Far be it from me to rain on everyone's "Hope" inspired exhilaration or to dampen what is without a doubt one of the most meaningful events in our nation, but there are a few things I think worth mentioning about this election.

There can be no doubt now that America has experienced a proud moment. Electing an American of color to the presidency is not without powerful significance and provides a moment of great national reflection. It has been said however that President-elect Obama's victory on Tuesday night was an expression of how far we've come and a sign that perhaps the pitch of national racism has finally died down (if not out.)

Perhaps, but there is a non-sequitur inherent in such thinking. To believe that President-elect Obama was elected because of a lessening of racism is easy enough to say and feel because he won. The question that lingers however is what would it have meant had he lost? Would an Obama loss have indicated entrenched racism or would it have been explained away using alternative but slightly less accepted reasons?

If race truly does not matter as it pertains to electing people to high office then while I think it worth pointing out the cultural, social, and historical significance of President-elect Obama's victory, what truly matters should not be left out: That his being elected was because the majority of people in this nation felt that he was the best person to hold office--not in spite of his race and not because of it, but simply because of the "content of his character."

Personally, I hope for that day, for the day when we simply don't consider race when deciding who we feel best qualified to run the nation (or any other institution open for election.)

As for the sense of hope people feel, this is an emotion I simply do not share as it relates to politicians, regardless of party or mission. I have hope in my family, in my faith and in those people for whom I care. I have hope in random acts of kindness, both shown and received and I have hope for our nation, not because of government but in spite of government.

Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address said the following:

"I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts."

Jefferson grasped that it was much easier to enter office "loved" than to leave office being offered the same good will. Hope in politicians is dangerous in that even the best politician is human first, a political operative second.

I believe hope should be reserve not for our leaders but for the system of government our leaders are charged with upholding. Our Republic can and has endured many hardships. It has thwarted some influences better than others but we should never allow ourselves to forget the role of elected officials is to preserve and protect that which our country was built upon. This is not a plea for religion or secularism, not for idol worship or unfounded disdain of elected leaders. It is simply a reminder that we are the government, we have no King and we don't answer to our leaders--they are charged with answering to us. Therefore, I find hope in the people of this nation, the people who on a daily basis commit themselves to bettering your life and mine. No matter the profession they have chosen or the amount of money that they earn, the hope I find is in counting on them, believing in them and trusting my fellow citizen to remember some wise words: "Any government powerful enough to give you anything is powerful enough to take anything away.

Sorry for the book--I wish everyone a great weekend.

-Drew