The politics of change...

In less than 24 hours, I will be walking out of my local polling station here in NEPA after having voted in what truly could be one of the most important elections in the last 200 years.

The phone is ringing nearly twice a day with recorded calls to "get out and vote" from both sides. Local papers, the TV, radio... even the talk at the neighborhood pub is almost exclusively about the election.

This has prompted me to think of just WHY this election is so important to so many people.

Race? in 1876, the Republican Party offered Fredrick Douglas a spot on the ticket (which he refused). Since that time, there have been no fewer than 17 African American candidates for President... but none have won the primary of a major party until now (and NO, Jackson wasn't even close!). In fact, there are TWO African American candidates this year... Obama and McKinney (Green Party).

I won't go so far as to suggest that discrimination is dead in this country. I know it is not. However, I am convinced that at a national level we can confidently state as a society that "racism" is dead. 99% of the people voting for McCain are doing so because they don't like Obama's politics... not the color of his skin. 99% of those supporting Obama are doing so because the DO like his politics... not that he is a black man running in a white man's world. Sure, Obama has played the "race card"... but who wouldn't? If it gets him votes, who cares? This is, after all, America! It's his skin, let him sell it if he wants... I'm sure it will gain him 7 to 12 percentage points in places like New Orleans, Detroit, LA or Philly. ALL candidates sell themselves to the people they are talking to... otherwise NO ONE would ever win an election, would they?

If not race, then what? One can't label it as "politics" can they? Isn't that a bit redundant?

In the last century, we saw at least two, maybe three, MAJOR shifts in national attitude reflected in a Presidential election: 1932, 1980 and (my maybe-vote) 1960. In each of these elections, the nation chose to follow a "different" path, and to reject calls to uphold and support the "status quo".

1932 saw FDR promise a "return on investment" in the Federal Government, and a change from the "laissez faire" attitude of lawmakers towards the most vital and impacting aspects of our economy. His promises and his actions won him an unparalleled 4 terms, and kept a Democrat in the White House for an entire generation, and defined a political ideology for the next 50 years.

In 1960, we saw a very tender "junior Senator" win an election with the promise of a "new generation" of leadership. His election showed that the "promise" of a candidate... the potential a candidate has... is a MEASURABLE aspect of his (or her) appeal to voters. Much of America was enthralled at the prospect of a President that would front the concerns and hopes of a NEW generation while still appealing to the "old guard". Few Presidents have had the polarizing effect JFK had on the American political landscape, and fewer still have seen the tragedy of radical reaction to those effects, either.

1980 brought an end to nearly 50 years of stagnant and failing foreign policy traditions. No longer would the US be content with "containing" Communism, we would now actively work to show the world that it MUST eventually fail, while OUR system only got stronger. Reagan brought "pride" back to the table... it was okay to be enthusiastic about being an American. It was just fine to encourage your children to look forward to the future. There was nothing inevitable about the "Cold War" except the outcome... and the American people had lived under the specter of WWIII for far too long, always wondering when the bombs would start to fall. He made being financially ambitious "cool" (why ELSE would anyone watch Family Ties for 7 years?) and brought the counter to the "counter-culture" into the forefront of American society.

While I am fairly sure that my grandparents saw FDR as the end of the American dream, I KNOW my mother saw Reagan as the same thing... and neither was true.

I am still NOT voting for Obama, but I won't fall into despair if he wins. There is the distinct possibility that the man could win as many as 45 states (unlikely, I know... but the possibility does exist). There are enough "mainstream conservative Americans" out there who are JUST as pissed off at the Bush Administration as the liberals... and this could have a kind of "reverse Bradley effect"... people that say they want values and security, but are willing to vote for change when the curtain is drawn.

If this does turn into a landslide, then that might be for the best. Let's see the clear "mandate" rather than the divided nation that 2000 showed us. Force the Democrats to produce SOMETHING that can be measured and scrutinized by the people when they next go to the polls to determine if these are the people they want representing them in Washington. If McCain were to win, then it would only be by the barest of margins... and he would then have to pander to the Left for the next four years because he would KNOW that enough people were voting that way to impact the midterms and the '12 elections... something EVERY President must face.