I Love Us

Hahaha...I am in love....damn and just in time for valentine's day...okay not really...but what I'm actually talking about is I'm in love with the idea of The United States of America. In my last post I said that I love the myth that is India... the idea that is India...I really am passionate about it and I never really felt that way about the US until very very recently. I think reading the Audacity of Hope and then watching Barack Obama speaking in Springfield, Illinois is what did it. For those of you haven't seen his speech, you really should:



I must admit that my favorite part is his last sentence. "I love you." I don't know I just thought it was SUCH a refreshing change from Bush's "God bless America." Then I watched Hillary Clinton's video from the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting.

She ends with "God bless you" and although I do not find that as annoying as "God bless America" it's still quite annoying and it's nowhere close to being as great as "I love you."

The thing is that I actually believe him. I believe that he does love "you"...you being America and the correct response when he said that was in my head "I love you too!" and I really wanted to say that out loud.(But I didn't cause I was actually on the elliptical machine at the gym when I heard this speech and there were people on the machines next to me watching other channels so they would have been really confused...and a little a scared.) anyway the"you" in my head wasn't so much Obama as it was the same "you" that he was talking about... the yoU S.

I think love is mainly made out of two different emotions: a flaws-aware respect and a proctective instinct (the relative proportions of each are always changing of course. For example when a parent loves their baby it is almost entirely protective instinct but gradually as the baby gets older and older the respect comes in). This man has a lot of respect for this country and he sees all of it's flaws. (He deliniates them in his book. He even says what the currect administration has done wrong. But he does that in such a way that he's not being mean. Whereas Hillary Clinton's speech comes off as us Democrats vs. them bad bad Republicans. I dislike conservative policies as much as her but I think offending people is not the way to win this election.) I got off track...so what I was saying is...he has a hope. He thinks we can protect all that is good in the idea of america. Namely, liberty and justice and a fair opportunity at the pursuit of happiness. And for the first time I felt that it was possible to protect all that...it's possible with a leader like him and that's when I felt the urge to protect and that's why I say I'm now in love.