Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Proud to be an American

It makes me proud whenever we transition national leadership from one political party to the other. Very few countries do this without bloodshed, without revolution, even in countries that are nominally democratic. But we do it regularly, and we always do it peacefully.

That's a good thing.

And the historical significance of this transition cannot be ignored. For the first time in human history, a population has elected as its leader a member of a non-majority race. That's something to be very proud of. And if this election can help heal the wound of our greatest national sin, that could be a good thing, too.

God bless America.

2 comments:

Dale said...

Well said!

Alan said...

Uh, no. The great national sin is racial bias, the historical lack of "color-blindness" that you referenced. The human race has never been very good at looking past skin tone. And the results of this sin have been devastating and far-reaching.

So given our historical past (as humans in general and as Americans in particular), I do view this as a positive symbol. I am not convinced it will be a great presidency, but it is a positive symbol.