As the Bush era ends, and we embark on a new and more hopeful direction for national affairs, despite the looming economic crisis, we have much for which to be thankful.

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Martin Peretz of The  New Republic writes of the history of his magazine and his own passions concerning past presidents. In the conclusion of the article, he summarizes his take on the over-arching purposes of Obama’s presidency:

“… we [The New Republic Editors] begin his administration as partisans of his essential purposes. These are, I believe:

1. to reconstruct the American social contract so that it enlarges the rewards to all as it allows for gains to those who invest wealth, energy, commitment, and imagination to any and all productive enterprise in the country;

2. to develop new rules insuring that what we call free enterprise should not be captive of secrecy, deceit, lust, and untested fashion;

3. to reestablish and expand American might, in concert with traditional democratic allies, so that it is intrinsically convincing and prudently used on behalf of and with decent societies endangered by aggression and subverted by either armed doctrine or terror;

4. to recognize that the international system is broken and simply unwilling … to transcend its degrading but pretentious addictions. The plight of Darfur and of the Congo are only the most up-to-date and prominent instances of this failure. (Let me be clear on this: I believe that many of Obama's people are deluded by the United Nations, which is the perfect expression of this collapse.)”

These are lofty and worthy purposes. On this Thanksgiving Day we can be proud and grateful that our leadership is embracing them. Sure, the devil is in the details. Yes, the team members have been aligned with less worthy purposes in the past. But today there is the very real hope and the promise that they will unite in Obama’s administration, and will use their political experience and clout to realize the vision and bring us into a new era where our democracy works for everyone—the rich, the poor, the proud, and the humble—for Americans and for the world at large.

Authors Website: http://rbshreve.com

Authors Bio:

Richmond Shreve is a retired business executive whose careers began in electronics (USN) and broadcasting in the 1960s. Over the years he has maintained a hobby interest in amateur radio, and the audio-visual arts while working in sales and marketing. For the last thirty years he was co-owner and CEO of the Middlebrook Crossroads business park (Edmar Corporation) in Bridgewater, NJ. He holds a lifetime FCC Second Class Commercial license, and an amateur radio General Class license (W2EMU). In 2012 Richmond retired from instructing sports car owners in high performance driving techniques at major tracks including NJ Motorsports Park, Watkins Glen, and Summit Point. He is the author and publisher of the Instructor Candidate Manual used by BMWCCA and other car clubs to train their on-track instructors.

Prior to moving to Newtown,PA, he volunteered as chief engineer of WCFA the Cape May, NJ community radio station as well as working as a gaffer on the Cape May Film Festival technical crew, a driver/engineer in the Cape May Point Volunteer Fire Company, served as its Treasurer and as Treasurer of its Firemen's Relief Association. He edited and printed the Cape May Point Taxpayer's Association Newsletter.

As a computer power user, graphic artist, photographer, and website designer he helps nonprofits build and maintain web sites. He is a fromer Vestry member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent.
Richmond is a citizen journalist and former Senior Editor at OpEdNews.com, a progressive news and opinion site on the internet.

Richmond lives with his wife Marguerite Chandler in Newtown, PA wher he continues to write essays ad short fiction. They travel extensively with their fifth wheel RV.

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Books:
Lost River Anthology (Amazon.com)
Instructor Candidate Manual (LuLu.com)