Freedom to Protest

I have been hearing a lot of argument against Obama lately for not speaking out more strongly against the Iran elections/Ahmadinejad’s “win” and I think the naysayers are wrong. Actually, I KNOW they are wrong. The battle is not for Obama or any foreign administration to fight. It is the Iranian’s battle, and we must allow them their Freedom to Protest and handle it as they see fit. These are the reasons why other countries have taken so much issue with America in the past. We cannot police the world, and most of them don’t even want us to. We all have to fight our own battles for freedom, for our rights- Obama getting in the middle and showing support for either side will only backfire once things settle down. Ahmadinejad would promote himself as the strong opposition to Western domination, and the real argument between he and Mousavi would be lost. Not to mention, Mousavi would need to take a hard line against Obama in order to keep his supporters happy. Neither would be friendly once the election protests end.

Iranians are exercising their Right to Protest and we can support them as a people as best we can, but we cannot ask our President to step into yet ANOTHER country’s mess. At the end of the day he must let this play out to show a difference between he and his predecessors. He must let it play out for the sake of OUR future and any future negotiation with Iran. Unlike Bush, Obama is wise enough to know when to keep his mouth shut.

People and Politics

I came to realize that politics tend to bring out the worst in people. They start name-calling, engaging in childish critical thinking fallacies and overall they lose the ability to think objectively. It is as if, one concession on an opponent’s point makes you a loser and no matter how accurate it is, you MUST disagree and find a random reason why. [like, he said it so it must be wrong] I believe that is where the Republican Party went wrong and continues to go wrong. I may identify as Democrat, but that does not automatically make me a radical or worthy of investigation [a la Michele Bachman]. We may have different views on the role government should play, but that does not mean I disagree with their values. For me, I do not agree with abortion however I do believe there are circumstances in which one may be best for the growing child and the mother. I would hate to repeat the idiocies of the past and go back to Prohibition times. At the same time, I think it is ridiculous for people to sue government entities in attempts to remove the word “God” and prayer from public and federal property. I do believe in the separation of church and state but when you start prosecuting people because they do
believe in God, you are crossing that line just the same.

Point is- there are areas in which we can all agree. We should never allow ourselves to become nothing more than loud naysayers encouraging fear, miscommunication and discord. You cannot continuously criticize, oppose and undermine a person whilst claiming to love your country. If you truly loved your country, you would negotiate for a spot at the grown-ups table by finding common ground and building rather than simply throwing a tantrum with the other children.

Sweet Sweet November

November 06
Sweet Sweet November

So guess what?
My President is Black [mixed but who's doing his stats?]

November 4 was a historic day for the USA because, besides being my 25th Birthday, we elected a black- no multi-racial President. It’s kind of funny how other countries don’t have as much visibility on their race/ gender equality issues, but that’s another discussion. WE THE PEOPLE voted for him, with a clear 52% majority and a whopping 364 Electoral Votes [270 was all he needed]. To add some icing on the cake, it was the largest voter turnout since the late 1960′s.

Now, I know there are haters that still wish he didn’t win but they will have to suck it up. The popular vote and the electoral votes clearly split in President Obama’s favor [President ] and there were no massive voting issues to give us pause. You, the racist few who cannot stand to see a black man in charge, do not have a winning vote here.

The part that makes me sad is that a number of “die-hard Democrats” who believe in the very things Obama stand for, refused to vote for him out of fear and bigotry. I will not dwell on this thought, however. Two days later and while apprehensive about what is to come- I am hopeful about our future.

As the Trini motto goes “Together We Aspire, Together We Achieve”. I believe for the first time that every person in the US, and not just the priviledged few, can stand and say we are together. Young and old, Black,white, hispanic, or “other”- we stood and our voice was heard.

Now to see how good our judgement was…