dumping on optimism

last week i went to my lecture on religion and democracy, where my prof makes all sorts of strange political terminology jokes about the state of our class participation. that day however, she was a little less nuts... she made a point that i've been thinking about since last wednesday (you know, the day after history was made..). it ties into what i'm doing here in a broad sort of way, and after a lot of thought i have decided to, yes, blog about it.

so. here is the question she raised in regards to the previous night's election results. are we ready to put into practice the change we have shouted so much about? are we ready to realize that this system we see as sick and corrupt stretches far beyond the executive in the US and right into our homes and the way we live our lives? are we ready to do anything about it?

we can all congratulate americans on getting out and voting, and for democracy actually working as it is supposed to. that is an incredible feat and the fact that enough people even ticked the box beside obama's name is something to undeniably be proud of. but, what next?

we just had a debate in a different class over policy versus grassroots. its a personal decision for which you value more, but at the end of the day.. you need both. each is useless without the other. so, now we have a real stab at policy changes.. maybe not to the scale that some of us would like to see because, lets face it, obama is bound by a pretty old and solid institution that won't be shaken by one guys four (optimistically eight) years in office. but what about on the other end? leaving it to the american executive is in my opinion, a bit lazy and totally irresponsible.. it may be powerful, but it sure as hell can't handle the world.

my point here is that we all talk about how inspired we were by the speech.. the number of times i've heard 'yes we can' is beyond belief. its great, but what exactly is everybody so inspired to do? sit back and watch obama make changes? i think people might be sadly let down in that case... depends where your issues are though. for liberian refugees that aren't living in the worst refugee crisis in existence.. i'm thinking that will be pretty low on the priorety list. mortages and the economy (which has a pretty little effect on me right now) is obviously something for obama and not me, but what about everything else?

so. what is it that we're all so inspired to do? call me out on this if you think i'm way off or have been made the most depressive and cynical person in the world after four years in development studies and a few months in africa. i'd love to see otherwise. obviously it won't be an overnight change, but so far, from what i see, its the same old situation just with some new faces and a breath of excitement. what happens next after we get over the fact that we've made (or i guess for canadians, witnessed) history?