American Superhero
They'll probably never make an action packed Hollywood blockbuster about the heroes we've seen and heard about lately. But it will be hard to depict the quiet determination of everyday Americans who are making every effort they can to change the direction of this nation. Even if the movie was a 3 hour extravaganza starring Bruce Willis and Will Smith and written and produced by Lawrence O'Donnell I don't know how fiction could compete with reality.
All over The United States people are voting, trying to vote and working to protect their vote. In 21st Century America, this is no easy feat. When it comes to voting we are a banana republic with computers.
In Florida, were I voted, everyone is struggling to digest their plummeting home value, reorienting themselves after the shock of logging onto their 401K website, trying to stay at or find a job, taking care of their families, and making sure they show up for the kids soccer game and dance recital, they are voting with a vengeance. 30% of Florida's 11.2 Million voters have gotten in line and stayed in line for two hours, four and in some cases five hours just to make their vote count. With only 2 machines in each polling place the goal was voter suppression. Floridians are not the most patient people. It's 90 degrees and we chafe easily.
The determination and goodness of Floridians with whom I stood in line for 2 hours was not typical. Floridians complain about the Sweet n Low not being Splenda even when they ask for Sweet n Low.
The woman behind me in line was reading a Princess Diana biography. I thought "This isn't going to go well". She began complaining instantly about how there were only 11 polling places open in Palm Beach County for tens of thousands of voters. I explained to her quietly that our Republican Legislature designed early voting this way to tamp down voter participation. She stared blankly at me for a moment and went back to Buckingham Palace. In 20-minute intervals she'd lift her eyes from her half glasses and complain about the lack of polling places. This happened at least 4 times.
The man in front of me heard me talking and slipped me a note, "Are you Randi Rhodes"? I nodded and said "Yes". I asked him what he was reading. "Sci Fi" he said, I read all the Harry Potter books to my son." "Good for the imagination. Barack read all the Harry Potter books to Malia." I said. We then talked about the economy. He is a financial planner. Things were terrible for him and his clients but he wasn't complaining. He didn't understand how it all happened. I short handed the Phil Gramm insertion of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act into the Omnibus Budget on the last day of the Clinton Administration and synthetic mortgage securitization and credit default swaps. He was genuinely interested. The Princess Di reader asked him why there were only 11 polling places in a county this size. We giggled and went back to our conversation. Princess Di seemed lost but stayed in line.
In Philadelphia, people are excited to stand in 39 degree rain and sip hot coffee and stand some more and wait some more to show their fellow Pennsylvanians that it's ok to vote for Barack Obama.
In a nondescript telemarketing office in Indiana, ordinary people working at an unglamorous Telemarketing Company, for hourly wages, took a look at the script for their calls, saw virulent lies and abhorrent insults on the page and stood up and walked out en masse. Rather than tell hideous lies about a good man, they collectively walked off their job and forfeited their paycheck for the day. Money doesn't trump lies sometimes.
When it was finally time for me to enter the Library where we voted, the man with the Sci Fi book said "After you" even though he was ahead of me. I said, "No please, you were good company. Go ahead". When I finally got inside and had a seat at the registration table the man came up to my chair and said "You know I'm a Republican, but you changed my mind. I'm voting for Obama". I literally cried and thanked him.
When I got in the line to receive my optical scan ballot, "Princess Di" was in front of me. I told her "You know that man we were talking to in line, he's a Republican, but he told me I changed his mind. He's voting for Obama." In typical Floridian snark she said "Yeah, well you didn't change my mind!" So I told her "Maybe you like that there are only 11 polling places in a county this size" Who knows how she voted, but she voted. In Florida. Where they don't make it easy.
These people aren't celebrities. There are no hordes of photographers following them. They don't have their own cable show, they don't have a radio show, they don't make movies, or Tee Vee shows. They make America Good. And when America is good, America is GREAT.
Democratic voters walk past the smears and racist rants of others who threaten violence. They showed up early so they could help on Election Day. They go home after work and make hundreds of phone calls to get their neighbors to vote. They knock on doors. They educate themselves and others. They read, and they listen. They proceed with quiet dignity and the confidence that comes from being right. Republican voters seem to be voting against something rather than for something, but they are voting.
We've seen heroes everyday in this campaign of 2008. "Princess Di" was one of them. But the Super Heros are Obama supporters. Voters who made a decision to say no more Kings and Viceroys, no more BUSHWORLD "Tower of London". No more unitary executives, who take for themselves all the power and all the money so that we are just left reading about all the power power and all the money.
We want a fair deal and another chance at the American Dream. When you are deeply committed to making a difference, it seems to me there is no way you can chose to stay safely stuck in the Matrix, below the radar. Obama voters are Superheroes. Their Super Power is their ability to connect to REALITY.
Churchill famously said : "Democracy is the worst form of government.....except for all the others." It may not be perfect. It may not be pretty. It may be slow and tedious, and people may complain about it but today we thank the heroes who have brought their superpower to the long lines in the heat and the rain and the cold the snow. Now it's your turn.
GO VOTE.
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Here we are in the greatest country on earth and we allow the 545 people in Washington to make the simplest act one to be dreaded and avoided. You know those too nice people to the North of us? Yes, Canadians. When they are born they are automatically registered to vote. When they reach voting age all they have to do is present their birth certificate. They are given a paper ballot and a pencil. They drop their ballot into a box. When the polls close a committee made up of all the parties running count the ballots. Once it is agreed the count is accurate the phone the results in to the next level and so on. Within 2 hours Canadians know who won. No billions of dollars, and that is what our system is all about, spent on computerized voting that continues to fail. If we are so concerned about people voting twice, do what we forced the Iraqis to do, dip a finger in an ink that won't wash off for 2 weeks.
Randi, not only are you my favorite talk radio host(ess), you are a fabulous writer! I listen to you EVERY day on KPOJ in Portland.
We're much more dangerous than a banana republic with computers. We're a banana republic with nuclear weapons and religious and racist zealots who believe we are god's gift to the planet.
You brought tears to this Vietnam vets eyes Randi. YOU ARE MY HERO SWEETY.
Thank you for your service to our country Joe.
Every four years it's the same thing: hours-long lines in Democratic areas, and people bitch but nobody does anything. What are Florida legislators doing to end the problem in their Democratic counties and impose stiff penalties on officials who perpetuate it? Apparently, nothing.
Randi, It is great to see you on the huffpost!! I listen to you everyday on my XM radio (channel 167 folks, 3 PM EST). Thank you for this! It brings me hope and reminds me once more why am I proud to be an American.
Second that !!!!
I was on line in NYC at 5:30 AM. There were about 25 people waiting for the poll to open when I arrived. One by one, two and three at a time, people kept joining the line, stretching out of site, waiting for their turn to change the direction of our country. Everybody was saying goodmorning to somebody else. I got into a conversation with four other people in front and in back of me about how great we felt that this day had finally arrived. When the poll worker called the first person in line to step up, we applauded. It was so great. I wanted to cry. Actually, I'm crying now just remembering it.
Great read, Randi. Thank you.
Maybe if things aren't going Republicans' way, they can just "lock them in a building to die" like you claimed was taking place in New Orleans.
The line was 1 hour and twenty minutes here in Broward county in South Florida. The people were friendly and resigned to the wait caused by a high turnout and a lengthy 4 page ballot. No one mentioned who they were going to vote for but everyone was determined to vote. After the 2000 fiasco, voting and getting your vote to count is the most important thing that has to happen. I think this will happen this election.
I hear ya Randi.... Postcard from FL = Driving back from my volunteer shift at the Polls with my double latte in hand, I made the turn onto Tamiami Trail to see a group of Obama volunteers (mostly seniors) with signs "honk for change, honk for Obama!" What a great sight to see. I am hopeful Florida will surprise a lot of folks...
I'd say 'eat the rich'
but there's not enough to go around...
Oregon votes only by mail. If your ballot doesn’t arrive when others are getting theirs, you can get that fixed in time. It happened this year and it was fixed and those folks voted!
We always have a “paper trail”!
Neither work nor weather can make voting difficult.
We have very high voting percentages. That shows an accurate sense of what the electorate wants!
Small wonder that the GOP wanted to make that illegal. Ha!
A few years ago, someone who was counting ballots, called me at home and told me I had forgotten to sign my outer envelope (I live in Portland, OR, where we vote by mail). She said I could come to their location and sign my envelope. (I don't know how they knew my phone number). I happily drove 30 miles to sign my ballot. They pulled my envelope out of a large box of alphabetized un-signed envelopes.
We have over a million people in the metro area. Voting by mail works...an
Howdy Randi - miss hearing you on AirAmerica.
My polling experience was one of the easy ones - although I will never trust those damned computers with no audit-trail or paper trail.
I got in line (if two people can be a line) at 810am, got to the touch-screen before 8:15, and was strolling out the door by 8:20. On the way into the place, I held the door for a smiling young woman with two toddlers in tow. On the way out of the building, I held the door for a small herd of senior citizens that all smiled at me and obviously knew each other.
Then again, I am in Maryland and the result of our Presidential vote is really not in question this year. Good luck to you in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri,.
Looking forward to tomorrow,.
Randi, I heard you tell this on the air the other day, so I'm glad you put it where more people will see it. It's a great story, and there are a million more like it that show why we have to keep fighting to keep the vote from being stolen. Thanks!
Thanks Randi
I do not have a vote (yet) since I'm still only a 'resident alien', but I have been canvassing and trying to educate my colleagues, friends, and peers.
I'm surrounded by republicans - seemingly a fact of life when surrounded by affluent, white males! But I hope that I managed to convince one or two to think about the facts instead of focusing on the smears, and to think about the country - not just their own personal cashflow.
Many folks (including those who report to me) were surprised by my position - many could not reconcile business success with someone so passionately in favor of Obama. I can only hope that this 'european socialist' has helped to make change a reality!
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