How about that?

I turned off the television at around 9 o'clock last night. I didn't have it in me to watch the results go back and forth until it was decided.

Turner woke me a little after 2am to go out to the bathroom. After we were back inside the house, I flipped on the TV, and Jesse Jackson's tearful face filled the screen. Then, I watched as Barack & Michelle Obama walked offstage.  I thought, "So. That's that."

I kept the TV on a few minutes longer to learn the verdict of the local elections. Then I saw that I'd misunderstood. Barack Obama IS our new president.

I wanted Hillary. 

I thought that Obama degraded himself and Hillary in the primary. I didn't think that I would ever vote for him. Maybe he regretted his actions during the primary. He took the high road in the general election. It was nice to see. 

After thoroughly reading Obama's and McCain's plans, my mind was made up for Obama. Not because I'm a generous person, but because I know that if Obama is successful, then everyone in America wins; the quality of life for all Americans will improve while at the same time paying fewer taxes.

Under McCain, only the rich win. 

Everyone wins because better education equals less crime. That is a well documented fact. Law enforcement costs a boatload of money, and all of the money saved with the reduced investment in law enforcement and jails means more money for everything else. It also means that we are all safer. All of us.

Our present healthcare system is bankrupting America. When those who don't have insurance use the emergency room as their primary care physician (because they can't be turned away), our municipalities are stuck with the bill. People who do have insurance are still left with so many out-of-pocket costs that many are selling their homes to pay their bills. Even worse, people losing their homes to foreclosure due to healthcare costs monopolizing their finances. Thanks to our broken healthcare/insurance system, this country is going down in flames.

Bush's actions - such as invading and occupying soverign nations - have made America MORE vulunerable than ever in our history. Bush has taken this country down with this war. Bush, not the terrorists. 

Over the past seven years, fascism has infected our nation. No one can disagree with a complete moron without being labled unpatriotic or a terrorist. I am looking forward to once again becoming a nation where free speech is tolerated.

A woman once turned to me and said, "You would probably blow up a plane." I answered, "I don't believe in terrorism. I also do not condone the illegal activities my government is perpetrating in my name. Their actions jeopardize my life and the safety of all of us. The fact that you would associate me with a terrorist act, simply because I openly disagree with my government says more about you than it does about me." 

This country deserves better than a mediocre (at best) person sitting in the oval office. It came very close to electing another mediocre person. Now, we have Barack Obama. He is a brillant man.

I am not so carried away that I fail to recognize that America reaps what it sows in it's anemic public education system. We remain a nation of idiots. In the same way that many who voted for Bush the previous two elections did so for the wrong reasons, many of those who voted for Obama, did so for the wrong reasons. However, this time Obama is the right choice.

America is changing.