by Tracy Phernetton

Created on: November 26, 2008

An American Makeover

By: Tracy Phernetton

It is the collective consciousness of our country that has paved an open space for someone like Barack Obama to run for President. From a sociological perspective, it is the consensual knowledge of the community that has agreed upon the need for a new type of leadership. Why did the civil rights emerge? What gave Martin Luther King Jr. the power to invoke change? The people. We the people are ready for a new level of awareness and action in politics.

Society has been molded by our values, beliefs, and morals, and all of those have been influenced by laws, religion, and economics. What we value (make important) we then act upon accordingly. Society is ruled by the invisible glue that holds it together. Our actions and behaviors are interdependent and our structures and infrastructures are the results of the conditions that are present in the system.

In the laws of physics, we find that energy does not cease; it only changes. We are destined for change. Is it going to be positive or negative? The equilibrium we crave is the physical, biological and psychological nature of our species. Positive and negative electrons balance themselves. When there is an imbalance, the system becomes "ill." Society and politics must have an even exchange of positive and negative elements to be able to create the sufficient static friction that will then create the balanced entity.

There is a man by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville; he was an early 19th century social thinker. Tocqueville spent a majority of his time analyzing equality and mass society. "We must understand what is wanted of society and its government." Tocqueville said. In other words, the point I am trying make is that we the people create change, give rise to revolutions, and then generate the elevations in social consciousness. The leaders are the ones who are willing to stand in front of the people and persuade and encourage the unity, and continuity of the collective's primary purpose. Barack Obama is this leader type.

Obama represents two types of an evolutionary change that the American consciousness is ready for. The first is an External Representation. The truth of the matter is 150 years ago, we abolished slavery. 53 years ago, the Civil Rights Act made it possible for Blacks to vote and be a part of the political process. And today we have a black man standing up as a leader for all races, and people; a modern day Martin Luther King type, if you will. This is a prime

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