A More Perfect Union

Four years from now . . . What will you say if someone asks, "Are you better off?"

I hope we'll be able to say YES.

My last post was on "inspiration"—a challenge to us all to identify something inspiring in the political campaigns. Last night's speech by Bill Clinton certainly was inspiring, wasn't it? (Listen to the whole thing on YouTube or on a dozen different websites by googling "Bill Clinton DNC 2012 speech." It's long but you can fold laundry or wash dishes while you listen—I did both!) I still don't feel that I can list specific presidential campaign promises that inspire me, but that speech convinced me that things are better today than they were 4 years ago and will be even better 4 years from now. I'm eager to hear President Obama's speech tonight.

Back to inspiring promises: maybe it's not even necessary to be inspired by specific promises. When you get excited about your birthday, it's the whole thing that you look forward to; you don't separate out your excitement about the cake and the presents and the music and the friends. When Clinton ended his speech with a nod to our preamble—"a more perfect union"—I thought, "That is something I can look forward to!" Here's a little top-of-my-head poem inspired by that:

A More Perfect Union
by Janet Wong

Hard to say
what would make
a more perfect union

So many layers
to that answer

But
a more perfect onion:
that's easy

Would not make you cry
would not stink things up
would give you strength
would flavor your life

I guess
it's kind of the same way
with a more perfect union
too


Four years from now: a more perfect union! How's that for a goal?