Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Perspective

When I was 2 years old, George Herbert Walker Bush was elected president. When I was 6 and 10, the U.S. elected and re-elected Bill Clinton. And when I was 14 and 18, we elected and re-elected George W. Bush.

I lived in the U.S. under these presidents' terms, but none of them were my president. I couldn't vote for or against most of them, and I refused to vote in 2004 because the candidates were all giant idiots. But even if I had voted four years ago, the re-election of Bush just meant four more years of a president I never had a say in picking originally.

This presidential election marks the first time in my life I can call a U.S. president "my president."

I voted in the election that he won. I participated in the pre-election analysis of the candidates. I studied the different candidates' platforms, including the third parties-it turns out Ralph Nader isn't just some kook who runs every year; he actually has some great ideas. And now that it's over, I feel like I am truly a member of the American culture that accepts Barack Obama as its leader for the next four years.

It's an exciting feeling. I think this ranks up there with other big coming-of-age milestones for me, like my first flight out of the country on my own to Guatemala, moving into my first apartment, my first time behind the wheel of my parents' minivan, or the first time I needed shoes in size 6-the first "adult" size.

I'm sure 'voting for your first president' is a pretty standard milestone for most U.S. citizens, but for me it represents something more: One last chance for the U.S. to prove to me it's worth being a part of.

I am not a patriot. I am not "proud to be an American," I do not say the pledge of allegiance, and I don't believe God has had anything to do with the creation of the U.S. government, or any other government for that matter.

I think the U.S. has actually had a massive negative impact on the planet ever since the end of World War II, when we got it in our heads that we were better than everyone else. And even before that we were enslaving Africans and slaughtering Native Americans.

But this "my first president" business has made me feel hopeful for the future of the U.S.

And I've never felt that hope before. All I've felt is hatred for a disconnected, inefficient and evil government that rapes the planet and destroys third-world countries in an effort to feed its own insatiable greed.

So, United States, this is your last chance. For the first time I'm willing and able to follow your president. Show me you can change.

Show me you can solve domestic and international problems with at least a few shreds of intelligence, show me you can be transparent and open with the citizens you represent, show me you can provide some kind of positive influence on the world, and I'll gladly stay on board and help out.

But if all this hope is just hyped-up spin and politics as usual, then I'm out of here. Guatemala would be a pretty cool place to live.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools