What we deserve.

"If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost." - Aristotle.


Tomorrow, I will wake up like any other day, crawl out of bed and drag myself to the coffeemaker before anything else, and then take stock of wht is on my plate for the day. Let's see:

1. Go over my daily calendar.
2. Check my e-mail.
3. Look over other blogs I have an interest in.
4. Prepare for a 12:30 appointment to lecutre a college death and dying class on organ donation.
5 . Vote
6. Stop at the coffee shop to read the latest chapter of my proofreading course.
7. Start research on a potential article
8. Go home, make dinner.
9. Work from 8 pm to 2 am.

Wait...what was that fifth item? Ah yes, tomorrow is Election Day. Why down on the list you may ask? Do I think it is of less importance than any of the others? Nope. I think this election is one of the more pivotal ones, at least in my lifetime. It is possible it may be the the single most pivotal one I have yet to experience since 1977, the year I turned 18, and voted in my first election. I am simply not going to get my hopes up too high. There is no such things as a sure thing, and opinion polls, like rules, are made to be broken. The only opinion poll that will matter at the end of the day is the one that is decided by Wednesday morning.

I made my decision to vote for Obama after McCain chose that unqualified twit as his running mate. While I don't agree with absolutely everything Obama wants to do, I find his proposals far more sensible than what McCain is offering, and I will gladly pull the lever tomorrow for Obama. I just am not going to allow myself to feel any sense of satisfaction until all the results are tallied, especially after the elections of 2000 and 2004. Yes, I voted for Bush in 2000, a mistake I did not repeat in 2004. I was one of those undecideds, I belong to no political party, and I base my vote on what I read about those running and what my gut tells me. Usually it is right, but it does make mistakes from time-to-time.

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." - George Bernard Shaw

Whatever the outcome, history will be made one way or the other. My only real concern is that at the end of the day, nothing will really change. A president is only as effective as the Congress that works with or against them. On the positive side, if the pollsters are correct, this will be the biggest voter turnout in a general election for some time. if this has propelled more people to take a stand, and exercise the right that others have sacrificed for, then at the very least, some good will have come out of this election. As frustrated as I get with these politicians, I always keep in the back of my head the maxim that if you don't vote, you have no right to complain.

I'll get back to you on Wednesday. Maybe I will be in a position to actually feel good about the outcome.