The next four years

The next four years. It’s a simple enough set of words to make a clearly identifiable timeframe about the foreseeable future. But what of that future? What of our planet’s survival?

Guatemala had a major earthquake around the same time as President Barrack Obama’s re-election vote count was being finalized. Super storm Sandy hit the East coast a week prior to the general election day. And so-called “Hispanics,” people of various Latin country origins who are proud to claim “American” as part of their hyphenate, voted overwhelmingly for a second chance for the President.

Whatever the cathartic wave, be it of Mother Earth origin, man-made or both, each has revealed a disturbing trend. Climate change is not only about the global warming crisis and violent weather, its about the consequences of our irresponsible misuse of Mother Earth’s vitality in the form of fossil fuels. It’s about the dire need for us to immediately scrap this very bad habit and instead aim for use of renewable energies. It’s about “now or never” while we still have a slim chance to save our world.

Now, people around the world have had different reactions to the President winning this election. One such reaction came from the Dalai Lama:

"When you were elected in 2008, you inspired the world with a call to take responsibility for the problems we face as global citizens. Since then, you have made earnest efforts to live up to that great hope and trust placed in you by the American public. I believe you have been re-elected now in recognition of that effort."

As much as I respect the Dalai Lama, I believe President Obama has a lot more do to in order to fulfill promises he has made. I voted for the President in 2008, but couldn’t honestly believe that he would make the best choice this time around in 2012. His administration is too invested in the interests of the oil industry with domestic gas production and the military industrial complex with the increased use of drones. The current White House needs to establish a grand strategy of real American leadership in the world.

I didn't follow the "Hispanic" trend. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party instead. I stand by my choice today, too, because of the fact that her administration, flanked by Cheri Honkala as Vice President, would have introduced the New Green Deal as well as the Green Party's Ten Key Values. If Obama’s people took much care to reconcile the growing influence of America’s ecologically-minded, equality-for-all constituency, they too should adopt a similar policy that values grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity and so on. Such a policy would be antithetical to things like Obama’s cornerstone kill list which ought to be eliminated as an option. In fact, such a standing order as the kill list of Al-Qaeda operatives and others can only make more enemies out of would-be allies. Let’s aim for respecting human rights and due process of justice.