And just a few hundred years later...

On the eve of our nation's birthday, I can't help but wonder if the founders imagined that these headlines would be possible:

Native Americans will elect our next President


Obama courts American Indians

McCain courts The Indian Country vote

Dems reach out to Native Americans

The history that this election is making, just in having these candidates at all, has been done and redone. The closer historic dates get, the more "rah rah" I can get about so much regarding history. But it's still worth a moment of pause on the 4th to look at just what's happened across this land since 1776. Not all good, but certainly not all bad.

Overdone sentementality or not, it is a nation full of invention and creativity, as well as shame and horrific acts. But I can appreciate, most of all, the willingness for change. A country that not really all that long ago found that the only good Indians were dead ones, that black men belonged in cotton fields, not presidential elections, and women didn't deserve the vote, much less a shot at an office, can find itself on a much different path. Wherever "there" is, we're not there yet, but we've got a history behind us that proves we're not just capable of injustice, but of acknowledging the injustice, and righting the wrong.

Okay, American cheerleading done for now. On the 5th I will bemoan the economy as I fill up my gas tank, shake my head in disgust at yet another elected official fighting corruption charges, and work towards electing those that will not require my relatives head back to Iraq.

But the 4th I will reserve for spending time with family and remembering why I believe it can all still change.

And hot dogs.

_