A Transformational Opportunity

"Barack Hussein Obama will be seen, as soon as three months into his Presidency, as one of the most able, wisest and transformational Presidents in our history.”

So what do we do now?  First - celebrate, and appreciate the hard work it took to overcome the purging of voters, theft of votes by corporate owned electronic voting systems and the powers of greed, religious and racial fear that is ingrained in so many of our nation’s populace after decades of manipulation and mental abuse by the radical right in both the media and on conservative religious pulpits across the nation.

Then we must recognize that this was not an overwhelming victory.  46% of the people of this nation did not vote with the majority, and they need to be reassured. They must not be allowed to continue to fear us or we them. 

Soon, it will quickly become time to get back to the hard work ahead. Our first step must be to clean up the mess they have created. We must get out of Iraq. Clean up our Voting Systems, the environment, and the economy and hold those who abused our rights accountable. Most importantly, institute Full Public Financing of Elections. This is the right thing to do.

There are many ways to accomplish this. For some it is countless phone calls, emails, precinct walking and donations. For others it is the simple patriotic act of voting and making sure your vote was counted. An action that is a right we must never allow ourselves to take for granted again. Waiting for others to do it is a sure way to repeat past failures.   

Start by joining your local Democratic Club, stay engaged, participate and continue to educate yourself.  Sign up to be a financial sustainer with a monthly small donation to groups like PDA (www.PDAmerica.org), MoveOn (www.MoveOn.org), the National Resources Defense Council (www.NRDC.org), Public Citizen (www.citizen.org) and others who work both inside and outside the government to effect progressive change. Support alternative news media outlets like MediaMatters.org, Buzzflash.com, Fair.org and BradBlog.com that are not corporate bastions of right wing dogma. These sites may be free on the Internet but a few dollars a month from thousands of people will revitalize true journalism that has been badly missing from corporate media on the networks and cable. Stay engaged and informed by reading news and information from around the nation and the world on the Internet. Make sure Network Neutrality keeps this incredible tool of democracy open to all. Consider starting your own email group where you send important news you have found to family and friends. In other words, connect, collaborate and act.