The Audacity of Hope

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I finished reading Barack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope. What an amazing writer! I liked him before, but now...I LOVE him!! The book really opened my eyes to the sheer genius and near-perfection of our constitution. We are such a young nation, and yet America has the oldest constitution in the world.

And I never realized how impossible it is to succeed at politics. It's like, someone introduces a bill that will take more guns out of the hands of criminals and put more cops on the street to protect our communities; but the funding for it removes money from schools. And they have to vote yea or nay, so the senators just do the best they can. Yet when re-election time comes, their opponet is like, "He voted to keep guns in the hands of criminals! He's soft on crime!" And if the senator listens to the other side, considers their opinion, noticing that they do make valid points sometimes, his party proclaims that he's wishy-washy and a sell-out. And every mistake you make is broadcast to the world. I could never do it.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

*"I believe a strong sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all, if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to help, we diminish ourselves."

*"No one is exempt from the call to find common ground."

*"Maybe the critics are right. Maybe there's no escaping our great political divide, an endless clash of armies...but I don't think so. They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way to make peace with their neighbors and themselves.
I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don't always understand the arguments between right and left,...but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense.
They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them."

*"Any strategy to reduce intergenerational poverty has to be centered on work, not welfare--not only because work provides independence and income but also because work provides order, structure, dignity, and opportunities for growth in people's lives."

*"I agree with George W. Bush when in his second inaugural address he proclaimed a universal desire to be free. But there are few examples in history in which the freedom men and women crave is delivered through outside intervention."

*"Disorder breeds disorder; callousness toward others tends to spread among ourselves."

*"It is in the misery of some unnamed slum that the next killer virus will emerge."

*"The world out there is dangerous and complex; the work of remaking it will be long and hard, and will require some sacrifice. Such sacrifice comes about because the American people understand fully the choices before them; it is born of the confidence we have in our democracy."

*"The audacity of hope.
That was the best of the American spirit, I thought--having the audacity to believe despite all the evidence...that we could restore a sense of community to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks, the loss of a job or an illness in the family or a childhood mired in poverty, we had some control--and therefore responsibility--over our own fate.
It was that audacity, I thought, that joined us as one people. It was that pervasive spirit of hope that tied my own family's story to the larger American story."

Obama's love for America and his faith in our people makes my heart swell with pride. Having lived in another country now, having visited five different nations, I see how amazing America is. Almost everything about our way of life is better. We are different from other nations. We're more efficient, and we're more friendly. We have hope, we're willing to work, we fight for change.

I can't wait to return home and contribute to my country.

One more quote from the book:

(At the Lincoln Memorial at night😊 "In that place, I think about America and those who built it. This nation's founders, who somehow rose above petty ambitions and narrow calculations to imagine a nation unfurling across a continent. And those like Lincoln and King, who ultimately laid down their lives in the service of perfecting an imperfect union. And all the faceless, nameless men and women, slaves and soldiers and tailors and butchers, constructing lives for themselves and their children and grandchildren, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, to fill in the landscape of our collective dreams.
It is that process I wish to be a part of.
My heart is filled with love for this country."

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