I've never seen people waiting in lines several hours long for EARLY voting. 1/3 of the electorate have already voted (including me --I waited about 45 minutes in Volusia County). It just goes to show that when people with integrity run for public office, when it's not politics-as-usual, the people of this country do still believe in democracy and are excited about it.
I'm in Gainesville at my friend Chris' house and woke up this morning to a note from him saying he "wondered how people felt the morning this country elected Kennedy to the Presidency". Excitement is in the air all over today. Last night watching him Live on TV I teared up thinking this man is our next president. He doesn't have to be the most radical progressive out there, it's STILL a significant blow to my jaded view of the country I live in and I can't think of anything I'd rather have radically reformulated than that image of a country ruled by powerful white men with no thought for anything other than their own position.
Things are going to change in this country. We're going to push back --waaaay back-- the threat from the radical right to make women's bodies the property of men, denying women the right to make such personal decisions for themselves as whether or not to have a baby. We're going to stop coddling the rich at the expense of the poor, put the brakes on the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots, have a slightly fairer tax plan. We're going to stop catering to corporations who eat workers up and spew out the remains in pursuit of ever increasing profit margins. We're going to enforce labor and environmental protection laws and the names of federal administrations are no longer going to seem so ironic.
Maybe we're going to do all this. But maybe not. There's a crack in the wall we can see light through, the possibility is there, if Obama is elected and Democrats get a majority of the Senate. But we're not there yet. The Democrats could help us do all this but they won't unless we hold their feet to the fire after the election.
So go out and vote today but then don't think it's over. We can take back our country but this election is just the beginning. The real work starts January 20th.
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