Thoughts on Election

This started as a response to a friend's blog, otherwise I might not have written on the topic...

I am conflicted.



I want to believe that people are really excited about the possibility of a man of color being president, and not just because it sounds like the right thing to say or because it is the new era replacement for "and my best friend in middle school was _________." (insert ethnicity here) I want to believe that white people are equally as tired of racism as an institution and want to see it topple so we can all lead more fully actualized lives. I also want to believe that if elected he will still live a long healthy life.


I am trying not to dwell on the historic connotations of oppression and how it has played out through white female vs. black male archetypes and factions that have succeeded in leading to disunity when unified fronts could have made all the difference- see suffrage movement, the 60's, labor unions... It seems too obvious that it would again be the classic choice of man of color or white woman. Will a white woman willingly work against white privilege and institutionalized racism? Will a man of color work against institutionalized sexism and the violence of wars inside and outside our borders, within institutions as well as within households? 
History doesn't have to repeat itself if we have understanding, right? And we could all understand and work harder, couldn't we?



I also realize that if he is elected, he also brings 3 women of color with him- and the 1st lady and children of presidents also come into wider avenues of outreach, so what work could they do as a family, with access to power on an institutional level if they really forwarded an agenda for the people?!!!!
I see potential... 

That could be so amazing if just a big enough ripple of energy spread to really get things moving in the right direction. 



Power is a Mutha$(&! and doesn't like to give in willingly)- but could we change just enough to start a global snowball effect of goodness? It seems we have been on the cusp for so long it has to be on the verge. (Like the mountains of tokens in those games where you aim and drop in another coin hoping that the slider arm will push the pile of tokens over the edge. Sooooooo close...soooooo cloooose...



I want to be excited about all the new people registering to vote and caring about voting for the first time in ages. I want to be all about the potential of democracy- even though I know the mathematics of "majority" and that it can leave a lot of people unaccounted for, and that our system only labels itself such but actually exists as something quite different entirely. And we shouldn't ignore that the last two elections were fixed and made voting a moot point, (although I should be appreciative that I got to cast my vote unlike others.) But it doesn't have to be like this! Democracy could look the way we describe it, live the way it is theorized, be what we will it to be for the good of all the people, rather than a few of the people.

I want the world to be a better place. I want the United States to not be wicked. I want business to be ethical and resources to be shared and respected. I want an earth that lives and thrives.
 I want universal health care, an end to war and poverty, a reality of equality and justice and happiness, etc... etc...
I want to believe.


But the cynic in me nurses a lot of doubts.