Logical Liberty

America again is leading the way with the election of Barack Obama!

President Elect Barack Obama

After a month away from my blog (vacation, dismal election results, and a personal political reassessment after this year’s election results) I have decided to jump back into the debate. I understand what happened on November 4th and to be honest I don’t blame Americans for making the choice they made. John McCain wasn’t really that much different than Obama when it came to policy and Obama was fresher, more articulate, charismatic, and he represented a historic “change”.

Once again Americans have proven just how un-racist they really are. I travel overseas quite a bit on business and people in other countries have this image of Americans as a bunch of racist rednecks. While there are some Americans on both sides (black/white) who are racist, the real truth is that considering everything that has occurred in our past we are doing pretty well I think. We are far less judgmental than most of the people I meet in other countries. In other countries their societies are fairly monolithic. Most people you meet are from one or two dominate cultural/ethnic groups. They talk about how Americans are such racists while ignoring how badly they treat minorities in their own countries. Only recently have other countries had to start dealing with what Americans have been trying to sort out for decades. In America we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Europeans and Africans were the first (one voluntary the other not). Within the last few decades immigrants from many other countries have started to move to America. We also have Native American and Mexican residents that make up the only non-immigrant members of our society. In spite of all this we still get along pretty well.

Like I have said before, America isn’t a place, it is an idea. One that is continuously being more perfectly observed. More and more people are being included all the time. Opportunities are constantly expanding for everyone in America. Just look at who will soon be the next President of the United States. A black man who’s father was from Kenya. I seriously doubt that Barack Obama would have had any chance of becoming the Prime Minister of Great Britain or the Chancellor of Germany had he been born there. For all the ridicule that other western countries have for America and Americans they cannot match our record on human rights. First it was our revolution and constitution that led some of these countries to even consider the idea of embracing individual rights in the first place. Then it was our military that came to the aid of the oppressed in many of these countries over the last century. Don’t be fooled into thinking that it has been the U.N. that has led to the spread of democracy and freedom in the world. As Ronald Reagan said years ago, it is that shining city on a hill called America that has led to this time in history where more people in the world are living in freedom then ever before.

So now we are leading the way again by electing a member of a supposed oppressed minority to lead our country. Europe and the rest of the world simply cannot compete.

In the interest of full disclosure: I didn’t vote for Barack Obama and I still wouldn’t. I don’t like his policies but I accept the results and I am proud of my country.

What a day Inauguration day will be!