there is something happening in america...

I first truly discovered american politics as an 8th grader in 1992 amidst a three-way presidential election. since that time I have watched as time and time again, the promise of america, the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the promise of opportunity and equality, the america that I was taught to love as a small child, became increasingly faint with each passing november. my disenchantment began with the democratic party when it lost its way and no longer practiced what it preached as it became increasingly more the party of reagan-tag-alongs and less and less the party of FDR. likewise, my disenchantment with the republican party grew as it became increasingly more the party of the old confenderacy and less and less the party of lincoln and roosevelt.

for many years I wandered through american politics without a compass, unable to identify with the tragic comedy that my nation's leadership had become. I began to look back through our collective history and wonder what had happened to the hope that once was america. just as I truly discovered the idealistic youth within, it began to be crushed beneath a cynicism wrought by the weight of the knowledge that the america I dreamed of lay over an increasingly distant horizon.

I became angry and insolent. I chastised those that declared themselves america's leaders without every exhibiting the qualities of america. I wondered how it was that election after election, the american progressive spirit was never given a chance to show itself, stifled by those incapable of nurturing it, or worse, unwilling to let it flower. and then came barack obama...

at times over the last two years, the weight of that cynicism has seemed too heavy a burden. but inevitably, it would be cast aside with a renewed hope and deeper belief that our time had come, that the centuries old march towards the more perfect union had again picked up the pace. a short time ago, I fought back tears in the center of a crowd of tens of thousands reaching out from the better angels of our nature. last night, I broke down, the long stifling weight finally lifted. as spontaneous dancing erupted in the streets and complete strangers shared smiles, embraces, and stories of an undying longing and hope for a better tomorrow, I wiped my eyes and realized there is most definitely something happening in america...

for the first time in my life, the american promise is alive and well. for the first time in a very long while, I am not tired.

we are america again.