Inauguration 2009

We have a new President.

Today is a day of some significance, as evident from the massive amount of press and attention, spanning the world, that is being paid to the official proceedings of our government.

Today is a good day, and we should all be celebrating our citizenship, and the government that has stood the test of time and the transfer of power, to thrive today as it ever has.

Pray for our new President, pray for our nation.

I have to admit...I hope that he succeeds. That sounds odd, as if it were a guilty pleasure. Let me put it this way: I am willing even to hope I am wrong and that he is right, with regard to his social and political agenda. I cannot hope to be persuaded that his moral ambivalence with regard to the unborn, but I can hope that in a matter as trivial as our economy or our national defense that he is more successful than I believed he would be at the time of the election.

I hope we manage to move past mere partisan politics and strive as a nation to be something more than merely prosperous (although, of course, I do hope we're prosperous). I hope we can live up to our great aspirations on this historic day. It gives me joy to recognize that the full reality of today is itself a culmination of the ambition and ideals of our nation and government.

It is tempting to hope that the world will actually receed from the brink as the result of one man. Certainly the media would have us believe it will be enough...I cannot believe our problems will cease, but I do hope and pray that under his leadership we will see positive progress on some of the fronts that currently trouble us.

I must also say that the sight of the hope this man inspires is, well, inspiring. I am optimistic as a result of the radical enthusiasm of those in the midst of the celebrations, much more from that than from the highest rhetoric; let us pray that this renewed sense of opportunity and potential sows a great harvest. I am not sure why so many have lost faith in their Republic; I do not believe that much has changed in any way so significantly that it warrants the doubt and fear that has plagued the news for so long, but let that be as it may; let us revive the belief that a nation centered the defense and perservation of God-given rights will prosper and flourish; let us show the world what liberty accomplishes in the City of Man.

God save the President of the United States and may God be gracious to our nation.