Hope meet Realism, Realism meet Hope

Greetings,

In November of 2004, my wife Jodie and I stood in Rockefeller Center in the middle of NBC's election coverage holding a sign that read "We believe in Ohio Democrats". It appears that our hope in Ohio Democrats specifically and Democrats in general was not misplaced rather the realization of that hope took a couple more years.

I am always very nervous of power. Therefore, I am glad that we no longer have a single ruling power; no more rubber stamps, blank checks, or tacit approvals. Now we have debate and contention. There no better check or balance of power than equal opposition.

All this being said, we are in need of a bit of realism here. First, if we think the Democrats will get to pass whatever they want at this point, we are stupid. President George H.W. Bush--I think--holds the record for vetoes in one term of office. That could very well be a lesson that President George W. Bush learned well.

Second, looking at the Democrats that won and the issues that people said were important in exit polls, I believe people often times were voting against Republicans instead of for Democrats.

What we did learn, or were reminded at least, is that in this country we have the option of changing our leaders frequently. It is a power that we should claim and exercise. Therefore, We, that is to say the faith community, have a whole lot of work to do. We have a whole lot of work to do to change public opinion and belief so that we can build a society that is equal. America may be first society in history to have this goal, but we are a long way from attaining it. Furthermore, in the Episcopal tradition we are specifically called to "respect the dignity of every human being." This includes striving to form our society in a way that is Just.

There is hope in this election, but we cannot rest, we cannot gloat, and we cannot deride. We must get to work both in the public and private sector making this world a better place as Christ Commands us to do.