obama-on-the-3rdI will be maintaining radio silence today.  Not because I’m mute on the status of the election.  I’ll just be busy.

I have planned to go get in line at my voting precinct at 7am.  Then I will check in at the local headquarters (if I have time left over) before I go and work as a Democratic Poll Watcher.  I will pick up my roommate from work and take her to our polling precinct, then, go back to the headquarters and see if anyone else needs a ride to the polls. 

After that, I’ll probably take some medicine (I’m sick as a dog) and a nap before I head to the election party. I’m so excited that we have a chance for CHANGE!!!! It really is a beautiful thing to speak to a woman that is taking care of an 84 year old African-American woman–one who marched in Selma, Alabama and who has waited her whole life for this chance; now, she has validation that her fight during the civil rights era was worth it.  Yes, maybe this is not based on the facts about the candidate, but the symbolism is so important to a dying generation, and I cannot deny their reason for getting behind Barack Obama.

On a serious note, I’d like to see two things happen:

  1. No matter which candidate wins, I want us to CONTINUE to hold them accountable.  But I want to also lend the President-elect support as the future leader of our country.  As much as I am a supporter of Barack Obama, ifhe renigs on promises or brings about detrimental changes (doubtful, but for the sake of argument), I WILL BE THE FIRST TO SCREAM LIKE HELL. My hope is that neither of them could possibly be as bad for America as Bush and his administration, so lets all hope for the same thing–and make our voices heard.  This is supposed to be a participative democracy, right?
  2. Let’s go back to being neighbors, spouses, lovers, friends, acquaintances–and do it civilly.  If this election is all it took to fracture our nation irreparably, then we need to really re-evaluate what it means to be an American citizen in a geographically vast, intellectually diverse, country.  The distance separates us, but our opinions shouldn’t. The First Amendment not only protects what we say; it also gives us cause to tolerate/encourage others to exercise their right as well.

I AM VOTING FOR BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN TODAY. ARE YOU?