It's hard to overstate the transformative moment that we're in as a nation and, particularly, as progressives. In just a few years, we've gone from the high point of conservative power to a stunning rejection of conservative federal leadership and the historic election of a progressive African-American president.

But the electoral sea change is just part of the extraordinary national moment. The financial meltdown and slide toward deep recession have crystallized Americans' anger over deteriorating economic security, stagnant mobility, growing inequality, and policies of isolation instead of connection. Americans are ready for a new social compact and a transformed relationship between the people and our government. They are calling for a new era of big ideas and different values than we've seen over most of the past three decades.

The electorate has shown an unprecedented willingness to overcome racial and ethnic barriers to take on daunting shared challenges. Young people, people of color, and low-income people turned out to register and vote in unprecedented numbers that bode well for a far more participatory and egalitarian democracy going forward.

Even before this year's remarkable events, opinion research showed a historic, progressive shift in Americans' views on issues that (not coincidentally) were barely mentioned in the election. Perhaps most striking is the shift on criminal justice and problems of addiction, where the U.S. public has moved broadly to support rehabilitation and treatment over incarceration and retribution, as well as assistance and integration for people emerging from prison.

But an unprecedented opportunity for progressive values and ideas is not the same as victory for a progressive social and policy vision. The stark challenges of rising inequality, faltering security, and broken systems of health care, immigration, and criminal justice are the same on November 5 as they were on November 4. What's changed is only the chance for transformative change.

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    This is my first diary entry on any forum.  I hope that you will forgive my poor writing; each diary I read adds some facet to my understanding of the world in which we live and I hope that this humble attempt will contribute to that whole for someone else.

    Senator Clinton was the epitome of grace and class today in her poignant speech.  I watched her campaign these past 16 months with mixed feelings.  As a woman who has struggled my entire career against the perception that because of my gender I am somehow less capable than the men, I longed to see her as the better choice, but based on the issues and on my own feelings about her words, I supported Sen. Obama for the nomination.  In her speech today she voiced many of the challenges that women face in the world, acknowledged both how far we have come and how far we have yet to go, and began the process of healing some of the rifts between a lot of us and our opponents' supporters.  I won't waste time and words listing those; we all know there have been some on both sides.

    That glass ceiling has been there all our lives.  Every woman who takes a risk and refuses to listen to all the reasons why she "can't" accomplish her goals knows that ceiling in intimate detail, and each of us has left at least one minute fissure.  Our mothers and grandmothers fought for rights that today we take for granted.  In our nation's youth, Abigail Adams wrote many insightful letters to her husband.  One example is this excerpt:

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Previously posted on the Young People For Blog.

So many people ask: "Is the United States ready for it's first black president?" However I think the real question is, "Will the American people be prepared to recognize the differences that we all share?" The truth of the matter is that we won't have a `black' president if Barak Obama is elected. If Obama is elected he will carry on the great American tradition of presidents who are racially and ethnically mixed. The attempts to stamp our current society with the false vestiges of time will not do. Today is not as black and white as the televisions once used to be.

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  My name is David Slavick, I am the Democratic Candidate for State Representative in PA's 109Th District. ). I am a 27 year-old alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and of Ursinus College where I majored in Politics. Despite studying politics and international relations in college, I did not become personally motivated to get involved in the political system until my motivation literally ran into me one summer.

    During the summer leading into my junior year, I was working at a factory that manufactured truck trailers near my hometown of Berwick, PA. Each day I awoke at 4 A.M so I could get to work at the plant that was about an hour away by 5:30 A.M.  The days were long and exhausting, but it was "lucrative" summer work for our area, as it paid an unheard of $9.00 an hour and you had most Fridays off.

    That summer I earned a few dollars for my textbook fund, made some friends, and even learned how to use an arc welder. Working at the plant also taught me some valuable lessons about the relationship between labor and management in the real world.  In the lunchroom, fliers littered the tables where we took our breaks. They stated that workers should be happy and grateful to have their jobs and that under recently passed NAFTA the company could start building trailers in Mexico within a week's time.  We all knew what that meant.  

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