A New Dawn......The Journey Continues

      55 wealthy, white men met in Philadelphia, in 1787, to rewrite the Constitution and thus save the American union. The Articles of Confederation, had established a confederal system, with the powers in the hands of the constituent units...the States, with the Federal Govt. having symbolic and ceremonial powers. It was chaos, politically and economically, with States going in their own direction. The Union was unravelling and something drastic had to be done.

      This Constitutional Convention was dominated by the largest slaveowners, bankers, landowners, America's first elite, and they will set up a system that emphasised stability and favoured the wealthy and their values. The Three Grand Compromises, that was negotiated, established a Federal system, but with residual powers in the hands of the states ( this meant that any new powers that would arise, would go to the states etc. ), a Written constitution, that was almost impossible to amend , 2/3 of Congress and 3/4 of the States were required, ( only 28 successful amendments out of more than 10,000 proposed, and these amendments, with the exception of The Bill of Rights (1-10 ), The Civil War Amendments (13-15 ), were mostly of little signifcance ), a President to be elected by an  Electoral College for 4 years, a Senate ( 6 years ), 1/3 of whom will be elected every 2 years and a House of Representatives to be elected every 2 years. Changes , when they occur, will be incremental. Women were not given the right to vote, neither were native Americans, or poor, landless whites, and " blacks " would be counted as 3/5 of a white man, for purposes of taxation and representation. This body, was dominated by the Conservatives, and with the exception, of the 80 years old Benjamin Franklin, warned about the dangers and evil of democracy.

      232 years after the Declaration of Independence ( We, the people,,..... hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal........ with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ), and 229 years after the conclusion of the Philadelphia Convention. an African-American is elected as President of the United States of   America.  The promise of equality has been a long time coming.

      The landslide victory of Barack Obama, to the highest office in the land, signify, that in times of grave danger, the voters are willing to take a chance on radical change.......1860, 1932, 1960 and 2008, in order to save the Union. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and now Obama. It took a tremendous amount of money, 1.5 million volunteers, an organisation that made no major mistakes, and a candidate who, by his serenity his poise and his intellect, was able to calm the fears and sell his message of " Change ". Obama was able to galvanize millions with his message. He would not be distracted by personal attacks, by lies, distortions or the appeal to ignorance and fear. Hope overcame Fear.

      The fear that white voters would not vote for him, when they got to the voting booths, did not materialise......he split the white votes with McCain, except in the South. He got about 43% of the white votes overall ( doing better than Gore and Kerry ), 96% of the African-American votes ( they turned out in record numbers ), 67% 0f Latinos ( the fears that Latinos would not vote for an African-American was also put to rest,........ immigration reform was more important and Latinos realised that a " common cause " with African-Americans and other minorities served everyone's purpose ), 66% 0f young voters, ( who came out in record numbers, and who volunteered as foot soldiers ), and 68% of new voters ( a record amount of them registered ). He won back the democratic party grassroots, who had strayed away or who had become disillusioned and stayed home......he also got more than 95% of those who supported Hillary, who realised that the appointment of Supreme Court Judges would change that social issues landscape ......abortion and gay rights etc, for the next 40 years.

      It was remarkable. Now the healing can proceed. Minorities , especially African-Americans, have an inspiration. This Is a victory for all those who have been dispossessed and abused and exploited, and marginalised for so long. It gives hope to all. Now every American can say, anything is possible, and can dream the dream that had remained unfulfilled, until now. Every little child can now feel that the ultimate is achievable.

     America is a better place today. The world is a better place today. America has spoken and we are all breathing a little easier today. Let us savour it. Tomorrow, the task of rebuilding begin in earnest. It will not be easy, and it will not happen overnight, but President-elect Obama has shown that he has the acumen, to deal with any task. Machiavelli wrote that if you want to know the brains of a ruler, you look at his advisers. President-elect Obama has surrounded himself with many able advisers. He has shown that he is not hesitant and/ or afraid to ask for help from anyone, Democrats or Republicans or whomever. He has such a strong mandate, that he can appoint, ( even Republicans and other outsiders ) to Cabinet positions, and I expect him to do so.