Right now McCain stands on 34 electoral votes against Obama's 103 electoral votes. Is this going to be a moment that changes the world and our understanding of USA or are we going to be stuck an with an interesting elderly president and an incredulously gun hoe female vice-president. I wonder? For McCain, it's not looking good but by no means is that a for gone conclusion.
I remember the last presidential election. I was still a student. My flatmates and I sat up most of the early morning waiting for the results, we were disappointed, not so much by the fact that Kerry lost but that Bush got back in. Then I didn't know what impact that the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars would have on my life. I think cheap shot slogan T-shirts can say it best "America get ready.......... for a new generation of emotionally disturbed veterans" Well I suppose they meant Britain to right? I haven't been to Iraq or Afghanistan for that matter but as we grow older a spheres of experience widen and people are pass into our lives that we might never expect. Over that last year or so I've had the privilege to get to know some ex-servicemen and there is no doubt that they quite simply do not cope or deal with civilian life very well. They leave the armed forces heavily psychologically conditioned by the parameters of military life and are left largely unsupported by society as a whole both financially and emotionally. Whats scarier to imagine is that these guys who are for the most part still relatively young in there mid-twenties to their early thirties and have killed and watched their friends die for Britain. They have seen and experienced life in a way that we (the population living within our borders) should never hope to. Even worse they have suffered these hardships not as part of a valiant quest for freedom and justice but as pawns in an illegal war that has served to destabilise global relations and international peace. Yet a soldiers pay cheque is cashed on the understanding that they are prepared to die for their country. So as time goes on I'm sure that the events and impact of the war will be felt far more intensely by my generation as time goes on. So that has been to up shot of the last four years under Bush who I think most will agree and to put it lightly is a bit of a tit.
So here we are on an historical evening will the USA become the nation that it has always projected it itself to be. Is it a land of equals, opportunity and liberty? I hope so. Tomorrow we might wake up to a black family in the Whitehouse. I'm excited to find out what the new future holds.
