I am inspired by the grassroots. I am a member on the BarackObama.com site and share in the writings of people all across this huge nation. There is a common thread be it from Colorado Springs, or New Orleans, to Fairfax, VA to Medford, OR. People are hopeful for the future and they are talking about solutions.

It is the visionaries, the inventors and the philosophers who have always kept civilizations afloat. It is important to remind ourselves as we trudge through this political year, that we are in a transition as much as any civilization written. The horse and buggy people frantically trying to survive as old Mr. Ford delivered his Model T's. There were still those who resisted, but those who transitioned and could understand that this was a new era prospered. The automobile and the industries that followed made America and the western world leaders in the technology age. It is ironic that America, along with other superpower's rise and strength have been fueled with a non renewable energy. The strength of man's greatest attribute, his mind will not be dumbfounded by this bump in the road. He went from horses to piston jalopies.In our mindset struggling with a war in the mid east entirely misguided leadership made up of the short thinking horse and buggy people, there is a greater thing happening. Mankind is rising to the occasion once again. History has shown us the greatest achievements have been not the deliberate actions of politicians, but the creative trials and hap hazard risks taken by great thinkers. I think that is what is so appealing about Obama. He is a thoughtful great thinker. I get the sense that under his leadership the urgent solutions to world problems will happen simply because he will allow the greatest minds to solve them. Leadership often is allowing the right set of circumstances to be set, funding, incentive, and foresight to get out of the way. We are a great nation living in a great world. No longer can we separate the two.H.M.Wood patented his windmill design as America's heartland was developing and requiring energy. His windmills pumped groundwater to crops and provided energy to farms and households in the late 1800's. Elihu Thomson and another teacher in Philadelphia, Edwin Houston developed the DC generator to produce constant voltage. They later merged with Thomas Edison to form General Electric. Alfred Nier was a young physicist at the University of Minnesota and discovered and proved with his Spectrograph that splitting nuclei of uranium atoms released huge amounts of energy. The Manhatten Project proceeded after that.
There are great minds across the country and across the world. The political means and the creative mind must join and great things can happen. I know that we will solve these problems and tomorrow's problems. Our job is to see that the political will is just and does not get in the way of the future.There are more John Steinbecks, more Alexander Flemings, more Allesandra Voltas. Being hopeful is a real thing not just a political tagline. Hope is creativity. And it lives in all of us. Vote Obama 2008.Jeanie Schneider