For the first time in this century we are witnessing a revolution -- not a revolution of barricades, but a civil revolution that could very well be the kind Thomas Jefferson said we must have every 100 years.

There is no doubt the country is facing an awakening that could very well be fulfilled within a very short time. As any new beginning that carries profound changes, it will not be easy. President Bush's horrendous eight years of arrogance, imperialism, lies and contempt for the law -- together with the proxy of mediocrity and political opportunism -- have plagued the country. It is this catalytic energy that has been building up and has finally reached this cohesive will for change, and the need to come back to basics.

There will be fiery resistance from those already committed to keep our status quo -- from those who are reluctant to admit we are behind in education; from those opposing National Health Service, insisting ours is already "the best," knowing very well it only applies to a certain segment of the population; from those not accepting that there are 35 million Americans living below the poverty line and acting indignant over the statement that there are two Americas (the same words were used by President Johnson in his declaration of the war on poverty in l967); and, last but not least, the tragic and scary beliefs of those who will not acknowledge that our foreign policy is in shambles.

There are some so-called pundits who talk about a Barack Obama "populist campaign," not realizing that any sign of populism is a simple and basic reaction to the spectrum of another ugly side showing corruption and greed.

For the past 40 years, we have faced an increasing state of apathy, deception and indifference toward everything involving politics, politicians and direction the country is headed for. The highest electoral participation in a presidential election was 61 percent when President Kennedy ran for office; since then, all elections that followed have only reached a percentage of 52 percent, with some lower that 50 percent.

In this campaign, Obama is creating a once-in-a-generation possibility to make us tall and proud again, and regain the respect of the rest of the world. In many ways he seems too good to be true. He has shown an ability to unite gender and races, mobilize a previously unresponsive youth toward unbound enthusiasm, convey hope -- yes, hope -- and is making a commitment to all of us to participate in the political process. We must not forget: This young generation is the future!

For the first time in a very long while, we are seeing imagination, an uplift in the national mood, an excitement and a newly found pride to be an American. It was my 37-year-old son who made me realize the progression of all of the above.

At the end of this journey, we will see some political legacies being shattered and some others still being written. We are a culturally conservative nation. We have deep divisions between so-called "liberals" and conservatives. In some parts of the country, for lack of education, sadly the word "liberal" has become anathema.

President Kennedy was never identified as a liberal, but when he spoke in September l960, just two months before the presidential elections, he said "if a liberal means someone who looks ahead and not back, someone who welcomes new ideas, someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their schools, their civil liberties, if this is the meaning of a liberal, then I am proud to say I am a liberal."

During a stay in England, former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, when asked how he felt among Tories and members of the Labor Party, replied: "I feel just great -- everyone of them is a democrat."

(The writer is a retired insurance executive who left his native Cuba in 1961. He now lives in Aiken, S.C.)