I Believe; Help Thou My Unbelief
I want to believe every single word Barack Obama said tonight. I want to believe that America's wounds will heal, that we'll regain our moral standing, that our economy will grow strong, that our children will be well-educated.
I want to believe that people across all spectrums of political thought will put aside their differences. For example, I want to believe that while as Americans we may differ on gay marriage we can all agree that no one should be prevented from visiting a loved one in the hospital: that while we may differ on abortion we can all agree on preventing unwanted teen pregnancies; that the gun owner in rural Ohio and the resident of urban Cleveland can both agree about keeping AK-47's out of criminals' hands.
I want to believe all of this; help me with my unbelief.
Help me to believe that America can once again claim the moral high ground, that America can once again be the last, best hope. Help me to believe that when we have authorized torture and unending detention for those neither innocent nor guilty but in perpetual limbo we can now wipe away the past eight years as if they'd never happened; help me to believe you can unring a bell.
Help me to believe that the sleeper cells, the embedded members of the DOJ and the EPA and the FDA, will deactivate themselves. Help me to believe that a change in administration can undo a putsch, this takeover from within whereby the Civil Rights division now works to disenfranchise voters and the Department of Education promotes "intelligent design" and our Forest Service strives to open public lands for taxpayer-subsidized corporate exploitation.
Help me to believe that those who tried to drown government in the bathtub will suddenly jump in to save it, that they'll perform CPR.
There is no going back, there is only forward. Obama's words were good ones and I heard them with tears in my eyes, the roar in my ears, jumping from my chair shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
I want so very, very much to believe; help me with my unbelief.
posted by pinko at 8:25 PM
3 Comments:
Amen. And I thought that all ya'll did was snark!
I'd love to help you, but sadly the last 8 years have scarred me too deeply. Or they've opened my eyes--things were far from perfect even before this fascist takeover occurred. Americans have all been asleep for many, many years.
But I want to believe. I want to think Obama is going to be as industrious in finding and reversing everything our criminals in office have done, as the Bush Gang was in doing them.
Mainly, I want to just believe that he will win this election. But I'm afraid that America will always end up with the President we deserve.
kb
Very well expressed, thanks.
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