Hope

This was not our usual election. This was not an acceptance speech from the ballroom of some hotel. This was not politics as usual. It is difficult not to feel the importance of last night. I am not hugely political, quite a bit cynical, and usually not the guy to use the word 'HOPE'. Watching the returns last night with my wife and daughter, I actually felt hope about our country for the first time in a long time. Maybe it is because lately, every time you turn around, you get more shitty news piled on you. The economy sucks, we're still at war, the environment is becoming less and less inhabitable, unemployment, foreclosures, declining home values, gas prices, declining value of the dollar, the rest of the world hates us more than usual, yada yada. It's difficult not to be cynical in these times.

Watching this entire election with our daughter, who is 10, and answering all her questions, allowed me to see it through her eyes. She knows no cynicism (yet) and she doesn't belong to either party (actually, explaining the difference between Republican and Democrat was the hardest lesson. "Why do they HAVE to vote and think a certain way?" she asked. "Uhh, uhh, hmmmm" I said.). Yesterday I took her to vote, and wanted to show her the entire procedure. We voted for the president, the local candidates, and even the propositions. Everything was going great, I was so proud to be showing my daughter the election process, then we get to prop 8, and she sees the phrase "same sex marriage" in the title, and declares louder than necessary in a quiet school cafegymatorium, "Hey, that's the gay one!" So proud, so embarrassed.

So Hope, as corny as it seems, played a huge role in this election.

I hope we can unite, I hope we can achieve, I hope we can change direction, I hope we can bring our troops home, and I hope our daughter will always be proud to be an American.