Bergen Ethical Culture Society

Perhaps the most extraordinary news coming out of the Iowa caucuses last Thursday was the victory of Barack Obama over his Democratic rivals. It is far too early to speculate on what Obama’s achievements portend in the long range, not only about his presidential prospects, but even more importantly about the status of race in American society. Despite the fact that his mother is white, and Obama did not present himself as a so-called “race man,” I still think that his considerable win in the caucuses was an exhilarating accomplishment in what is one of the whitest of the 50 American states.

We are in the midst of an unprecedented transformation, even larger than the Industrial Revolution. Because of technological changes our world is becoming more and more interconnected.

The dynamic force of globalization will continue to change our perceptions, as it reshapes our lives, the way we make a living and the way we relate.  The changes are economic, technological, cultural and political. Incidentally, Karl Marx, in the Communist Manifesto predicted that the relentless search for markets will alter older social structures. As he put it "all that is solid will melt". Some say it is a runaway world. To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, commenting on the Industrial Revolution in his day, “things are in the saddle and ride mankind".