I'm trying not to be too Polyannish about this, but this election has damn near got me emotional. Every article, blog snippet, video, and news story I come across says the same thing: the turnout is huge. Reports from all over the country are saying that they have never seen voter turnout like today's and--keep in mind--40 million people have already voted.
In states like New York, Massachusetts, California--states that have been put in Obama's win column for months now by all the polls and pundits--are seeing lines of voters unlike any they have seen before. And in states like Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Wyoming--states that have been firmly McCain's for months--are seeing the same thing.
There is something tectonic going on in American politics right now. And I firmly believe that Obama has led nothing short of a movement--possibly even a revolution. The American political Left has been organizing and leading grass-roots initiatives for years now and Obama owes them quite a bit, no doubt. But Obama has forever changed the American political and cultural landscape.
We will be reassessing just who we are for decades to come after this election. Questions and policies regarding ethnicity, economic fairness, the role of government, war and peace, what makes one liberal or conservative, what is...possible--all will all be revisited and redefined.
And still the voters come. People that have never voted before. People that have felt bullied, disenfranchised, inferior, intimidated, and many who have just been apathetic in the past, are now voting, now making phone calls, now driving people to polling places, now taking part in writing their own future, now feeling pride, now believing, now knowing hope. What a great day to be an American.
In states like New York, Massachusetts, California--states that have been put in Obama's win column for months now by all the polls and pundits--are seeing lines of voters unlike any they have seen before. And in states like Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Wyoming--states that have been firmly McCain's for months--are seeing the same thing.
There is something tectonic going on in American politics right now. And I firmly believe that Obama has led nothing short of a movement--possibly even a revolution. The American political Left has been organizing and leading grass-roots initiatives for years now and Obama owes them quite a bit, no doubt. But Obama has forever changed the American political and cultural landscape.
We will be reassessing just who we are for decades to come after this election. Questions and policies regarding ethnicity, economic fairness, the role of government, war and peace, what makes one liberal or conservative, what is...possible--all will all be revisited and redefined.
And still the voters come. People that have never voted before. People that have felt bullied, disenfranchised, inferior, intimidated, and many who have just been apathetic in the past, are now voting, now making phone calls, now driving people to polling places, now taking part in writing their own future, now feeling pride, now believing, now knowing hope. What a great day to be an American.
