Work in progress

My apologies for not posting over the last couple weeks.

The recent cartoon controversy raised by the New York Post illustrates the need to carefully consider what occurred on Nov. 4, 2008. Change brought Barack Obama but it was not because the entire American society had changed. Obama's election only demonstrated that we had achieved enough of a critical mass to begin the journey to the true nationhood envisioned by our founding fathers.

If we attempt to go through the Obama presidency as if there is no Obama presidency then at the end of the Obama presidency we will return to the world that was before the Obama presidency. This is why it is important to emphasize the obvious; that Obama's election was not just the election of a new politician. That happens every four years on the regular schedule. Obama's election must be seen for what it is; the attempted emergence of a new electorate. That attempt at rebirth can be aborted if we treat it as if it never happened. So far, this is exactly what we have been doing.

Is it Really Our Victory?

One of the incongruities of Barack Obama's election is his insistence that his election was the people's victory.

Any student of democracy knows that the people do not win elections. Elections are won by political candidates and political parties.

How should we interpret Obama's claim and what are its implications for the future?

His words make sense when we consider that we did not elect him because of what he promised but because he represented what we have become, or believe we are ready to become.

In several of his pronouncements, both before and since the election, Obama has demonstrated his understanding that we have transitioned into the post-partisan age. It also obvious to most that on this hangs the gilded future of society.

In that context we can say that this was the people's victory, and the American electorate spoke on behalf of the peoples of the world. This was not a victory of the Democratic party or a defeat of the Republican party. It was the glorious emergence of the people into a way of thinking that holds the promise of world peace.

But, those who represent political ideology in the public eye are not yet post-partisan in their thinking. The Democrats view it as a victory and the Republicans view it as a defeat. Completely oblivious of what really happened on November 4, 2008 the Democrats will spend the next four years attempting to consolidate their positions and the Republicans will spend that time rebuilding. The result is that, if we the people are not careful, we will find that we have been denied the victory we thought we accomplished.

Undoing what we have done

On November 4, 2008 something tremendous happened with the election of Barack Obama. However, we seem not to have realized that we entered the non-partisan age. One need only listen to our political commentators for a few minutes to realize that we have begun to dismantle what the people did on November 4, 2008. Partisanship still rules the roost.