Change was the overall theme as people straggled into the West End gym to vote on a rainy November 4th. Change was what came later in the evening. Not so much in Moore County…that’s for the future, but for the great State of North Carolina and our Republic.

Roger Cohen in the New York Times writes about “Perfecting the Union”

Beyond Iraq, beyond the economy, beyond health care, there was something even more fundamental at stake in this U.S. election won by Barack Obama: the self-respect of the American people.

Brian and Denita Lofton came to vote so their voices would be heard. “We felt like Obama addressed a lot of the issues that we care about, like healthcare. We just found our that [Brian] has diabetes and healthcare is important.”

Paul Rosenburg at Open Left writes…

The American people never moved to the right along with the political elites after Reagan's election in 1980. However, the Democrats failed to craft an effective new counter-narrative to consolidate their allegiance. At long last, that may have begun to change.

In the interim, however, neither party created an effective political program. Although Reagan was an inspirational orator for the intellectually disengaged, Reaganism never worked in any fundamental sense. Its economic promises never paid off, as the economy basically stagnated, while income inequality skyrocketed. Its foreign policy looked to be more successful, as the Soviet Union crumbled, and the Cold War ended, but that really owed more to the Soviet Union's senescence, and the continual redefinition of what Reagan's foreign policy was. Worse, it had nothing lasting to say about what should come next, but instead inadvertently planted the seeds that would eventually yield 9/11.

Alfonz and Pastor Chambers came because they don't just want change,they need change. “We need a change in the economy, a change in our neighborhood, our community and our state. We think the whole country, not just the West End part but the whole country needs a change.”

President-elect Barack Obama knows we need change, after all that was the platform his campaign was built on. If you were impressed by his campaign, check out his new website, Change.gov. Even if you are not an Obama supporter, click through it is worth the effort.

Doris Katrina and her mom Rosie Person came...“to exercise our right to vote”.

Our right was exercised, we voted for change.