The Road to the Whitehouse

Anyone who knows me understands how big of a fan of President-elect Barack Obama I am. I supported him vocally, voted for him in both the Missouri primary and the general, and am extremely excited to see what he's capable of achieving once he takes office. I believe he will bring about change, just as he promised. Perhaps not the sweeping change that some feel is necessary, but definitely enough change so that people can feel like humanity has retaken government.

MSNBC.com is running a story that caught my attention. Obama has proposed a 775 billion dollar economic stimulus package. The difference between this package and others that have come before it is that this one would have a total ban on "...earmarks, the process by which individual members insert projects without review." Obama told reporters that his package will set a "new higher standard of accountability, transparency, and oversight." He said he will even make his stimulus package available on the internet, with "Google-like search function" for people to puruse by congressional district.

And here comes the change we've been hearing so much about. No pork-barrel projects injected into the stimulus package. Complete access by the American people to the meat of the definition of the package. These are things that no one would have dreamed of under any previous administration, Democrat or Republican. If this is the change we've been promised, I'm on board, because the beginning of sensibility and responsibility is accountability. This will finally be a government of the people again.