The Anticlimactic Election?

Our country sure knows how to hype events. Movie releases, sporting events, new products, elections. Sometimes things live up to expectations and sometimes they don't. However, what they all have in common is us. We are the audience: for the movie, the World Series, the iPod. We are not players, producers and designers. We are there to enjoy the results.

An election is something different. It is a personal act that has no resonance without the support of others. It is, in no small way, hope itself. We are powerless. Our vote is meaningless - without others. To vote is to have faith in the system which is out of our control. It's to trust a candidate who we don't personally know. You get no receipt. There are no exchanges. It's the will of a nation reduced to a choice between two words. That's remarkably simple.

All the time leading up to tomorrow, the voices of Buchanan, Olbermann, Will and others have been heard. The shouting, the ranting, the disagreements, the eye-opening astonishments, the amazement, the anger, the fear. It will all be the past. Voting is an instant that leads to the future. It isn't a climax, but a step forward. We will have years not to enjoy the hype, but to ensure the hype because politics ARE of our making. We aren't the audience.

Comments

[gd h]

I guess Hite37 voted for johnny and bubbles because it is climatic. Must be about the whole global warming thing. I didn't know that they actually had a stand, much less that they have labeled their stand the "climatic" thing. Must be Sara doing the talking again.

[ohioan73]

Thanks. That's the whole point. We are not the audience, we are the architects of our children's future and we do not have to stand by while others decide it for us. This is America and we are The People. The People have spoken today.

[hite37]

josh. grow up and become american! if this is what is allowing the people to feel american let them go. this is climatic! this election is going to determine the course of America for many years to come. i understand your point about all the hype...but what if the repubulicans had made 150 million dollars in september? what if the rebuplicans had the "cool/hip" candidate? i voted mccain and palin because i know that is the right choice. not the hyped up-overcasted-overdramatized-media favorite-political slouch!

[hartkid]

When JM showed me that what he really was was just an overhyped Brittany Spears/Paris Hilton type, I finally saw the writing on the wall. I had to have John "Mavericky" McCain as my president. He's been there. What do you think he's been doing all these years? Let me tell you: learning, growing, making himself ready to lead. Look how he learned from his ignoble and irresponsible work in the acadamy during his youth (i mean after crashing all those planes, using poor judgment in a raid, selling out his Country for special treatment while in captivity aside): he became a Senator. Look how he responded to his unethical, arguably criminal conduct during the Keating 5 scandal: he was sorry he got caught. John grows. Look, he outgrew his disfigured wife and check out his hot, rich wife! He now has outgrown his lowely position as Senator. John takes care of John through personal growth.

[hartkid]

Now that McCain has become a MSM pariah with his selection of the under-appreciated Sarah Palin (wow! I mean wow, what a hot, pistol-packin' mama and intellectual giant!) was allegedly a slap in the face to thinking Americans and because he has allegedly shown himself to be a knee-jerk pandering flip-flopper, who will play to the electorates' basest instincts, I had to support him. I'm not going to be fooled into voting for a cool/hip candidate. A cool/hip candidate is frankly just too popular and commercial for me. Kind of like how John ny Cash or Bo b Dy lan used to be good until everybody started liking them...

[Josh Brusin - Huffpost Blogger]

I think it's a powerful moment leading to a lasting change. That's more than just hype. There was a question mark after the title. This is a momentous election.