(Originally posted on Facebook - intended for an audience that goes across the political spectrum) ...
I guess the wealthy people of America didn't need the over-inflammatory righteous outrage from the far right over Obama's supposed "socialist" agenda, thank you very much. In the final tally, for people making over $200,000/year, they voted 52% in favor of Obama. Yes, the very same people who will definitely see a tax hike by Obama, by his very own words.
The idea of a progressive income tax could be contorted into being defined as "socialistIC" if you want to dwell on some meaningless technical definition ... but to suggest the agenda is "socialist" is just demagoguery. The fact is, we have a progressive income tax in this nation - I believe it's the right way for it to be, and so do most people - so at that point, it's simply about finding the fair percentage point tax rates. Over-hyping the issue does no one any good. Furthermore, socialistic concepts and democracy are not mutually exclusive. Having just read a book on Einstein, he argued throughout his life, passionately, for social justice, while also eloquently stating his objections to overly-socialist/communist concepts - because he believed they were a path to abuse of civil liberties (despite the Hoover FBI's half-baked attempts to prove Einstein to be some communist sympathizer).
I most certainly agree, and would never support someone who believed otherwise - and I would never support a candidate where I didn't genuinely believe their economic/tax policy would benefit this nation as a whole. It's just silly - and lacking in any historical context - to lump Obama into "socialism" of any sort. In fact, I'm probably giving too much credence to the rhetoric by even addressing it here - but I was amused by the vote totals of the $200,000+ crowd.
So, the wealthy people of the country didn't buy into it. Good for them.
And to my friends on the right who read this ... listen - I don't have the stomach for fighting :) This is not about that ... I'm hoping that regardless of your political persuasion, you can be moved by the genuine massive outpouring of public emotion on the streets of our cities. Tens of thousands in various spots - and perhaps hundreds of thousands in Grant Park in Chicago (a same Grant Park, by the way, where 40 years ago was a powder keg - ground zero of the famous anti-DNC protests that turned ugly). In a world that is so increasingly cynical all the time, to be able to see that kind of massive outpouring of belief and hope and positive emotion, truly makes you believe again - for however brief a moment you may think it is - that the human race is not so horrible after all.
Yes we have work to do - yes McCain still generated 47% of the country's support - I harbor no delusion that this means everyone is happy about the result of the election. And Obama still needs to follow through, and that it will be very difficult to make good on all the hopes many have - and that there will be a lot of detractors along the way -- some with empty rhetoric, but others with genuine intellectual disagreements. There is bound to be fight and struggle and pushback.
I also harbor no delusion that - just because my guy won this time - that the reasons for voting Obama, in the case of many voters, may not be because of any lofty policy issues. For many people, their rationale may just as vacuous and ill-informed as what I believe the reasons are for republican voters. I've always believed that the masses vote for many ignorant reasons, on both sides.
But with those two caveats gracefully acknowledged ... It's still worth reveling in this moment. Because, again, in a world where it's so easy to be cynical, to see so many people actually caring again about SOMETHING, is a beautiful thing to see. Some may think their reasons are misguided - but at least there is passion and caring. That kind of massive outpouring is UNPRECEDENTED in the history of this country. You saw the kind of massive "take to the streets" outpourings that you used to see in old East Bloc countries like Poland when they were finally free of the Soviet rule. Yes, OK, I hate Bush - but he's not as bad as the old Soviet Union. Thankfully, in America, we don't get to those extremes. But the celebratory nature last night was definitely reminiscent of the Berlin Wall coming down, and that kind of thing. Wow.
Now back to work.