Since today is Election Day in the United States, we stand on the threshold. A new leader will be elected to lead this country. Where will he lead us? What is on the other side of this threshold? Of course, we have no way of knowing; we can only venture vague guesses.
As one person said, if you vote for McCain and he wins, you will probably regret it four years from now. And if you vote for Obama and he wins, you will probably regret that, too, four years from now.
The only way you can really win is by voting for the losing candidate. That way, when everything gets worse, you can comfort yourself by saying, “At least I didn’t vote for him!”
I wish I could be enthusiastic about politics. But politics have proven to be a safe haven for half-truths, political spin, and blatant lies. Truth is not popular in politics.
And time has proven that most Presidents, before they are elected, are “full of it” — full of empty promises, that is. Since when has a President followed through on even half of the promises he made on the campaign trail?
So, yes, we stand on the threshold. But it is the threshold of the unkown. We have no way of knowing what will happen once McCain or Obama takes the reins — or even if one of them will take the reins.
Despite my outlook, I still voted. The difference between me and most folks is I’m not looking for a political savior. Our future is in God’s hands — not an elected official. Keep that in mind as history marches forward.
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I am 22 and I’d like to capture my thoughts before America either elects a president who its first 26 presidents could have legally owned, or brazenly subverts the very ideals it was founded upon by manipulating numbers in a final embarrassingly overt goosestep towards corporate totalitarianism.
I am nervous. And not night-before-the-swim-test nervous or even night-you-lose-your-virginity nervous, it’s a low rumbling primal panic which I can only liken to Star Wars panic. Disney panic. The edge-of-your-seat-terror that makes you wonder if Skywalker’s doomed after he refuses to join Darth Vader and drops down into the abyss, if the wicked octopus or grand vizier or steroid-pumping-village-misogynist is going to wed/kill/skin the dashing prince and then evil people in dark funny costumes are going to take over the world… if it wasn’t a movie of course.
And tonight it’s not. It’s not a movie and yet I feel like Obama might as well be wearing an American flag cape while a decaying McCain, in a high-tech robotic spider wheelchair wearing an eyepatch and stroking an evil cat, gives orders to a sexy scheming Palin who marches back and forth through their sub-terranian campaign lair in four inch thigh-highs and full-body black leather catsuit bossing around the evangelical ants with a loooooong whip… umm… is this just me?
Anyway, the point is that things feel weird folks. I have friends who have peed in waterbottles to keep from interrupting a Halo-playing marathon who got off their asses/couches to volunteer for the Obama campaign not once, but many times. Friends so cheap their body content is at least 1/3 Ramen Noodle who donated a good deal of their hard-earned cash to the campaign. People have registered to vote in record numbers, and yet, something just doesn’t feel right. I think we should stop congratulating ourselves for just voting. To vote is a privilege which people have died for, and I think there’s a whole lot more to be done for the country than to simply help win an election every 4 years.
Hundreds of millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of man-hours spent on both sides by good-intentioned people who want to make a difference in an historic election, so many resources and voices and energies devoted to a single day. After tomorrow, half of that is going to have been a waste. And I can’t help but wonder what could have happened if all that muscle had been put towards something else, and what will happen to its momentum after the election has come and gone. Shouldn’t we be donating our money to good causes whenever we can? Helping people who don’t have? Dedicating some of our time to contribute to making the country which provides for us a better place? Of course a power shift is a hugely significant step on the path to great reform, but worrying about this election has been a wakeup call for me:
Even if Obama wins, we have not “won.” This isn’t a movie and we can’t toss every greedy lobbyist oil fatcat bigot down a reactor shaft. I think if we dedicate ourselves to the ongoing welfare of the country as much as we have to the outcome of this election, we’ll have a much better shot at coming closer to the overwhelming good the liberals hope Obama will usher in, but which no mere mortal could fully realize alone.
Which brings me to the other side. I’ve heard a lot of people claim that if McCain wins, they’re leaving. I heard the same thing about Bush’s reelection, and his unelection before that, and nobody seems to be leaving. And that’s fine. Because as much as I complain about certain political happenings, atrocities, etc., I really do like it here and I suspect most other people do too. We have New York and Hollywood, purple mountain’s majesty and sea to shining sea, we created jazz and country music and baseball and cars and lightbulbs and computers and that movie with hundreds of animated singing Chihuahuas! I mean who among the shivering Plymouth pilgrims ever imagined ordering hundreds of animated singing chihuahuas onto a magical box from an invisible information superweb?
The point being, if things don’t turn out the way I want tomorrow, I feel compelled, as a college-graduated adultish-type-person, to take a stand. And if I’m going to leave I’m going to leave. But if I’m going to stay I’m not going to sit around whining like I have for the past 8 years. It’s like when I don’t clean my room because it’s dirty and then I blame the dirt. So in my very indecisive way, before you and your screen, I’m declaring my intention to make some kind of stand in the event of -(Ican’tevensayit)-, and encouraging you to consider making one too…
Jump the ship or grab a bucket?
-Sigh-
Wasn’t everything so much easier back when the worst possible affront to your values was a PB&J sandwich cut diagonally with crust?
Anyways, I guess what I’m saying is that if we’re going to stay on board, we should probably be generous with our time and resources when times are tough even more than when the hero saves the day. Because what if he doesn’t? And what if he can’t? If we’re serious about real change, election day should only be the beginning of “Yes we can,” not the end.
Best,
Hannah Friedman
http://www.writinghannah.blogspot.com
Hannah – That was quite a comment! :-)
Thanks for expressing yourself so eloquently.
I have no plans to leave America even though I didn’t want Obama or McCain to win.
And I agree: Speak out against injustice, stand up for the orphan and the widow… and submit to whatever authority is put over you.
At least that’s my perspective.
Ryan
The most amazing thing about this election is how strongly people have felt about it. The newspapers this morning reported a 90% voter turnout here in Utah. In the USA overall, we had the largest voter turnout since 1908.
People care about the outcome, I know I do. I have been sick for months with the fear that if Obama wins, what exactly is it that he will change. I like America. There are some things that could use some fixing, but for the most part, I’m proud to be an American. I have to assume other parts of the US are worse off than here, or the call for change wouldn’t have been so effective.
We have major issues right now with the economy, most of which have been caused by bad miss-use of debt. I hope that Obama will focus on changes there before he starts his plans to crash the energy industry.
For me, having Obama win is painful. I see what Hannah means when she talks about the flag wrapped hero and the vile villian, but for me it is Obama with his arms and legs tied with strings like a marionette while McCain is the decorated war vetran being spit on in the streets.
I think the most comforting thing I’ve seen today is Ryan Healy’s comment, “Our future is in God’s hands — not an elected official.”
The truth is that in a week I will probably calm down and be able to see that the truth is somewhere in the middle. Obama and McCain are just men trying to do their best and the media pushes to the front what they want us to believe. We have had the villian and savior roles pushed at us so hard that TRUTH is buried too deeply in the manure to find.
All Improvement is Change, but not all Change is Improvement. Let’s hope the changes are in the right direction.
Becky – I totally agree with you. I’ve never been witness to an election where people felt so passionate about his or her “presidential pick.”
God gives us the leaders we deserve. Obama is an expression of the hearts of the people.
The good news is God works all things for good. And even though Obama might do some things that damage America… remember that “Barack” means “blessing.”
Whatever happens, God is ultimately using it for our blessing.
Obama or McCain. What’s the difference? Thay are both politics, they make this to do one’s business and everybody lie…Many peoples saying that it’s very good thay Obama will be our president, but only time show it’s good or not good.
You make a great point on politics. This is the first time in my voting “career” that I totally and completely understand voter apathy. I totally disliked both major candidates – but no matter what I did, someone whom I thought was not qualified to be president …would be. I still voted (our foremothers worked too hard and were punished too much for me not to take that right and duty), but I proudly went Independent for the first time ever, because I could not bring myself to vote for either of them.
And I do want a bumper sticker (now! Not 4 years from now! lol) that says “Don’t blame me, I voted Independent”.
Kris – Thanks for the comment. Four years ago was the first time I voted “independent.” I voted for Michael Badnarik; he was running on the Libertarian ticket.
This year I voted for Chuck Baldwin, the Consitution Party candidate, even though I knew he would never be elected.
Eight years ago, I voted for George Bush. If I had known he was going to go to war after 9/11, I would not have voted for him.
Oh, well. Probably everybody has voted for a candidate and then later regretted it.
Ryan
I’m already regretting my vote. I voted for McCain as the lesser of two evils, figuring that I should at lest vote for someone with a chance. Truthfully the Libertarian viewpoint is closer to my own, but they have no real chance of winning.
If I had voted that way, at least the world would know that more of us are sifting that direction than the vote shows.
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