Yes, We Did.
I think today was the first time I felt proud to be an American in my whole life.
Seeing the turnout at my local polls, and following the day online throughout my state and through my country - with turnouts that busted 20, 30 year records in some areas. Seeing the general camaraderie among people from diverse backgrounds as they stood patiently in line. There was a festive atmosphere, many have remarked on it. It was such a beautiful thing to see. I have not seen so many people involved in an election campaign in all my years. Not as a voter, or even as a child - and in our house, politics was an armchair sport. People were acting not like Dems or Reps, but like Americans - the best of America.
I watch a sea of faces in Chicago on TV. Tears in their eyes; tears in mine. I note with a happy noise the news ticker at the bottom of the screen announcing the reelection of Barney Frank, D., Congressman of the 4th district Massachusetts - the first Representative of Congress to come out (in 1987) as a gay man. I've never lived in his district, but I have always looked up to him as a man of character.
Everyone keeps saying: History has been made. Well, we have more history to make. It isn't down to one man, freshly elected. It's down to all of us, and the individual choices we make. Particularly, how we spend, how we save, and how we look after one another. Because things are going to get worse before they get better, and we will need to look out for one another.
When McCain accepted the Republican nomination and took on Palin as a running mate, I would make jokes, part serious, about wanting to move to Canada. I have felt that way for a long time. I felt betrayed by the people given power in this country, and felt that my vote did not count. Even before I could vote! I still remember the knot in my stomach as a teenager, babysitting at a neighbor's house and watching G.H.W. Bush's Inaugural party. The Iran-Contra hearings were only the year before. I could not believe the people didn't push for justice at the ballot box after that was swept under the rug. I had no power to vote then, and it made me angry. I remember years of voting and being taunted for "wasting my vote" because I sometimes voted for a third party candidate. Voting my conscience is a waste? Since when? I have watched the political process from early childhood, discussing OPEC and the Iranian hostage crisis with my parents (29 years ago it began, almost to the day). I have never really had confidence in any candidate in an election - with notable exceptions of Geraldine Ferraro and Barak Obama.
Today I'm feeling the hope. I was cautious and wary of it at first, but I think I can embrace it now. That hope whispered by many lips, that I've only seen truly in action once before, in a film. Anyone remember Meet John Doe? It's that last scene, the end of the beginning. It is like Christmas on top of City Hall tonight. The film ends with news editor Harry Connel - played to perfection by James Gleason - turning to news magnate and wannabe political candidate D.B. Norton (played by Edward Arnold, also brilliant) and saying,
"There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!"
Seeing the turnout at my local polls, and following the day online throughout my state and through my country - with turnouts that busted 20, 30 year records in some areas. Seeing the general camaraderie among people from diverse backgrounds as they stood patiently in line. There was a festive atmosphere, many have remarked on it. It was such a beautiful thing to see. I have not seen so many people involved in an election campaign in all my years. Not as a voter, or even as a child - and in our house, politics was an armchair sport. People were acting not like Dems or Reps, but like Americans - the best of America.
I watch a sea of faces in Chicago on TV. Tears in their eyes; tears in mine. I note with a happy noise the news ticker at the bottom of the screen announcing the reelection of Barney Frank, D., Congressman of the 4th district Massachusetts - the first Representative of Congress to come out (in 1987) as a gay man. I've never lived in his district, but I have always looked up to him as a man of character.
Everyone keeps saying: History has been made. Well, we have more history to make. It isn't down to one man, freshly elected. It's down to all of us, and the individual choices we make. Particularly, how we spend, how we save, and how we look after one another. Because things are going to get worse before they get better, and we will need to look out for one another.
When McCain accepted the Republican nomination and took on Palin as a running mate, I would make jokes, part serious, about wanting to move to Canada. I have felt that way for a long time. I felt betrayed by the people given power in this country, and felt that my vote did not count. Even before I could vote! I still remember the knot in my stomach as a teenager, babysitting at a neighbor's house and watching G.H.W. Bush's Inaugural party. The Iran-Contra hearings were only the year before. I could not believe the people didn't push for justice at the ballot box after that was swept under the rug. I had no power to vote then, and it made me angry. I remember years of voting and being taunted for "wasting my vote" because I sometimes voted for a third party candidate. Voting my conscience is a waste? Since when? I have watched the political process from early childhood, discussing OPEC and the Iranian hostage crisis with my parents (29 years ago it began, almost to the day). I have never really had confidence in any candidate in an election - with notable exceptions of Geraldine Ferraro and Barak Obama.
Today I'm feeling the hope. I was cautious and wary of it at first, but I think I can embrace it now. That hope whispered by many lips, that I've only seen truly in action once before, in a film. Anyone remember Meet John Doe? It's that last scene, the end of the beginning. It is like Christmas on top of City Hall tonight. The film ends with news editor Harry Connel - played to perfection by James Gleason - turning to news magnate and wannabe political candidate D.B. Norton (played by Edward Arnold, also brilliant) and saying,
"There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!"