There is hope.

I don't often make comments on political events, especially if they relate to another country, but yesterday's US election results give me some hope. The people of the US have chosen to return to the precepts which made the USA the beacon of freedom in the past, and which seemed to have been compromised lately.

There are unrealistic expectations of a "quick fix", of course, but the economic mess that the US financial system finds itself in was not created overnight, and won't be fixed in a day. What will be needed is perseverance and a return to saner principles of economics. In the past, those are what made the USA the great country it is - the people have chosen to return to those concepts; good for them, and, I think, for all of us.

The USA has shown much compassion in the past for people on the losing side. I am a beneficiary of that compassion - I grew up in Berlin during and after the war (think of the Berlin airlift), and was lucky enough to have lived in the "American sector" of the then divided city. That compassion has not changed, in my opinion. In addition, the American people are known to be great "adapters" of new ideas, wherever those ideas may have originated. Nowadays, due to the internet, televison, and other instant communications technologies (American inventions and adaptations, by and large), ideas are available from all over the world. It takes nothing more than an open mindset to consider that other people may have ideas which could be helpful.

Judging by the speeches given by both Barack Obama and John McCain (both of which I consider to be magnificent pieces of oratory), there seems to be a willingness to look for new ideas wherever they may be found.

For these reasons I think that the USA can again be a moral light that can guide us to a more tolerant world.