However, one portion of the race to the White House as it currently stands will not be so easily put out of mind. This is the race to the Democratic nomination and it is riveting. I should state at this point I am a registered Independent preferring to try and find positive aspects in every candidate on the ballot. But it doesn’t take a person struggling to weigh their options (not that I’m always successful) to realize something special is happening within the Democratic Party.

History is being made and it won’t matter which candidate is selected to achieve that goal. For the first time since suffrage and the E.R.A. what most intelligent people already believed was possible could become a reality. A female candidate is now a serious contender for the highest office in the land and could become president. Equal in weight to that possibility is the fact that an African American is also a serious contender for the highest office in the land.

The Democratic Party is displaying it has adapted to the reality of today’s world and the desire of the country and especially its young people to change our direction. It is a want to address the world in which they have grown up teaching them about the potential in all people and looking past old stereotypes. People want the best qualified person to do the job and there is nothing in class, race or gender which in and of itself should bar a person from being able to occupy the Oval Office.

There is a long way to go and still will be whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is the person chosen of the three remaining presidential candidates to be our nation’s leader. Sexism, racism, classism and other forms of discrimination will still be alive and in need of being addressed. For years many people did not know about, did not want to acknowledge or knowingly denied that some of these barriers to progress existed, and that’s become null and void with race, gender and class surfacing as issues this election. It is out in the open now which is good because we can look at these things in a straightforward manner which is positive for the growth of any individual or society.

This year the Democratic Party has done something I personally have not seen any party do since my first becoming cognizant of politics; they have found a way to speak to people on a grassroots level and a personal level opening up awareness and beckoning inclusion. It is exiting to see this happening and is a dose of the right medicine after eight years of broken promises, needless sacrificing of US soldiers, taking advantage of post 9/11 insecurities, sending the economy into the tank and our deficit into orbit. Americans now have more choice in who to vote for than ever before in our country’s history, and a more balanced field from which to choose.

No matter who wins the Democratic Party’s primary there will be no one viewed as a loser. The tract of road littered with carnage from those who did not make it will not include the maimed body of one of the current Dems. There may be a billboard with a picture of that person who did not get the nod representing a milestone in American history instead of a runner up who would quickly fade from our memories.

There will be someone held up as a source of inspiration for generations to come. They will be someone who changed the face of presidential elections in America and gave the rest of us still struggling against inequalities something to aspire to. There will be a person always considered strong, courageous and a source of hope. That person will be a national hero and will have earned the title. In truth neither will be a passing lane casualty they will be people who have enriched our culture and presented a glimpse to the nation and the rest of the world of what so many had hoped America could stand for. Finally, it’s starting to feel like we’re back on track.

To read about my own battles with discrimination go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.