Independence Day and Change is on the Horizon

I once voted for the man called W, but I cannot see now, what I saw then. Am I blind or do we have at the helm, a man who could not keep his own business ventures afloat during most of his young life, and who has been emotionally absent from most of the important decisions of his current office visit?

I will not rant, I will just say, that I have been doing a lot of soul searching, and, while I am not happy with the Republican party, I am also not sure that either party offers the change we so richly deserve and so desperately need in this country.

I am studying the latest work of Fareed Zakaria, "The Post-American World". To say that America is losing its primacy in the world is not to say that the USA has not played an important role in the improvement of world economic and political conditions. There is no doubt that we have blazed a trail for the world to emulate, but emulate they are, and we seem to be losing sight of the responsibility we have. And so we must of necessity stop trying to dictate to the rest of the world that they must set up a Democratic government. In fact, it was never Democracy that was setup for us by the Founding Fathers. It was a Republic, "if you can keep it," said Benjamin Franklin, and we may actually have already done our best to dismantle it beyond recognition.

Still, without us, or rather US, there would be precious little in the world to prevent the uprising and despotic rule of any of several tyrants. Many have tried and we have been there to maintain the independence and support, for most of the world, and uphold, freedom for the masses.

Can we patch the wounds we have inflicted on our great nation? We have to care as a nation and strive to regain some of the goodwill which has been lost. But we also need to stop trying to be the self-declared policeman for the world. We are well hated throughout most of the world for our presumptuous leadership, and determination that we know better how to deal with our weapons of mass destruction than anyone else.

Democracy does not mix well with some of the highly religious nations we are trying to help with it. Democracy, and the Republican form of government we were given by our Founding Fathers, does not thrive where there is not individual freedom, morality, and sovereignty. We will see what change we can effect this time around, and what good John McCain can do if he can even defeat the growing wave of support Barack Obama is finding even in conservatives who remain unaware of his extreme views in many areas he does not address right now.

Here's to the audacity of hope, no matter what the results.