Ya got a looo-oonnn-nng wait. Palin’s state will be the last to close polls at 1am.

Me, I’m off to take a shower and wait for hubby to come back from a half-day’s work this morning. Yup, his company gave their employees the half-day off to go and vote. Then we go together and vote our separate ways.

I am 22 and I’d like to capture my thoughts before America either elects a president who its first 26 presidents could have legally owned, or brazenly subverts the very ideals it was founded upon by manipulating numbers in a final embarrassingly overt goosestep towards corporate totalitarianism.

I am nervous. And not night-before-the-swim-test nervous or even night-you-lose-your-virginity nervous, it’s a low rumbling primal panic which I can only liken to Star Wars panic. Disney panic. The edge-of-your-seat-terror that makes you wonder if Skywalker’s doomed after he refuses to join Darth Vader and drops down into the abyss, if the wicked octopus or grand vizier or steroid-pumping-village-misogynist is going to wed/kill/skin the dashing prince and then evil people in dark funny costumes are going to take over the world… if it wasn’t a movie of course.

And tonight it’s not. It’s not a movie and yet I feel like Obama might as well be wearing an American flag cape while a decaying McCain, in a high-tech robotic spider wheelchair wearing an eyepatch and stroking an evil cat, gives orders to a sexy scheming Palin who marches back and forth through their sub-terranian campaign lair in four inch thigh-highs and full-body black leather catsuit bossing around the evangelical ants with a loooooong whip… umm… is this just me?

Anyway, the point is that things feel weird folks. I have friends who have peed in waterbottles to keep from interrupting a Halo-playing marathon who got off their asses/couches to volunteer for the Obama campaign not once, but many times. Friends so cheap their body content is at least 1/3 Ramen Noodle who donated a good deal of their hard-earned cash to the campaign. People have registered to vote in record numbers, and yet, something just doesn’t feel right. I think we should stop congratulating ourselves for just voting. To vote is a privilege which people have died for, and I think there’s a whole lot more to be done for the country than to simply help win an election every 4 years.

Hundreds of millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of man-hours spent on both sides by good-intentioned people who want to make a difference in an historic election, so many resources and voices and energies devoted to a single day. After tomorrow, half of that is going to have been a waste. And I can’t help but wonder what could have happened if all that muscle had been put towards something else, and what will happen to its momentum after the election has come and gone. Shouldn’t we be donating our money to good causes whenever we can? Helping people who don’t have? Dedicating some of our time to contribute to making the country which provides for us a better place? Of course a power shift is a hugely significant step on the path to great reform, but worrying about this election has been a wakeup call for me:

Even if Obama wins, we have not “won.” This isn’t a movie and we can’t toss every greedy lobbyist oil fatcat bigot down a reactor shaft. I think if we dedicate ourselves to the ongoing welfare of the country as much as we have to the outcome of this election, we’ll have a much better shot at coming closer to the overwhelming good the liberals hope Obama will usher in, but which no mere mortal could fully realize alone.

Which brings me to the other side. I’ve heard a lot of people claim that if McCain wins, they’re leaving. I heard the same thing about Bush’s reelection, and his unelection before that, and nobody seems to be leaving. And that’s fine. Because as much as I complain about certain political happenings, atrocities, etc., I really do like it here and I suspect most other people do too. We have New York and Hollywood, purple mountain’s majesty and sea to shining sea, we created jazz and country music and baseball and cars and lightbulbs and computers and that movie with hundreds of animated singing Chihuahuas! I mean who among the shivering Plymouth pilgrims ever imagined ordering hundreds of animated singing chihuahuas onto a magical box from an invisible information superweb?

The point being, if things don’t turn out the way I want tomorrow, I feel compelled, as a college-graduated adultish-type-person, to take a stand. And if I’m going to leave I’m going to leave. But if I’m going to stay I’m not going to sit around whining like I have for the past 8 years. It’s like when I don’t clean my room because it’s dirty and then I blame the dirt. So in my very indecisive way, before you and your screen, I’m declaring my intention to make some kind of stand in the event of -(Ican’tevensayit)-, and encouraging you to consider making one too…

Jump the ship or grab a bucket?
-Sigh-
Wasn’t everything so much easier back when the worst possible affront to your values was a PB&J sandwich cut diagonally with crust?

Anyways, I guess what I’m saying is that if we’re going to stay on board, we should probably be generous with our time and resources when times are tough even more than when the hero saves the day. Because what if he doesn’t? And what if he can’t? “Yes we can” should mean more than just winning an election if we’re really committed to change.

Best,
Hannah Friedman
http://www.writinghannah.blogspot.com

Win $1000 in real monopoly money (estimate value…less than .001 cent) if anyone can guess who I voted for.

Karen, over the last 5 years from 2003 to 2008 Congress (mostly Democrat) blocked any attempts on bills designed to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This whole thing could have been averted had Barney Frank, Chris Dodd of the Senate Finance Committee acknowledged inherent problems with FM and FM and not suggest that bills be blocked in the effort to reform FM.

“Drastic change” means what to you?

Ann ..

Wow! I forgot about Alaska!

LOL

Yah .. what about Hawaii? Guam? Great point you made and I’m keen to see how Alaska votes on McCain/Palin.

I voted. I had fun. I should probably blog about it.

Maybe.

Hannah ..

I understand your fears and concerns but I’d like to point out a glimmer of positive hope for you. You said in your comment:

“we should probably be generous with our time and resources when times are tough even more than when the hero saves the day. Because what if he doesn’t? And what if he can’t? “Yes we can” should mean more than just winning an election if we’re really committed to change.”

I have hope that Americans will work together sooner than later to fix what ails our country. And regardless of who wins the presidency, I am forever grateful to be an American, even if I am sometimes embarrassed at our foreign and domestic policies.

Keep your head up, Hannah – you got your whole life ahead of you.

You’ve only begun.

Mike, a hella lotta people are whom f—ked up Wall Street fiasco, Republicans and Democrats in Congress. I’m not in the mood to spar with you today, smile, I’m in the mood to celebrate!

Hannah, “yes we can” is all about hope. We’ve been without hope for 8 long years. “We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.” (Barack Obama). The evidence we see today of the number of people getting out to vote, for the first time in history, record breaking number of people are standing in line and VOTING- all because, not just for the election itself, but because it represents our strong need for change to happen, and we know its not going to be overnight, but “we” know, (as in “we the people), “we” will make sure changes do happen based on our belief and hope in the right leader of this nation, to make it GREAT, once again.

Paotie, thanks. I enjoy your crumblings!

[...] then we’ll have to wait and see if the United States of America becomes a nation of 49 states if Florida screws up the election once [...]