Does anyone remember what life was like nine years ago?

The world was a very different place. Napster made its debut and gave millions of people from every country the ability to share music with one another. The bullet motion classic ‘The Matrix’ and cult self-destructive ‘Fight Club’ were the two best films to come out that year. And finally, Bill ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman’ Clinton was still president.

The world was at an ignorance-is-bliss stand still. The problems around the world and roaring-’20s, be-free spending habits that this country tends to have had yet to catch up to where we are now, economically speaking.

We were not ready for what was coming. We were walking into a fire fight. And when we walked in we had collectively, as a divided unit, chose one man to lead us into it. We chose one man to defend our ideals and our basic way of life and to prove to the world that this country is still a beacon of hope for those tired, poor and hungry.

I think we, the collective I, got cheated. I think every single man, woman and child in the United States was robbed. Not at gun point. We just had our backs turned.

We allowed a C-student frat boy of puppet-like proportions to come into office and swindle more than a trillion dollars of this country’s money on a war that has continued to be called by some this generation’s ‘Vietnam.’ We allowed him to send thousands of our daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers to march off to their doom.

For eight whole years we have allowed the executive branch of this nation to embarrass us and tarnish this country’s once great image. For eight years we have let a man, who makes up words on camera, such as misunderestimated, to have access to our nuclear codes.

We have always been a place of violence and hatred, like many other parts of the world, but we were never known to be complete idiots. We were never known to be as incompetent or as unbelievably goofy as George W. Bush. Did you know during the war he actually said, ‘We are fully committed to working with both sides to bring the level of terror down to an acceptable level for both.’ He actually said that.’

After Tuesday’s election it is important for all Americans to remember that there was a better time in this country. We need to remember the true-grit spirit that made this country what it is today. Yes, over the past 40 to 50 years we have had a couple run-ins with disappointment. Vietnam, Korea, basically all of the Middle East.

But right now it is important to remember who we once were as individuals and as a country. We were once kings.

We were that country that made it through a dozen recessions and the Great Depression only to continue to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is important to remember people like Bobby and John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X; these were our founding fathers.

These were the people that represented the brave new world that we had all hoped our country would be. A country that will continue to be a place where all people have a democratic voice of choice that is heard and appreciated in the form of a vote and the person that is elected is a man for the people by the people.

Tuesday night was an American dream come true. President-elect Barack Obama represents a newfound American vigor, a triumphant howl to the world that we were simply not ourselves for the past eight years. We are not and will never be George W. Bush. Most of us are more like Barack Obama, humble, insightful, and ready for revolution, in the figurative sense.

For those of you that voted for McCain and are unhappy with the way the election went, I have three words for you. No more Bush. Isn’t that enough? You may think Obama is bad, but there is no way in hell that he is any worse than Bush.

For those of you that did vote for Obama please realize that your voices were heard, the process works and we no longer have to fear our government. This was the revolution of 2008, a peaceable transfer of power that represented the best interests of the people. We can once again wave our American flags in the high, put our fists in the air and be proud again.

This was our message to the world, our generation’s founding edict through action. Change is a storm coming; there are problems to contend with, both global and domestic. We are walking into a new fire fight and I think this time we’ll all be a little more prepared, a little more cautious, a little more aware of the U.S. as a country and as a people that represent how powerful democracy can really be.