Barack Obama

Wouldn't it be great if Obama is the savior that many think he will be?
I have my doubts. But I hope.

This whole blog is about what I hope for, of course, but here are some particularly American things to hope for on this eve of a new presidential administration.

1. A real respect for the US Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights. George W. Bush said that the 9/11 perpetrators hated Americans because of our freedoms. Well what are those freedoms? Are they the freedom to buy whatever you want? Or are they the freedoms outlined in the US Constitution? The freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; the free exercise of religion and no law respecting an establishment of religion (Amendment 1: our First Amendment Rights). There are more.

2. That whole "truth, justice and the American way" thing. OK, so I watched TV when I was a kid; I watched the TV Superman, what can I say? So I believe in truth and justice. Wouldn't it be great if government was truthful and just?

3. Some more really great stuff that I'd like to see Barack working on: "establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." Oh yeah, I already did the Constitution thing.

4. Wouldn't it be great if we had government of the people, by the people, and for the people? And if that government was dedicated to the proposition that all men (all people!) are created equal?

5. Wouldn't it be great if there was peace in the world?

Wouldn't it be great if Obama, who has the audacity to hope, has the audacity to envision a government that serves the people's interests and not the interests of corporations?

Congratulations, Barack Obama.
Good luck. I wish you success to the extent that you serve the agenda noted above.

I don't normally do the political thing. I'm more interested in the philosophical questions, in the search for values and goodness. But it is a night for politicians.