My Republican Friends

My Republican friends e-mail me almost every day with some new “old” complaint about the President. He is so different from their model, so different from what they expect an obedient, “do what we tell you” President ought to be. They just can’t understand this guy. Here is a President who actually thinks before he answers a question, who actually listens to others, who believes in the true separation of powers, and in using all three branches of government to govern. It’s just a bit much for them to get their brains around.

They do not yet see that the auto industry WILL be entirely something else in eight years; they do not see that America WILL be a whole lot less dependent on fossil fuels to drive its cars in eight years; they do not yet see that financial markets WILL have new supervision and oversight; they do not see that health care WILL be reformed and universal health care WILL be accepted, indeed, embraced even by Republicans.

I advise them to get ready for an economy that will grow at a healthy rate for at least another 25 years. This is the kind of paradigm shift that impacts all facets of our lives. (Wait until nanotechnology hits computers in your office and automobiles in your garage with its full potential. You will be witness to real growth!)

Our President is just getting started. The credit card bill – a measure we have sorely needed for 30 years – is just the beginning. I tell my Republican friends, “If you can’t understand what is happening, if you think it is too much for us to handle as Americans, if you think we can’t or shouldn’t do any of these ambitious things, you best stand back because you will be run over by people who see ‘yes’ where you see only ‘no.’”

PS Keep you Blackberry fully charged if you want even a slim chance of keeping up.

First Time Voter!

I met a first time voter today. Not just any first time voter. She is a middle aged woman, an immigrant from South America, who came here several years ago and became a US citizen earlier this year.

She saw my Obama button as I walked through the grocery store on my way to pick up three lemons. As I passed, she grabbed my arm and immediately started to tell me why she also supported Obama. I was in hurry, but the sparkle in her eye as she talked about Obama told me I should listen.

It turns out she knew a lot about both campaigns. She had been listening to both sides closely. The first thing she wanted to say was, “I can’t vote for McCain because he chose a woman who is not very smart to run with him. She doesn’t seem to know anything about anything. And how can he think she is ready to be President? He is an old man…and sick…and he needed to name someone much younger, someone people know about, someone who could help him right away.”

Her voice slowed a bit as she talked about Obama but lost none of its fervor. “Obama seems like a man you can trust. He seems like a man who cares about everybody. Obama seems like a man with a good heart…AND he fills my heart with hope.” I could see a tear starting to well up. “America is the hope of the world; everybody I know wants to come to America. It is the land of opportunity. You can be what you want to be. I love America. “She paused, and then added, “Please tell me Obama will win!”

Clearly she has paid more attention to this race than many Americans who have voted many times.

I told the lady from South America she was not alone in her exuberance. I assured her she was about to vote for a candidate who possessed the personal integrity, raw intellect, life experience and good judgment necessary to lead all of us as President. She liked that. I hope we don’t disappoint her.

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide"

We now stand 232 years removed from the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The government that followed that declaration left us a magnificent heritage. In the dynamic of history, it is not possible to return to those times, much as many of our friends in the opposition party would like to. I say that because they have insisted for decades that government is too big.

Government is big today because the country is big (300 million citizens as opposed to just 2.5 million in 1776). And the government is big because it takes a big government to serve the citizens. Citizens, for the sake of the Union and for the common good, give their taxes to government, asking only that government administer responsibly the many and diverse programs that serve them. If the programs don’t serve the people, it is up to the people to elect representatives to change them.

But go back? No, not possible. So politicians, please stop promising a smaller government. You don’t mean it; you couldn’t deliver it if you did.

Times change. Circumstances differ, but it still remains possible to build upon the great heritage our founders left us. How many times have I heard a politician say, “The responsibility of each succeeding generation is not to exhaust our inheritance, but to replenish it?” I would add, “And to expand upon it.” Because that is part of our responsibility as citizens.

Barack Obama will be our next President. It will be up to him – AND US – to expand upon our founders’ legacy.The way will not be easy. The decisions at home and abroad will be difficult. I have no doubt that Obama and his administration will not shrink from the task at hand.

What is the role for each of us?

In this day when we are reluctantly counting the declining assets in our bank accounts, and when we are tempted to dwell only on the flaws in the fabric of our nation, it is time to count our blessings and to recommit ourselves to getting this nation back on track. In that great protestant hymn by James Russell Lowell, the opening line reminds us, “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.” This is that moment for our generation.

The choice we make on November 4 will send a message to all that America’s government remains “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We stand as a witness to the entire world that freedom is not a blessing to be taken for granted, where justice is promoted equally throughout the land, where the rights inherent in our Constitution are not to be dismissed but held sacrosanct, and where the promise of a brighter tomorrow is considered imminently achievable for every citizen.