Five generations ago my great-great grandfather rode with the 18th Louisiana Calvary Company B in the cause of the Confederacy, fighting in a war some of the oldest surviving members of my family still call the “War of Northern Aggression.”

Three generations ago my grandfather was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and that didn’t make him an extremist among his peers; at that time and place it was in fact expected of a man of his station.

A few days ago, I voted for an African-American for President of the United States. More accurately, I voted for an American of mixed race for President. The heart-warming photos of our president-elect with his white grandmother would have inspired nothing but revulsion and fear in my forebears, and indeed even today in some of my relations.

My thoughts today turn to bigoted members of the Williams clan- past and present- and also to people who share my name, whom I have never met. At the conclusion of the Civil War my great-great grandfather’s only slave elected to remain on the William’s farm and took the William’s name passing it on to his descendants. Relations in name if not in blood I wonder where they are, how they’ve made out, and I worry.

It’s tempting for whites to think that with a black man in the White House we have at long last reached racial equality in America. This is not the case.

13% of otherwise eligible black American men were unable to vote in this election because they are now or were once in prison. I remember my misspent youth, which I had the good fortune to spend in the company of black friends as well as white. We were not “good boys.” But where I avoided incarceration, my black friends did not.

Why?

I was lucky, sure, but more importantly, the deep south deputies that never gave me a second look came down on them like cartoon pianos hitting the sidewalk.

I remember the high school I attended which was 90% white and how when the school across town, that was 90% black was winning a ball game the chant from the stands was, “That’s all right, that’s okay, you’re all gonna work for us some day.”

I remember my grandmother locking the car doors when a black man crossed the street in front of us.

I remember my cousin who as a young man would prowl the streets of town on a Friday night and if a black man dared cross the street in front of him he’d bump him with his car then get out and beat him…

Then I think about how that cousin joined the fire department.

When the first black joined the department, he grumbled.

When another joined he grumbled a little less.

And when after a few years he had learned to depend upon those men for his safety as they depended upon him for theirs, he admitted they were good firefighters.

A few years later, when his young son learned a new word, and tried it out, my cousin made it clear to him that he didn’t want to hear the “n word” out of him again.

And my thoughts go back to the Williams family I’ve never met. I hope they have shared in the opportunities afforded the William’s family of my blood, but realistically I know that their paths have almost certainly been harder.

We have come a long way, but whites need to remember, as blacks need no reminder, that we still have a long way to go.

If the tragedy of our history is found in the gulf that separates our American ideals from our actions as Americans, our promise lies in the hope that we may yet bridge that gap and create a nation where our ideals and actions are united.

When I think of my cousin and the progress he has made, when I see pictures of his son on a baseball diamond with the black players he calls his friends — I am hopeful.

When I saw the camera pan across the crowds of celebrants cheering for Obama — white, brown and black faces cheering as one — I cheered along.

I hope that one day I will meet one of the black relatives that share my name, and sharing one nation, one hope and one future, embrace him.

Freedom.

Our automobiles are plastered with the word.

“Freedom isn’t free.”

“Jet noise: the sound of freedom.”

“If you’re free, thank a vet.”

Bumper sticker logic: I can’t help thinking it’s muddled logic that many of us are confusing freedom with something else.

“Freedom isn’t free” — that at least is irrefutable, but who is paying the bill, and what is the tender? Most of us pay our taxes, some of us vote, a few of us have taken up arms. Paying Uncle Sam his due, choosing the lesser evil, shipping a few of us off to point the gun. Does that make us free? No.

“Jet noise: the sound of freedom” -the bumper sticker should read: “Jet noise the sound of American hegemony.” It’s not as catchy, but it’s a damn sight more accurate. Multi-million dollar combat aircraft streaking overhead may allow us to assert our will and even our whims over our neighbors, but that isn’t freedom.

“If you’re free, thank a vet” - freedom does not come from the barrel of a gun; it is power that the rifle provides and nothing more, as Mao so accurately observed. I am not disparaging the contributions of our fighting men and women I am merely clarifying what that contribution is. It is security, not freedom. And it is important to remember while it is difficult to have freedom without security it is all too easy to have security without freedom.

George Washington may have defeated the Redcoats, but he did not free American women. That was up to Susan B. Anthony and Rha Goddess, and the struggle continues.

Abraham Lincoln may have emancipated the slaves, but he didn’t free American Blacks. That was up to Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King Jr., and the struggle continues.

Migrant farm workers didn’t look to the military for their salvation. They looked to César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, and the struggle continues.

Members of the GLBT community didn’t look to law enforcement for liberation. They looked to Magnus Hirschfeld and Barbara Gittings, and the struggle continues.

George W. Bush may have taken on the Taliban, but he hasn’t granted Americans their freedom. Indeed he has done a great deal to imperil it.

Since 9/11 we’ve allowed the erosion of our civil liberties. In the name of security, we have undermined the rights that define us as Americans. We are doing to ourselves what our enemies could never hope to do.

We the people of the United States of America are the guarantors of freedom. It is up to us. If we are foolish enough to give up our freedoms, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Freedom isn’t free.

We must fight for it in the streets of our nation, fight not in the fashion of our military but following the example of our most far-sighted visionaries.

More has been done in the cause of freedom by those brave enough to face violent men than by those men engaged in violence. We must fight with conviction, with vigilance and with our votes.

If you want to hear the sound of freedom listen to the whirr of a printing press, a cry of outrage, or a call for justice.

If you’re free thank someone with the courage to lift up their voice, then lift up your own.

Pentagon power can vanquish our foreign foes, but it cannot grant us freedom. That is up to me and you, and the struggle continues.

Many Americans prefer a divided government.

By this I mean one where neither the Republicans nor the Democrats control both the executive and the legislative branches.

A large percentage of Americans are independents and moderates who hold views that straddle the hard divide between red and blue. They are thus uncomfortable with either side holding too much power at any time, or for too long. While many of us complain of the gridlock in Washington many of us would still prefer that neither side be able to advance every aspect of their agendas too quickly, or too far.

As the Democrats currently control the Legislature those who advocate divided government would seem to have a clear choice. This year however the decision-making process becomes more complicated if you consider the third branch of government; the judiciary. In theory the Supreme Court should be apolitical; in practice this has not been the case particularly in recent years. Increasingly, despite assertions to the contrary, litmus tests on hot button issues have been applied in both the nomination and approval process.

Currently the Supreme Court is biased to the right. This is due to two appointments made during George W. Bush’s administration including that of Chief Justice. These appointments solidified the majority’s conservative philosophy. The next president will likely nominate at least one justice, and possibly more. Regardless of whether the next president is McCain or Obama the court will still lean toward the right. The question is only how far. The justices who are likely to retire are all from the left side of the court. Given the fact that justices are appointed for life this places those who prefer a divided government in an awkward position. If McCain wins the election and appoints comparatively young judges we could be looking at the prospect of a court which leans far right for decades to come—decades in which a variety of critical judgments will have to be arrived at by the court in areas such as technology, torture, privacy and civil rights. The consequences of these decisions will likely have far reaching consequences that will directly effect many American’s daily lives.

Unlike our elected officials should the court become out of step with future trends and popular sentiment, we have no recourse. We’ll be stuck with the court we have. As much as many people dislike having one party hold sway over both the executive and the legislative branches mid term elections offer the opportunity to alter that balance should that need be felt. No such opportunity exists for the court.

Looking back over our history the Supreme Court has been at its best our conscience and vision, the voice of our values and the expression of our empathy as a nation. At its worst, it has typified our cowardice, callousness, apathy and fear.

As citizens and voters the only means we have to influence who will sit on the court is in choosing who sits in the Oval Office.