American Ideals

[sakon76]

I generally don't post about politics, feeling that they, like religion, are things best kept to oneself as they're deeply personal and easily lead to strife. I discuss them with my husband, my parents, and (far more rarely) with my close friends, and that's it.

However, my personal politics aside, I have been following this year's Democratic electoral process brouhaha with a small amount of interest, and found this article somewhat interesting as it talks about how far America has come as a nation in the past fifty years to be able to put forth a serious black biracial candidate for President. And how he's a symbol because he hasn't made his campaign about race. The article, at least to my reading, implies a bit of betrayal over that fact, which makes me roll my eyes. I know it's a sign of my generation and my relatively liberal upbringing (and my naivete, I admit), but I honestly don't see why one's race or gender should be an issue in this type of thing. As a wise man once said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Realistically, race [gender, sexual orientation, disability... fill in your hot topic button here] still matters. I acknowledge this. Ideally, however, it shouldn't. That's part of the theory of America: we live in a imperfect world but strive toward idealism. We're a country founded on ideals and philosophy, and while too often we forget or betray that, once in a while we can still manage to remind ourselves of it.