From the time I voted on the Wednesday before and up through election night I held my hope close to my chest for fear that I was just setting myself up for disappointment. Having voted in every election since Jimmy Carter in the 70s it certainly wasn’t for fear that somehow the Democrats were going to find a way to snatch defeat in the face of victory. I was very used to that. But in the past eight years I’d gotten to the point where it was clear that the process was being stolen by the powerful and in the case of the 2000 election the one group, the Senate, that could have done something about that election chose to look the other way. I mean, it’s one thing to get beaten fair and square or watch one’s candidate do something stupid deserving defeat, but it’s quite another thing to see such blatant disregard for “fairness,” or obvious conflict of interest. So, for the most part I “checked out” when it came to the political process over the past eight years, while I watched the powers-that-be drive my chosen profession, teaching, to the ground. What changed for me in this past election was the ray of hope I found in this young man from Illinois who spoke with such amazing passion and thought. And where did I hear him for the first time? It was in Will I Am’s original “Yes I Can” video. My interest was piqued. And then eventually I decided that if I was so concerned about this election getting stolen that I needed to get off of my ass and do something about it. I only volunteered a single Saturday morning, but it was a good first step. And when the election turned out to not be stolen, my first reaction was the snarky party cartoon that I posted. But that post only hid the deeper feeling of hope reflected in Will I Am’s new song, It’s a new day.

Here’s the original video that caught my interest and made me think twice about what this election could mean, the original Yes We Can – Obama Song

Music: It’s a New Day by Will I Am

p.s., I spent my election night watching/listening to Leo Laporte with Jason Goldbery from SocialMedian and it was a great conversation with interesting guests. Leo rocks!