Freedom's Fidelity

Monday, November 01, 2004

Election Thoughts

Who knows what is going to happen? I'm less sure that Bush is going to win than I was a few weeks ago, but I still think he has the edge. I just hope it is over tomorrow night. The trust in the process of this election is bigger than either candidate, by a long shot. Each side has thousands of lawyers hried preparing for litigation if teir guy doesn't win. On top of that, I'm still worried about a terorist attack, how hard would it be to roll a few hand grenades into a few polling places in battle ground states and immediately throw the election's integrity into chaos? Then again, Al-Qaeda couldn't get that done in the Afgan elections.... and not much has been going right for them. So, I'm going to be optimistic that tomorrow night we will know who the next President is. Whatever the result it will be interesting to see where we go. Don't look to George Bush or John Kerry to bring us back together, look to us. Politicians respond to what works, the electorate responds to partisanship and that's what we get. In the charge of the electoral cycle, neither side concedes an inch, to do so, would be an invitation to get steamrolled by the opposition. So both sides plow forward and constructive criticism is lost. And that's what we need most of. There has been enough second-guessing on how we got to where we are, but we're still here. We need to start the open talk on how to go forward, lets here some criticism that isn't levelled or deflected just to increase the chances of your guy being in White House, but rather in hopes of finding a better means to the task at hand. Right now, that task, is to foster open and tolerant societies in the Middle East, while simultaneously fighting a shadowy war against the forces that currently corrupt it. It's an enormous undertaking, the less partisanship injected in the discussion the better. Lets save that for the Domestic issues.

As it has been said, these are interesting times. Eric Olsen agrees when he writes:

This is the time of the season I am most proud to be an American: the day before an incredibly close and hotly contested election poised at a pivotal nexus with the future, when voters are more energized and polarized than they have been in decades. People CARE this time, and the bizarre chain of events that left the 2000 election undecided for weeks has reinforced the notion that every vote really does matter, if you can get it counted. And yet, on the other hand, it's just business as usual.

Idealistic, yeah some... but read the whole thing and then rest for a day, go vote for your guy, then watch it all unfold on TV. As long as there is a winner, the republic will survive.

posted by Paul  permalink | |