On Nov. 5, 1968, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C. Wallace.

On Nov. 4, 2008, Democrat Barack H. Obama won the presidency, defeating Sen. John McCain.

Such simple sentences.

Such profound messages conveyed. I don’t know if I can adequately convey how these two events represent watershed moments in my life.

In 1968 I was in first grade. I had already attended several years of Sunday School and Bible School, taken by loving and doting parents and grandparents. I could read at a third or fourth grade level and loved school. I was smart and was told by parents and teachers that being smart and doing well in school was a good thing.

In 1968, probably like many elementary schools today, my elementary school had a mock election. I think it must have been the week before the “real” election because I remember being at my Grandmother’s house, my mom was there, as was my brother and if it had been the Monday before the election, Mom would have been at the hospital delivering my younger sister. So, it was the week before the election.

We were waiting for supper to finish cooking and I was telling Grandma that I had voted for president at school. I was excited and proud that I had voted for the man from Minnesota: Hubert Humphrey and I remember her reaction, and my mother’s reaction as if it were yesterday.

“Why’d you vote for that dummy-crat?”

“What you mean?”

“He’s a democrat. All he’s going to do is give our money to those people.”

“What people”

“Those lazy people with no jobs.”

“They don’t have jobs? Are they poor? Aren’t we supposed to help poor people?”

And then I remember being back-handed across the face for sassing.

I was confused. Caught in a cognitive dissonance, if you will. These were the people that took me to church every Sunday where I learned about Jesus. Weren’t we really supposed to be doing what they said there every week? Take care of each other, help the poor and sad and lonely. Make the world a better place. It seemed to me at the time, and still does, that if government is “us” working together (something I’d learned in first grade when we were talking about what a President was) then wasn’t it a GOOD THING for us to work together that way to make the country a better more fair place to live. Why didn’t the adults in my life see that?

This was 1968. I was a bit sheltered but still had seen enough of the Vietam War, the war protests and the Civil Rights protests on The Evening News to know that there was “something” going on around here. What it was wasn’t exactly clear (to borrow from Buffalo Springfield) but the something that all those people protesting seemed to have in common with what I was learning in Sunday School was that we should be trying to figure out how everyone could participate and have access to the benefits of living in America. Made sense to me. Why didn’t it make sense to the adults in my life?

But my parents and grandparents disagreed. And didn’t want to hear it from me. Other examples of that disconnect were rampant in my growing up years.

I’ve been asked recently why I didn’t give up on organized religion. I don’t know. I have some theological answers, but they essentially come down to it wasn’t the message of Christianity that was wrong to me, it was the way I saw people applying it.

I’ve been asked recently why I didn’t become a right-wingnut like my father, or even a fiscal conservative Republican like my mother. I don’t know. I have some theological answers, but they also just come down to the fact that what I heard from the “evangelical right” and the Republican party didn’t seem like it was in my best self interest. Even as a child.

Intuitive, I guess. Lucky? I’d say so!

I’ve struggled with that cognitive disconnect for forty years. My goodness. To write that. Forty Years. Like in the wilderness, dude.

And last night, we the people of this country elected Barack Obama to be our 44th president. A man who has worked his entire life to make his community and country a better place where all people have access to share the benefits of living in America.

As I watched returns I thought the relief I was feeling was magnified because four years ago I was entering into a separation that would lead to divorce. I thought last night that my sense of relief was bigger because the results were representing not only a release of tension I’ve felt about our life together as a country, but also because I feel some relief about my private life.

I don’t think that connection is wrong. It’s just not big enough. Last night represents for me a culmination of all that I have wrestled with and worked for since I was in first grade. Last night represents for me that I have a place in this country. What I bring to the table is valued and needed. Urgently needed. That my desire for “community” within community is shared by many, many of my neighbors. And even the neighbors who voted for McCain share many of my hopes and dreams for our country, state and city.

Last night, we opened a door together . Now we have to walk through it. Together.

Are you ready? Are you willing?

We can’t fall back asleep. We can’t allow ourselves to be anesthetized by “American Idol” and NASCAR anymore. We have to decide that it is in our own best self-interest, our own enlightened self-interest to fix these problems.

No, “government” can’t fix everything.

But we can.

Yes, we can!
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

How did I miss this?? 2007
A Bohemian weekend 2007

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

How did I miss this?? 2007
A Bohemian weekend 2007

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

How did I miss this?? 2007
A Bohemian weekend 2007

Posted on November 5th, 2008 under Obama, Public health, Truth to power, health insurance, immigration, politics, social justice. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.