Election

We just had election in Brazil, and it beats me how some people still have not learned the lesson. Voting represents changing! It is the most effective way to tell people who rule the public offices that we are the ones who are actually in charge here and most of all, that we are alert! I was especially disappointed in Juiz de Fora where Margarida lost with such a small difference for someone who has had his chance to make the city and the county better. I had the privilege of having her as a professor at the federal university of Juiz de Fora. Later on she was the dean and she was ready to make things better in the city as well.
I will have my voting card transfered to Bananal, SP, where I live now and I will keep thinking about politics as a main tool to be heard and to reinforce that we are the ones in charge.
And I have to say that I`m happy to be following this historical war between democrats and republicans in the US. From the conventions I had a hunch that Obama was the one ready and willing from the heart to be president. It turns out my hunch was right because he moved crowds, not only with his ability of speech, but with common sense and true respect for people. The replucican party seemed desperate with all their attacks all the step of the way, and that is not a way to win an election. we`ve got to discuss ideas and doable goals, not people. Last july I attended a Colloquium sponsered by the American embassy and I had the privilege to have two amazing professors during the lectures and discussions, Brenda Flannagan and Katherine Charron. One of them sent the letter below to make it clear people out there do want to change with Obama.

"I Didn't Vote For Obama" by Kentucky Scott.Monday, October 20, 2008

I'm a middle-class white guy living in Jacksonville , Florida . I've got a wife and two kids. Because the kids had no school today, I took a vacation day from work, and took the kids downtown to vote early. Fifty-nine minutes later, two smiling children and I proudly sported "I Voted" stickers. But I didn't vote for Obama. I voted for my ancestors, who believed in the promise of this country and came with nothing as immigrants. I voted for my parents, who taught in the public schools for decades. I voted for Steve, an acquaintance of mine from Kentucky . (Killed by an IED two years ago in Iraq ). I voted for Shawn, another who's been to Iraq twice, and Afghanistan once, and who'll be going back to Afghanistan again soon -- and whose family earned eleven bucks a month too much to qualify for food stamps when the war started. I voted for April, the only African-American girl in my high school -- it was years before it> occurred to me how different her experience of our school must have been. I voted for my college friends who are Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and yes -- Muslim. I voted for my grandfathers, who worked> hard in factories and died too young. I voted for the plumber who>worked on my house, because I want him to get a REAL tax break. I voted for four little angels from Birmingham . I voted for a bunch of dead white men who, although personally flawed, were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, and used a time of great crisis to expand freedom rather than suspend it. I voted for all those people and more, and I voted for all of you, too. But mostly, I voted selfishly: I voted for two little kids, one who has ballet in an hour, and one who has baseball practice at the same time. I voted for a world where they can be confident that their government will represent the best that is in this country, and that will in turn demand the best of them. I voted for a government that will be respected in the world. I voted for an economy that will reward work above guile. I voted for everything I believe in. Sure, I filled in the circle next to the name Obama, but it wasn't him I was voting for -- it was every single one of> us, and those I love most of all." YES, WE CAN!!!> THIS IS OUR TIME!!!> OBAMA '08