Are We Seeing the Beginning of a New Realignment?

In America, there there has been three major realignments of our political system since the founding of our country. The first alignment was in the 1770's-1780's when this country was first established, the British were defeated in the Revolutionary War at this country was born. About 70 to 80 years later there was a realignment of American government when the Civil War was fought and slavery was abolished. The country took another hard turn politically about 70 to 80 years after that when the great depression hit and WWII was fought causing another realignment where government was introduced as a friend of its public through the New Deal policies and the world was divided up between democracy and communism after the war.
Well, here we are 70 to 80 years after our last realignment and it hasn't happened again yet. Experts have been saying we are due for a realignment for the past decade. Are we starting to see the next realignment? Barack Obama is changing the political landscape in America. The election of the first African-American president is a huge milestone for American politics and has sent a message that has changed the status of minorities in politics. And with a huge victory for Democrats in the Executive and Legislative branches of government could we be heading in to another progressive era? The last one was in the 1960's under JFK and LBJ when the Democrats controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress. That was over 40 years ago. Progressive era's like those of the 1930's and 1960's show us a kind of politics where the government extends a helping hand to the less fortunate in society by using government to create more opportunity so that every American has a fair shot at achieving the American dream that we all seek to live.
The Reagan revolution that was born in the election of 1980 put a halt to progressive politics and took the Democratic Party down a road that painted them as weak on defense and void of moral values. With Reagan's soaring popularity the Democrats were in a real fix to get anything done the way they wanted to. By electing Bill Clinton in 1992 the Democrats saw the hope of recovery for the party until the Clinton sex scandal took the party right back to where Reagan had put it in the 1980's. By the election of 2000, the Republicans were in control of all three branches of government for the first time in several decades. They held that power until 2006 when the politics of trickle down economics, expanding the power of corporate America, and cultural division saw its chickens coming home to roost. The long held argument by liberals that these kinds of politics do not work and could be detrimental to our political system came to fruition in the election of 2006 when the American people gave control of the House and the Senate back to the Democrats. Did our Republican President George W. Bush get the message and make changes? No. So things got even worse and here we are.
Obama is a trans formative figure. He has communication skills that give JFK and Ronald Reagan a run for their money. As history has taught us, great communicators make great changes in the way we think about politics and the way we practice politics. People are questioning whether Obama will be able to carry this country the way FDR, JFK, or Reagan did. If he cannot make great changes it would be the first time in history that a president with great communication skills has not been able to do so.
So what will Obama do with the presidency and a Democratically control legislature? Our country is in crisis economically, militarily, and morally. There is much work to be done and it is up to the new president and the new congress to steer us in a direction that will make us that shining city on a hill that we once were. This is still a wonderful country in which I am so proud to be a citizen of, but I remember better days and I want to move forward so we can have them once again.
If there is going to be another realignment now is the time! Hold on to your seats America because we're about to ride in to the future with a great leader at the helm and change is coming to America. Say your prayers and cross your fingers that this great leader of great moral character will be assisted by those who oppose him to do the right thing and put the welfare of our fellow countrymen before our own personal interests.