The Return of Mindfulness

The pundits have it. It doesn't matter who is elected. The campaign is all about the candidate and getting elected. Once the elected gets to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the people, the flesh pressing, the promises, the hopes, the dreams, all disappear into that mansion's walls. Ego, postering, dealing, wining, dining, and power positions take over and consume the President. It's all about me all over again. The environment and its care still belong to the stewards of earth. That is us people, don't think any President- especially the ones we have had since Theodore Roosevelt give a rats ass about the environment.
Don't think any President is going to care about anything but his power and his image. It ain't gonna happen.
Instead remember the power of the people. I have watched apathetic elections for forty years. This is the first one that I actually saw the power of the people. If the people had done this in 2000 we would have had a President that did care about the environment. I forget myself, we did unite as a people and came out guns loaded regardless of our chosen candidate. We have the power to 'be the change we want the world to be." (Thank you Mahatma Gandhi for this wisdom).
We cannot sit back and think some President will keep promises. We and only we can be the change we want the world to be. We must remain strong and constantly push all legislators both Federal and State to protect our environment and the world. Never let down our guard, never stop believing that we are responsible, not some person in a mansion in Washington D.C. The Legislators must constantly be aware, "We voted them in and we can vote them out." Don't let them forget it.

All I can think is thank god it is finally over. It has been eight years of hell. In the past eight years I have gone from being comfortable lower to middle class with a good job that paid the bills and a roof over my head. To a person that decided that if I wanted to continue being able to make it too work I needed to get rid of my place to live so I have enough money to cover gas. Thats right choose to be homeless so I could afford to work. Now with the election over and a big sigh of relief, partly that McCain (who is just a bush wanna be) didnt make it into office but mostly that that animal hater/killer did not make it anywhere near the white house. What can we do about Palin? How can we get her out of office so no more endangered animals are at risk? She is bad for Alaska and she is bad for animals.

My God, what has America Done. I am not a prejudiced person, so his race has nothing to do with it. Obama is not the man that America should have elected. In my opinion he is too inexperienced as a leader, there is too much he HASN'T said and I have almost never heard him talk about the natural resources of this great country. We should have elected a more experienced leader than this. God help us during this next four years. God help our nature and Natural resources of this great country.

With the election of Sen. Obama, the words of Gerald Ford keep coming back to me: "our long national nightmare is over."

President-elect Barack Obama is NOT the 'messiah' nor the 'message' upon which the United States of America MUST rest our foundations of HOPE, JUSTICE, PEACE, OPPORTUNITY and RESPONSIBILITY. The U.S. Constitution has proven its historic credibility to provide equity, justice, opportnuity, and responsibility to citizens who continue vigilance and vision for the values that seek hope for the human spirit. As citizens we are prone to our eccentricities and indulgences that allow our nation and society to become commandeered by those who seek their own agendas and their own advantages! Most of our citizens VOTE primarily from a 'herd mentality' influence (parents, peers, political party, personal and provincial perceptions, etc.) that seek personal and provincial power as evidenced in the aggression, acrimony and ascerbic attacks on persons who believe differently from the 'herd mentality' that represents our 'herd'. Rhetoric, representation and rationality are ONLY tools through which IDEAL, GOALS and VALUES are actualized. The U.S. Constitution is ONLY able to provide HOPE through the courage, vision and commitment of citizens who choose to form a society that is NOT dependent upon ANY ONE LEADER, ANY ONE 'HERD', ANY ONE VOICE or ANY ONE RELIGION/PHILOSOPHY because ALL can be misused, abused and misapproriated to serve our eccentricities and indulgences.

All the 'herds' will be EXPECTING something very different from this new President-elect; he will NOT be able to fulfill ALL such expectation!
The responsibility is not his, but OURS in order to 'form a more perfect union'. When the next generation(s) become more important to our society than our own fleeting terrestrial moments, then, and ONLY then will we have lived up to the credibility of our U.S. Constitution as so few of our leaders have done in the past through their sacrifice of life, liberty and justice for all. Mr. Obama is a human who suffers from the same or similar eccentricities and indulgences as do we all- it is up to our sense of HOPE, JUSTICE, PEACE, OPPORTUNITY and RESPONSIBILITY to insure that NO 'HERD' dictates our expectations or perceptions of a just and free society. TRUTH is sacrificed upon the 'altar' of our 'alter-egos' in order to serve a 'god' which diminishes and demeans us personally and corporately! Shall we now have the courage to hear the TRUTH that can engage, enrich and enlighten us all as Americans!

I found myself standing in the kitchen this morning, smiling as I made coffee. It's been 8 years since I smiled so easily. I did have to wait until our candidate Jeff Merkley won his U.S. Senate race, before I could relax, but now I feel like we have really been released from prison. We can fly! Yes we can!

I too feel there has been a black cloud lifted, like there was an exorcism of our country. George Bush needs to go away forever. He is the stupidest man alive and I am so sickened at what he has done for our country. The turmoil he's brought to us hard working Americans. I pray that our future generations can have more hope now that Obama is in office. I pray he lives up to his promises. It can't be any worse than George Bush that's for sure. God i hate that man.

I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling that a great dark, heavy cloud had been lifted from the world. It was then that I realized I have been in a bad mood for eight years! What a wonderful thing to look forward to having a leader who actually understands the need to take care of our environment and to listen to the scientists who have been warnig us for a decade about global warming. It is so important that we protect our wilderness and wild places, and it can become everyone's priority with leaders who understand why we need them, why the planet needs them. We are lucky to have had someone like Obama emerge when America was at one of her darkest hours with wars, bad economics, neglect of the country in general, corrupt business executives, and terrible leaders. Finally, we have a role model who can set an example for all of us, and restore America's reputation in the world. I worked ont the campaign by phone-calling and donating money. It was worth every cent and every minute of time.

I am hoping that, with the election of Obama as President and the departure of many of the crooked Republican senators who consistently voted against environmentally sound policies, that we can move out of the DARK AGES.

I believe that Barack Obama is a Black Abraham Lincoln who will be a President of Honesty and Philosophy.

He will help people, animals, and the environment. He is a just man, He is "Destiny's Child"!

We are overcoming!

I was so tired on election night, having worked for nearly 8 hours, mostly on my feet, at the polls. It was an amazing experience. The table for registering new voters in our ward was staffed by enthusiastic young people and busy nearly all day. One older man who showed up to vote and found his registration wasn’t up to date went home, but then he came back 2 hours later with the right credentials, and got to vote. A university student from Germany walked in and asked if he could just watch the process for a while because he was fascinated to see an American election taking place. My fellow poll-workers were thorough, careful, and helpful, and voting went smoothly throughout the day, right down to counting the write-in names at the end of the day.

Later, when the race was declared I was home on the couch, feet up. I was weary, and not yet ready to believe the victory was real.

But the pictures of Grant Park began to sink in -- the thousands of faces cheering, hopeful -- dazed with joy, streaked with tears.
They looked like America – all of it.
I tossed in my sleep that night, churning with the times.

The next morning I began to feel in my heart and bones what this change might mean.
I heard the radio play a fragment of Stars and Stripes Forever, and realized at that moment I was proud to be an American. I belonged again -- part of the “we the people” who had made a choice for a bold step into the future, and a transformation from the past. I wanted to wave my flag.

Stung by the losses of the last few years, I’d had held off on hoping too much, because the disappointment and frustration are so great. But this time, it is real.

This is what overcoming looks like – at least one big step of it. There is hard work ahead. There will be setbacks, compromises and struggle. But a new door is open, a new era has begun.

I voted for Obama, as did many of my friends. Nobody in my lifetime has done as much to mess up the enviornment as George Bush. The National Parks have certainly taken a hit in the last eight years. Mississippi went for McCain, but stepping backwards is nothing new for the State
where I have lived all my life. My biggest hope is that we move forward on energy and end pointless wars. Obama is the new Hope.

What mattered most to me in our recent election is that the result came not top-down but bottom-up. "We the people" mattered not just because each of personal power, but because we worked together. The problems our new president faces are intractable for one man, but as a nation, we have shown that, like a mosaic each person is part of a bigger picture, and each person makes part of that picture.

What a wonderful post.

I especially love this as it truly touched my heart.

"We are coming to the end of a period of hostility, not only to the integrity of our nation’s wildlands, but to the scientific basis for maintaining that integrity. I hope that we can get beyond pointing out how bad things will be if we fail to take care of wild places; I am looking forward, with my colleagues in The Wilderness Society’s Ecology and Economics Research department, to focusing on the positive scientific case for how good things could be if we succeed."

It feels good to see that the period of hostility is on its way out. I join in assisting to bring about peace at its highest level. Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. Thanks for your inspiring post.

Somehow in an overwhelmingly "blue" nation this state I reside in now, Kansas, managed to come out redder than it was before. We lost our one Democratic US Representative, and some of the state legislators who helped us keep a 1400-MW coal plant complex out all last year also lost their seats. I am desperately hoping that Pres-Elect Obama and the new Senate and House act quickly and decisively with national carbon regulation and renewable-energy incentives like a national renewable energy requirement on utilities, because these necessary things for the sake of our globe (and Kansas economy!) are not going to come out of Topeka. I work in renewable energy (wind and solar) and know very well what a gift to our economy strong action for renewable energy and against fossil fuels will help from a purely selfish, financial perspective. Surely with that kind of promise, the far more vital health of our planet will get a boost?!