals, and President Clinton.
17. You have to believe government has nothing to do with providing police protection, national defense, and building roads.
18. You have to believe a poor, minority student with a disciplinary history and failing grades will be admitted into an elite private school with a $1,000 voucher.
I am an ultra liberal and so proud of it. I'm anti dealth penalty, pro-gun control and everything else horrible about the extreme left. I see so many people afraid of being tagged a liberal these days. It's a hold over from the Speaker Gingrich years. But I survived him and I'll survive now. In fact, I think it's harder to be a liberal than a conservative.
Liberals have areas of gray in their ideology. When 9/11 happened a natural response was to "nuke 'em". But we needed to step back and think, "Is this the right way to handle it? Is this a civil way to handle it?" Conservatives have black and white ideology. They don't need to question or consider. There is simply right and wrong and that's it.
Being liberal requires hard work, but so does the concept of America.
