History is being made

Whatever happens in November, history will be made. If John McCain is elected president of the United States, he will be the oldest man ever elected president in his first term. If Barack Obama is elected, he will be the first African-American ever elected to the world’s most powerful office.

And, if the Republicans win, a woman, Sarah Palin, will be the first woman elected to the nation’s second highest office. It is an exciting race to watch.

Currently, the race is too tight to call, so it is too early to even guess which candidates will enter the history books. In a very real way, this year’s campaign is a repudiation of ageism, racism, and sexism. Not that these have been eliminated, as is obvious, but a blow has been struck and a new age has dawned.

The older I get, the more I pull for the old folks who attempt great things. I wasn’t a George Foreman fan when he fought Muhammad Ali for the boxing heavyweight world championship, but when he fought as a near senior citizen, I was solidly in his corner. When he defeated a much younger man, I was elated.

I get energized when I see the older generation holding their own and even defeating their juniors. As I told my sons when they were teenagers, “Age and treachery will always defeat youth and skill.”

As a youth, I heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in which he saw by faith a day when people would be judged “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That day is here and has been here for a while.

As a person who grew up in the segregated South, I remember the back of the bus seating, segregated water fountains, movie entrances, lunch counters, and schools. I remember when the “N” word was used in everyday conversation as a noun.

Now we have seen a black Supreme Court justice, two black secretaries of state, and a number of African-American senators, congressmen, governors, and mayors. Currently, an African-American is a true contender for the presidency of the United States. That is an enormous amount of progress in less than a generation.

In 1919, women did not have the right to vote in the United States of America. The right to vote was a new experience for my grandmother. That’s how recently, in history terms, women were denied the ability to even vote, much less the ability to run for office.

Now, a youthful governor of the largest state in the union may ascend to the vice-presidency of the United States ... and later on, may even become the first woman president.

We are not a united country; the polls bear that out. I am not so blind to assume that discrimination on the basis of age, race, or sex is non-existent. There will always be small-minded people among us. But, as a nation, we have achieved unity in a significant area — we have come together to recognize that the issues of age, race, and sex should not be barriers, if people are competent and qualified to do the job, whatever that job is — even if that job if the most powerful in the world.

For my part, I will not vote on the basis of whether the candidate is a Republican or a Democrat. I will not vote for or against someone on the issues of age, race, or sex.

I will vote on the policies and platforms of the candidates and the competency of those who want to be hired by the American public for this vital job.

History is being made and I am proud and excited to be part of it.