An Ode to the Republican Party

There is a dirt track behind my apartment building where I run everyday. Usually, I am the only white person there. Lately, I have acquired a new Chinese friend, who accompanies me on my jogs and we practice speaking Chinese and English. I'm somewhat wary because my running time is usually my alone time/relaxation time, but he's nice enough, and I feel like I could tell him that I just felt like running that day and he would understand. Today we talked about politics. It was staggering the amount of information he knew about the American political system and American politics in general. Ironically he claimed to know very little about the politics of his homeland (this is either true, or he is uncomfortable sharing his true feelings with a new friend, especially a foreign one). Either way, it helped me to appreciate the fact that regardless of how we feel about the current state of American politics, we still have a say. And at least we are informed about the goings on of government (if one wants to escape the "liberal" or "conservative" bias of the American media, it simply takes a little bit more effort and patience to review better, albeit more boring sources of news, CSPAN, for example). And at least we are able to say who we want to lead our country. Not wake up one day and discover that another person whom we know nothing about has been appointed into a position of authority for reasons we know nothing about. Which is the case in certain places. ahem ahem.

And for this I am grateful.

And for another thing I am also grateful. And that is that regardless of who wins in the next few days, at least we will have a new administration. Not a man who's administration somehow convinced America that he, a Yale-educated, Connecticut-Born, Skull-and-Bonesman, son-of-a-millionaire-President was somehow a political "outsider" in Washington. And I don't want to jump on the "Bush Hate Train", because really it's his administration. And he's just a man. And I was one of those who was convinced he was an "outsider". (In my defense I was in the 7th grade).

But maybe now we really can change things. Regardless of who sits in the oval office next year. Maybe constituents can start influencing legislation, rather than special interest groups and lobbyists. Maybe Americans will wake up and realize that rather than worrying about being the victim of a terrorist attack, the real danger is that both our earth and our democracy is being eroded before our eyes. Maybe people will realize that America needs less poverty, not more billionaires.

Maybe. Let's hope.