After the electoral euphoria and despite the fact that no one likes to be a party-pooper, I consider it important to explore certain reasons why I don’t think President-elect Barack Obama symbolizes a change from the politics that are taking this country and the world to a tragic tipping point.

While it is historic that a non-white was elected president, or that a woman ran in the Democratic primaries, and another one as the Republican vice-presidential candidate when they couldn’t even vote decades ago, it is unfortunate that the political debate is stagnant because the majority’s attention is focused only on colors and genders, falling again for the illusory transformation sold by the bipartisan system which, with its politicians taking turns as executives for powerful banks and corporations, controls the nation’s political and financial apparatuses.

Although it is comprehensible that the vast majority feels relieved because the worst regime in U.S. history will soon be over, to what extent did they vote for Obama and not against maintaining the same party in power after eight atrocious years?

Despite his charisma, good diction and the evident contrast between his moderate tone with the present administration’s manners, the new president does not represent the profound urgent change needed by the country and the world.

I don’t think that the person who will bring the necessary radical change to our government will emerge from any of the two dominant political parties, which have sequestered the country’s electoral system and that election after election brag about being the firefighter required to put out the inferno lit up by the other party.

I don’t believe Obama represents change because he said during his campaign that he wants to take the armed forces to Afghanistan, perpetuating a war based on lies and that is still draining the state’s funds for the benefit of elitist companies such as Bechtel and Halliburton with the excuse of national security.

I distrust this prophet of superficial change because while he said during his campaign that he would restore the nation’s international image, he also said that he would do it by applying Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘carrots and sticks’ policy, which is precisely one of the reasons there is much resentment against the U.S. globally.

I doubt the new messiah produced by the system of patronizing and unproductive donkeys and intransigent elephants because aside from recently naming Rahm Emanuel, a member of the elitist Council on Foreign Relations, as his chief of staff, Obama also received Colin Powell’s support, the same guy who regurgitated lies in front of Congress to sell the war, assuring that the same politics of terror and money squandering will continue.

I also doubt this new president because although he claims to be very interested in’ immigration reform and immigrants’ human rights, he never discussed those issues in the presidential debates and even voted to build a wall along the southern border, which offers no protection and costs more millions.

It would be unfortunate if the increase in political participation by different electoral groups, such as Latinos or young voters, goes to waste because the vast majority accepts the false impression that a man with the same connections as past presidents will change the squandering, destructive and imperialistic ways of the U.S. just because he’s not white. It would be really unfortunate if some people believe they fulfilled their civic duties just because they voted.

In order to get out of this mess it will be necessary that people completely lose faith in the current political and monetary system based on debt, inflation and the illusion that the competition and greed typical of the free market will somehow improve the quality of life for the collective, when all the evidence shows that it only generates poverty, exploitation and the concentration of capital in fewer hands.

I hope that I’m wrong about our new president and future, but in order to bring real change to our existence I consider urgent the need to create awareness about our democracy’s limited options and our monetary system’s fundamental flaws, especially in the most developed countries because their populations are the most misinformed about the global misery.

That is the only way we can break this unsustainable pyramid scheme of consumerism and debt that destroys ecosystems for the indiscriminate exploitation of their resources, which will be transformed by a marginalized labor force in products designed to last for a short time, but that help calm our increasing insatisfaction for having to work more for money that is worth less day after day.

Yes, it is time for a change, but that will never come from the system’s suits who continue awarding each other juicy economic bailouts. If we want our government to change, that transformation first needs to occur in our minds and our life patterns, making us understand that the debate needs to transcend colors and focus more on changing ideologies, aside from recognizing the impact our daily decisions have on the collective and the environment.