Proud To be an American

I am so proud to be an American today. That hasn't happened in years. I lived a year in Spain where that ethnocentricity present in all of us was all but beaten out of me, and 6 years under Bush the Lesser, but now, I can once again say that I am proud to be an American. My country voted two days ago and they voted for change. We did it. Dare I say it, with a hopefully feminist twinkle in my eye: democracy is working!?!

I know it's a sad state when I have to question whether or not democracy is working, but it's a giant step ahead from being sure it's not working. Let's celebrate and name some (there's so much good news, this is only some!) of the victories:

Rumsfeld has stepped down. The man whose dismissal was a no-brainer the day after Abu Ghraib was announced back in the beginning of 2003 has finally left office, and now a woman--sadly for the first time in history, but it is happening--is only two heartbeats away from the presidency.

Democrats have won the House and Senate (I know Allen of VA hasn't stepped down yet, but it's only a matter of time).

Missouri is finally a blue state!

Nevada and Missouri, two of the three states I claim as my own (though, the only one permanently tattooed on my body is MO), voted to raise the minimum wage (along with Ohio and Montana).

South Dakota threw out the ridiculous abortion ban.

Arizona threw out the marriage amendment. Sadly, seven states added the amendment to make it doubly illegal to marry someone of the same sex (gasp!), but we're focusing on ch-ch-ch-changes: Arizona was the first state to say no to discrimination in a state constitution. Good work.

MO voted yes to allow stem cell research, cures, etc in our state; and no to unfair taxation of only certain populations without strict knowledge or regulations about where that tax money is going.

Yes, oh yes, we swept up (http://www.michaelmoore.com) at the polls. Here's bp and I doing our part: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmflint/page12/.

I sincerely hope that the renewed and fiery pride in my country burning in my chest only grows hotter and larger. I will put my faith in the democrats at this point because I want to put faith back into my government to do the right thing. I do not want the next two years to be spiteful and full of revenge, I am not calling for an impeachment of Bush--though he clearly deserves it--it's much more important to me that we get to work immediately getting our troops out of Iraq, stopping the killing in Iraq, and not going anywhere near Iran. History will take care of Bush, let's take care of the people who are dying because of his mistakes.

There's so much more, but for now I am extremely content to bask in the glory of my fellow American citizens and allow myself to enjoy this victory while being hopeful for the future and acknowledging that not only is our work not over, it's only just begun. Thank you America, we're finally able to begin.