Four years ago, the day John Kerry conceded to George W. Bush, I wrote the following (through tears of grief and sorrow) in my personal journal:
I am an American whose ancestors of many generations risked everything for the ideals of this country.
I am descended from a passenger on the Mayflower, who risked everything to escape the oppression of an English king.
I am descended from Scots who came to the New World because the English had outlawed their tartan and stolen their croft in the Highlands. They came with nothing but hope and courage.
I am descended from a signer of the Declaration of Independence who risked everything when he put his signature on that document, backed up by nothing more than a hope.
I am descended from colonists who left their families and their farms to follow a rag-tag army that fought an empire with nothing more than hope and courage.
I am descended from abolitionists who risked everything to provide a stop on the Underground Railroad so that others could be free.
I am descended from a suffragette who marched for women’s right to vote and risked everything. She was 36 years old, a college professor, wife and mother before she was able to cast her first ballot.
I am the daughter of a WWII bomber pilot who left a wife and three children behind to defeat Hitler, risking his own life so that his children would continue to live free.
But today, I am very afraid that all that these people fought for will soon cease to exist. I am facing the hard decision as to whether or not I will stay in the country that my ancestors helped to create. I am full of sorrow today.
Today, I cried tears of joy that my country is back again – the country my ancestors dreamed could exist and worked hard to create. My great-great grandfather who hid runaway slaves in his cellar would be proud today. My grandmother who fought for the right to vote would have been so happy to see the result of a fully enfranchised electorate. I believe that even my father, the WWII bomber pilot, the Republican with whom I disagreed on most political issues, would hear in our new President the echoes of his own Kansas upbringing.
I am glad that I did not give up on America. I am glad that the United States of America once again represents the ideals and the hopes of my ancestors. I am here to stay. And I welcome my new son-in-law, an immigrant himself, into the best club of the world, the club of citizens of the United States of America.