Hura, Obama just won! I've just witnessed history on TV, an existential moment for humanity. 4 AM, 5th November 2008 in Birmingham UK. Now I'm getting some sleep. Sweet dreams.

This is, in all honesty, the first time I can ever remember being proud to be an American. Perhaps it'll be short lived, or perhaps not.

Yes!

webgovernor:This is, in all honesty, the first time I can ever remember being proud to be an American.

Webgovernor, I'm twice your age, and I feel exactly the same way.

I swear, I choked up a little, listening to Obama's acceptance speech. Man, he's GOOD.

Thanks to everyone who voted. Especially to those who voted for my candidate, but also to those who voted the other way. Win or lose, at least we were all a part of an election that will make the history books.

although, i would have rather the other candidate win (due to opposing beliefs), i must say its about time the USA had a president who wasn't 100% white. I hope this opens the doors of opportunity to more people in the US. Also the fact that Obama's a TCK(like me), can only be a good thing, only wish his values where a little different.

So congrats to America, and the to the world also(haha). Hope he does less damage then the last one.

-Peace!

This has been an interesting thread and I have enjoyed reading the various opinions. As some of you wrote, I am also frustrated with the way things have been going and I am ready for change. We now have a new president-elect and, for better or worse, the "deal is done".

I hope it is for the better, but I have a huge hollow feeling in me that it's not going to go that way. Obama may try to govern as a centrist and try to maintain unity, but the House and Senate are both controlled by Liberals -- and the Liberals want things their way. I'm dumbfounded that so many U. S. citizens hold their country in such low regard. I am from Mississippi and most of us vote our values down here. And our values differ from those in New England, for example, or California. We are much more conservative and traditional and we distrust the political atmosphere in Washington.

This country is deeply divided, not so much between political parties but by our often completely different 'worldview'. I wonder sometimes how much longer we can remain one nation. In 1861 this country divided and went to war because one section of the country wanted to impose its worldview onto another large section of the country. I see the same divide today. Only the issues are different.

jawq81:I wonder sometimes how much longer we can remain one nation..

Do you believe that Southerners, no matter how conservative, would attempt insurrection to form a union of the Confederate States of America again?

Miland:

jawq81:I wonder sometimes how much longer we can remain one nation..

Do you believe that Southerners, no matter how conservative, would attempt insurrection to form a union of the Confederate States of America again?

I know people from the Southern US, who actually still think that we're at war. Seriously. So, I suppose, it is possible.

I'm a proud liberal, and it frustrates me that "liberal" is used as a dirty word in many circles. I find it curious that some voters will say that they don't want "liberals" to shove liberal values down their throats.

This is something that is hard for me to understand, because I have always felt that it is conservatives who are forcing their values on me. For me, being liberal is about freedom to choose. You can live a liberal lifestyle or a very traditional lifestyle, and that's fine, and you can choose either one. To me, being liberal means that you can be a career woman with children, or you can be a stay at home mom. It means you can go to church every Sunday and live according to your religious beliefs, or you can be a complete atheist and live according to those beliefs.

So I don't understand why some people think that liberals imposing their views on others. Pennsylvania is a "blue" state for example, but the Amish are free to live there according to their very traditional and very conservative lifestyle, and everyone respects their right to do that. I would not say that "liberal" values are being forced upon the Amish at all. In fact, I would say that liberal values protect the right of the Amish to live according to their beliefs.

So I know that some people are against things like gay marriage and abortion for religious reasons, but if I am not a member of their religion, why should I be forced to live by somebody else's beliefs? And if my religion says abortion is ok, why should I be forced to follow someone else's religion that says it isn't ok?

No one is forcing anyone to get an abortion; just if you want one, it's safe and legal. No one is forcing anyone to get a gay marriage they don't want. And no one is forcing individual churches to perform gay marriages that are against their religions, just as you couldn't force these churches to perform any other marriage that they don't believe in - for example if a Jew and a Muslim wanted to get married by a Catholic priest, I think we can rest assured that this priest would not do the marriage. This would be a perfectly legal marriage by US law, and it is also perfectly legal for this priest not to agree to do the marriage.

I can understand being a fiscal conservative, or a conservative who believes in limited government. And I welcome people to live their values. But I have a problem with "voting your values" when that includes imposing your values on someone else.

Also, I was born and raised in the DC metro area. I resent how much time politicians spend trashing DC. Cut us a little slack, please. It is not Washington DC, but your politicians, from you guys, all over the country, who spend all of this time arguing. So you want to know who creates this "political atmosphere"? YOUR representatives, all of them, from the whole US. You want to know who wastes taxpayer money on special interests? YOUR representatives, who promised your district a new museum about pig farming. You want to know who imposes their values on others? YOUR representatives again, because Congress has the power to veto local DC laws, and they do so regularly, whenever DC's local government makes a law they don't like, or when DC citizens vote the "wrong" way on a referendum. You want to know why medical marijuana is illegal in DC, even though the vast majority of DC residents voted in favor of it in a referendum? Because Congress said no. Congress has this power over no other state, and DC is powerless to stop it, because DC has no voting representative in Congress. So if you see a "taxation without representation" license plate from DC, now you know why.

And as far as I am concerned, the USA would be better off if the south had stayed seceded and become their own country. We would be better off without their politicians coming up to DC and forcing their views on the locals, and the CSA could be the third world country that it would undoubtedly be without the industrial base of the north to prop it up. Or else an autocratic theocracy funded by Texas oil money, where women bleed to death from illegal abortions and segregation is still king.

Cheer up and be open minded it’s humanly impossible for anyone minimally gifted to be a worse president than Bush has been. Congratulations!

No, I absolutely do not believe that. I was not advocating anything so radical. Rather, I was wondering if conditions could reach the point where the 50 states become so different that the process just starts to happen. Look at our southern border with Mexico. The Hispanic population in those states have very different values than those of most conservative 'Usonanoj'. I do not like the radical Right any more than I like the radical Left, but the fact remains that illegal emmigrants are slowly killing us financially. That fact doesn't faze Liberals because it fits into their accepted agenda and it doesn't bother the Hispanic citizens of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California because they honestly see nothing wrong with it. Look, too, at the New England states. I heard on the TV this morning that there is not one single Republican holding office in those states. I cannot verify that but I honestly cannot doubt it.

I've seen several books on Amazon.com that speculate on this. Check out the following two books:
"The Nine Nations of North America", by Joel Garreau, and
"The Untied States of America: Polarizaton, Fracturing, and Our Future", by Juan Eriquez.

These two books are very sobering and there are probably more books on this subject. They are not science fiction and they aren't the ramblings of radical militiamen.

You'll find many conservatives a bit down this morning. A large number of us are just wondering what has happened to us and to the country.