Star Trek endures because it promotes the best of humanity, individually and collectively. Most people approve of the company they keep, enlisting hope when they can and generally not shrinking from responsibility. Certainly cynics may opt to sink into their private paler shade, thankfully the margins of society are sufficiently wide-swept to shelter these disconsolate wallflowers that shun sunlight for shadow.

"We've each learned to be delighted with what we are."

The legend of Star Trek from its genesis involved racial and sexual equality, differing in practical degrees of success but in principle always dedicated to the ideal that diversity represents strength and not cause for division. (Where later Trek often stumbled was its lazy trend of insufficient concept that trivialized said diversity to inconsequence.) From its heart Star Trek promises an inclusive future in which peace and hope not only guide civilization but more so represent a satisfactory if not enriching foundation.

"Freedom…is our worship word too"

The world breathed a sigh of relief today as the Yangs voted to step back from perpetual war against the planet's population. By surmounting the mighty machines arrayed on all sides of contemporary politics, the campaign for change has a powerful, positive new leader, one with impressive intellectual credentials unspoiled by a supercilious, over-perfumed sense of self-worth.

"He has a magnetism, almost electric…you felt it"

This new leader is refreshingly human, a devoted father and husband entirely first, the century's most accomplished politician a distant second. In his acceptance speech he endorsed the shared values that unite us, renouncing the immature partisanship and pettiness that drives us apart. A long string of achievements represent proven potential for overcoming adversity, in an adventure stretched from here to the moon. For a self-described Star Trek fan that's not a bad start!

"Where I come from, size, shape or color makes no difference."

There are plenty of better places for political talk this column tries to avoid. Unlike most Yang elections within memory however, this last decision persists in sticking its remarkable nose under history's tent. A torrent of tears and incredulous joy renews our global spirit in humanity's optimistic struggle to bootstrap itself into the promised vision. The deeply buried brain instinct for xenophobia (also known as racism, for those discomfited by many syllables) is a luxurious evolutionary relic we can no longer afford. Star Trek from its beginning has lighted a path leading to that ideal, a path of peace we may finally be correcting ourselves toward. Yes we can, make it so!