Guest Post: Historic Day

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

These are the words that have been spoken by every President Elect since April 30th, 1789. When in New York, how could have George Washington known just how far reaching these words will echo in history?

And, friends… Romans… country men…. we are living History today.

No matter your beliefs, no matter what side of the Political Fence you find yourself on… no matter your faith or your religion… or your family and your state in life… I hope, that if for just one day, we can all be honest with ourselves and say, “Life, our country, our world, is never going to be the same again.”

We are barely 50 years removed from police dogs at civil rights marches, from little black girls being blasted by fire hoses in Alabama, from a religious man, an educated reverend, being shot on a balcony in Memphis. We are barely outside of Rodney King and the violence and ignorance it sparked… on both sides. 

And, yet somehow… someway… here we are! I have never been prouder to be an American than I am right now. Obama may, or may not, win today. But the fact that he could run, that he could force it to be this close, the fact that his intelligence and eloquence outshines the color of his skin tells me that the America that I believe in isn’t just a False Hope. It tells me that we are making moves in the right direction. It may be slow… but, at least we are trying.

And, one day… one very fine day… the America that I love so much will be the America that, once upon a time, a group of middle-aged farmers got together in Philadelphia, knowing full well that their actions meant Treason and possible Death, and they declared to the entire world… to the entire world…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

I don’t care who you voted for. I don’t care if we agree on all the issues. 

All I know… and all I care about… is that after today… no matter the outcome of the election… after today… Race is never going to define who we are as a people.

And, that is Historic. And, as hard as the last few months have been on Americans coming to terms with who they are… the war of Political Thought… may today be, finally, the last battle of the American Revolution.

-Mark Brett
image via radiospike photography