Today we have a post by Peace Tree conrtributing author, Chris Wilcox.Christopher's post follows my brief post election commentary.
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I have been surfing around this morning to find a number of people who could not resist the opporutunty to gloat, some a lot, some a little. A note to all.
I am thankful that it seems the election was, in greater part, conducted without the interference that I had expected. Why did that not happen? Some say the abilites of those who would tamper with votes is a conspiracy theory myth. I don't think so. With previous election history as a guide, I found it highly likely, in this critical election, that all the stops would be pulled. It seems they were not. Maybe all the attention so intently focused on that issue made a difference. I don't know, what I do know is I am more proud of my country today for having stood against the policies of fear and smear than I have been in some time.
I have no illusions of the Democrats as our end all be all saviors. I do believe that we can at least reach them and impress our collective call of a mandate for change upon them with much better results. The important thing is to not turn our eyes and minds away from our responsibilities after the victory party ends, but to get even more involved in taking responsibility for our country, our freedom and our reputation around the globe. It has been sorely damaged by the previous majoirty and there is much to do in repairing the fabric of our government and our lives.
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I rode my Harley to work on Election Day 2006. There was something symbolic about that ride. I hadn’t ridden my Harley in a long while and the freedom that the American icon, Harley Davidson, represents seemed very significant on that historic day. Election Day is the one day of the year that all of the power of the
I am writing this post at midnight after spending the afternoon as a poll watcher at my precinct and the evening watching election returns. In my wildest imagination I did not anticipate the sweeping call for change that we have witnessed in the House of Representatives. Control of the Senate is yet to be determined. Negative ads aside; this has been one very exciting election. My duty as a poll watcher was an experience that I will cherish for a long time. The core of the poll workers was made up of a team of senior citizens that have worked together for decades. I loved being a part of that. The whole afternoon was a wonderful reminder of what is great about living in a democracy. The results of the election would not have influenced my perceptions of that experience. Precincts are the epitome of politics being local. The voters came in and tended to their civic duty as if they were delivering covered dishes to the table at a family reunion.
I greeted and directed my neighbors to the registration table where they received their ballots as we took time to catch up on what was going on in each others lives. You couldn’t tell who was Republican, who was Democrat or who was Independent. Well… you could a little but for the most part everyone seemed to carry themselves with the confidence and righteousness that was appropriate to the important task at hand. When working for such a noble cause as free elections speculation as to how my neighbors were voting was insignificant compared to my appreciation that they were participating and exercising their right to vote. There is no greater privilege afforded to any citizen. It is with the spirit I witnessed at my precinct that I would hope to approach the next two years. We are all neighbors to one degree or another and we live in difficult times. In the end we have more in common that we have differences and we should keep that in mind as we go about facing the challenges before us.
When you have a chance to see the big picture that is afforded by being immersed at the most basic level of democracy you gain a sense of hope that we can work together to make our state, our nation and the world a better place for all.
Christopher David Peter Wilcox
