Day 275
It is now technically election day … as it’s after midnight on the first Tuesday of November this election year. And though I say “day” it is roughly two-something in the morning and the polls will be opening, in a few hours, across the country. The campaign ads will cease to air and the candidates will end their last minute promise-making. In roughly 17 hours the polls will close and the decision of who will be the president of our country for the next four years will be announced, I am surmising, sometime late tomorrow night or in the wee hours of the following morning.
I haven’t been this nervous about an election since my first voting privilege back in 1978!
I’m not in love with “my” candidate … but I believe in him and his values and his vision and his decency. I feel he respects women and families and our veterans and generally the people across our nation despite or because of their differences and that is important to me in this election.
I respect that people have political affiliations (though I don’t agree with the whole party affiliation thing) and have different views on these men but to me this election isn’t about party politics … it’s about where the country is going in the next few years. What are the visions of these men? Who will be the best leader? Who will ignite the enthusiasm that this country needs to make positive change? Is the vision looking towards a forward movement (even if may happen in baby steps) or is it one that will plunge us backwards?
I see vast differences in these men and it honestly scares me.
This country has real problems. We have economic woes. We have families losing sight of their homes, businesses and dreams. We have faltering educational systems. We have people out of work who need jobs all across this country. We have so many who are in need of attention … whether it be assistance or medical help … the disabled, the elderly, our veterans, the disadvantaged, this disconnected. And we have children who cry themselves to sleep every night because they are hungry or cold or scared … or all of those things. To know that any one of these issues exists in this country is heartbreaking; to know they all exist is unacceptable.
We need change and we need it now. And whomever is at the helm had better take this seriously and take us forward.
We don’t just need ideas but we need ideas that will turn into solutions. The issue to me, isn’t about working hard, but working hard and making progress. Slow and steady. Tortoise and the hare. These problems didn’t happen overnight … they have compounded over many, many years and it’s going to take more time to iron out the wrinkles and get new practices in place.
You can’t eat an elephant in one gulp. But you can … as long as you keep going … one bite at a time.
As far as I’m concerned this country has problems far greater than worrying about who is affiliated with what political party. This country needs a leader who will inspire and bring us together. We need to work together to make change and make this country stronger and better and healthier – in all ways. It shouldn’t matter who belongs to which party … or what they look like or what they do or who they love. We are ONE. We are UNITED.
Or at least we should be.
The time has come when our country will decide which of these men will lead us into the future. I hope that the final decision is the best one for all of us.