Waxing Election Day Poetic

This election day has been rather uneventful for me. As you all probably know I am out of my state of residency at the moment, so I voted early at the Chicago Public Library near my house on October 16.

My experience was exemplary. I had mailed in my voter registration information prior to the deadline and was nervous I wouldn't receive confirmation in time, but it arrived earlier that week, and the volunteers easily found my name on the list despite my worries that there would be a problem since I'd previously been registered at a different address in Chicago. I was worried that the polling machine would confuse me, but it was quite simple. I was given a card and placed it in the machine ATM-style. Then I was prompted ATM-style to indicate with a plastic "stylus" PDA-style on the screen who (or what, in the case of legislature and referendums) I wished to vote for. I was very disappointed in myself for being less informed about local races and state judges up for renewal, so I abstained in those races (there's nothing more annoying to me than an uninformed voter voting for something they know nothing about). I voted for the race that counts, even though I feel confident that Obama will take his home state of IL without the help of little ol' me. I was in and out of the library in under 10 minutes.

Since I have today off and I don't have to go out to vote, I've been perusing other blogs this afternoon, tales of voting in other parts of the country: In CA my sister-in-law had no trouble being found on the voter list, but my brother had to fill out a provisional ballot. In NY, my friend Cat had no trouble.

I've also been interested to see how facebook has made it so easy to share one's political beliefs by donating one's "status" to a particular candidate. I scrolled through a list of my friends' status updates last night and almost all of the donated ones were for Obama. There were 2 for McCain, and I know of 2 other friends who are probably voting for McCain but aren't plastering it up all over their facebook. I probably have more friends who are voting for McCain, but I don't know about them.

It's so interesting to me how divided we've become over this. I don't understand why they would vote for McCain/Palin and I'm sure they don't understand why I would vote for Obama/Biden, and I don't even remotely consider myself political. But this race and this year after the 8 years we've just had and the state this union is in now, are so important. My friend Leah said last night, "It's either going to be the best day of our lives, or the first day I live in Canada." There are so many Americans who are so jaded with the current administration they are ready to up and leave. And I know how frustrating it is for my best friend, a Canadian citizen living in the US for 23 years, to not be able to vote today. So please, please vote. Even if you're voting against what I think the country needs, please vote. If you have the right, exercise it.

Voltaire is attributed with saying this, and I think it holds especially true today, on this day which could be the most important turning point of federal government in my lifetime, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This nation was founded on these principles: no taxation without representation, the freedom of speech and to practice a religion other than the Church of England, the freedom to make their own choices, to choose their own leaders. No matter how bad things seem to get, and even though it was terrible for them to overlook and ignore the effects of slavery on this young nation when those documents were written, I am continually refreshed by the words and ideals of our founding fathers and how daring they were to dissolve the political bands, to cut the safety net and forge ahead on their own. But I also respect their humility: to know they hadn't been infallible and to create provisions to amend the document over the years as need be, as we see fit.

As I said earlier, I am not a political person, but I get a little misty when I read the Declaration of Independence or the Preamble to the Constitution. Despite all the negativity surrounding the current administration, the damage we as a country have done to the environment, neglecting public education, turning a blind eye to the rising costs of health care for the average American, I still have a great respect for this country in principle and on paper. We can still meet those goals set for us over 200 years ago--to promote the general welfare. I hope so much that the Popular and Electoral voters out there make the right and best choice today, and I hope that regardless of who is elected that those in office make the right and best choices for the country in the 4 years to come. I hope, in the hours of the returns tonight and in the dawn's early light tomorrow, that star-spangled banner yet waves o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Be brave. Go vote. Let's not be afraid of change.