Let's Take A Deep Breath

Okay. Barack has done it. Things will change. But let's not try to rush it. Some people are already acting as if they expect immediate results. Mr. Obama already has to temper expectations. I am happy, but I am also patient. I have to be. Spend four years in jail and you learn patience.
Unfortunately, not all of the results of this election were so laudatory. Three additonal states passed bans on gay marriage, including California, which I never thought would happen. I am not planning to marry anyone of my sex, but I fully support anyone who wants to and I think their union should have all the rights that marriage between a man and a woman has. My reasoning is this: The reason that I see that the religious right wants to ban gay marriage is so that they can say that they are winning the moral crusade. Well, the fact of the matter is that the moral crusade is being lost every day. Lying is so pervasive and does much more damage to society than the union of two people of the same sex. If this was a truly moral nation we would not be in the economic mess that we find ourselves in today. The people who invented the derivatives that have brought down long standing institutions created the instruments to line their pockets with money, not to protect anyone. We trusted them to be able handle the risks and they failed miserably. Then they don't even have the moral courage to admit their mistakes. They hide behind excuses and point fingers in circular fashion until no one knows who is responsible. This is the moral crisis we face every day, not the destruction of the institution of marriage.
The institution has self destructed on its own. The religious right recognizes this, so in order to soothe their egos they put a band aid on the problem by attacking a peripheral issue. The passage of a ban on gay marriage will in no way address the decay of heterosexual marriage that has been going on for decades.
Mr. Obama has much that he can do, and I expect great things of him. But if we are to truly restore our inner greatness, then we must recognize and confront the real issues that are tearing us apart, that led us to financial reckoning and that promise to render us an impotent power on the world stage in the years to come. Mr. Obama can not do that alone. That must come from all of us.
Final note: When I looked at the map of the election results it confirmed for me why I will never move out of the Northeast. And its not just because I love the change of seasons. The coasts voted for Mr. Obama and the heartland went for Mr. McCain. That is a bit of a generalization but it does contain a nugget of truth.