What Did You Do During the Great Election?

It was the question everybody asked back when my parents were kids: "What did you do in the Great War, Daddy?" That was before Pearl Harbor, when people thought we had fought the War to End All Wars.

Now we're fighting two wars at once, with Mommy and Daddy on the front lines. Here at home, we stand at the eve of an election whose conclusion is far from a sure thing. Ohio is tightening, Florida is close, and across the country there are electoral abuses worthy of a second-rate Third World country. Now is not the time for complacency or pessimistic speculation.

There are 24 hours left to frame an answer to this question: What did you during the Great Election? Did you vote? Was that all that you did? Or did you make phone calls? Drive people to the polls? Did you call everybody you know?

It's hard to talk about this election without sounding melodramatic. A lot is on the line. Our democracy itself needs extensive reforms - in voting, in privacy, in the restoration of habeus corpus - or it may not survive. (It's only a partial democracy today.) And the very survival of the species may depend on whether we make the right decisions in the next decade. Dramatic? Hell yes, it's dramatic.

I spend most of my workday performing pretty dry tasks in the healthcare world. I analyze data, write papers, run spreadsheets, make forecasts, help design software tools ... but for the big issues I look to the poets and mythmakers. Poets, like pundits, have been predicting an Obama victory for a while now, using the pleasing metric structure of his name as a predictor. (See this study, which I discovered through the blog of my friend Michael Lally.)

Unreliable? Or course it is. But my guess is that it's a better predictor than the voters of Dixville Notch - and the pundits use them every election season. As for the polls, they look great for Obama. Bookies, who are even more reliable than pollsters, are giving 7:1 against McCain. But should we sit back and accept a 1 in 7 chance of losing everything we hold dear, including our environment? When you consider the stakes, the odds suddenly don't seem quite good enough.

And even the bookies aren't considering the possibility the election will be stolen. Theirs is a world with smaller-scale kinds of crime. They don't think that big. So we need to build a cheat-proof margin - and then press Obama for a Justice Department investigation if he wins. The election-stealing won't end until some of these Washington insiders do some real jail time.

Sure, Obama will disappoint us at times if he's elected. If he's elected. But he's gifted and well-intentioned. He's a pragmatist, he's observant, and he's shown an ability to adapt to changing circumstances. So our first job is to get him elected. Then we need to form a movement - for economic fairness, the restoration of the Constitution, the end of war, and the healing of the Earth - and make it a movement that both supports and influences Obama. That same movement can draw energy from his election, exciting a new generation and re-energizing older ones to deeper social and political involvement.

That kind of two-way flow between a new government and a newly energized populace could make real change. Will it? We can't know the future. We can only act based on today's knowledge. What we do know is that a McCain Presidency would lead to a much greater scale of widespread human suffering. That's reason alone to go to work - and it's one reason why I don't have much patience right now for world-weary expressions of ennui and doubt. I don't disagree with the premise that things might not work out - but our job right now is to try. And to work with the tools at hand.

But we can't just ride the tide to victory. The poets of ancient Greece described the whitecaps on waves as "the manes of Poseidon's horses." It takes millions of horses, moving together, to turn the tide.

We're Poseidon's horses. It's not Obama's tide. It's ours. But it can only turn if we move together. He can only win if we work even harder over the next 24 hours. Which leads us back to the original question ...

What did you do during the Great Election?

RJ Eskow blogs when he can at:

A Night Light
The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog
Future-While-U-Wait

Follow RJ Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow

Comments

[SamEllison]

I helped make a wave with a lot of new friends.

[XME]

I will be standing in line in Virginia to VOTE (hopefully not all day).

You might not recognize it tonight when you're watching the election coverage, because it will look a little different this year: IT WILL BE BLUE!

[Roses]

Wonderful article!

Obama/Biden '08

[GOP4MoreTears]

Indeed Brother RJ, Thank you for your efforts and all the outstanding essays. Agape.

[weatherwaxx]

YES!

Complacency could still lose, because the thieves who defrauded America in 2000 and 2004 are only stronger this time.

We can party AFTER THE ELECTION IS WON!

THANK YOU!

[lindaisaiah]

Great article Mr. Eskow! i heard someone say, "when you done all you can, just stand! I'm trusting in the Good Lord to make this miracle happen ,after doing the phone calling, voting early, asking people to vote and contributing funds -- I'm standing!

President Obama '08! and Vice President Biden '08!

[marymansour]

I can tell you precisely where I was and what I was doing when I received news of JFK, MLK, RFK and Princess Diana's tragic ends. I have a feeling this intense election and its results will be the same for many.

OBAMA/BIDEN'08.

[SassyGranny]

I'm 60 years old. For the first time in my life, I contributed to a political campaign. Many times. For the first time in a long, long time, I researched positions and track records. On my own...without pundit filters. The last time I was this involved in an election, I was in the 7th grade. I passed out buttons and campaign literature for JFK. I feel much the same passion this year.

I voted early and encouraged all my friends and family to do the same so as to lessen the crowds on the 4th.

My office happens to be at a polling place. This is the first time voting has been conducted in this location, so we don't know what to expect. I'm going to set up coffee, soft drink and snack sales out front, hoping to make people a little bit more comfortable so that they won't go away if the wait is too long.

Every little bit helps.

[mulishmissourian]

As a 56 year old, I also have evolved during this process as a more committed American. I contributed to the Obama campaign in money AND time, both excellent investments in the future, in my view.

While I'm thrilled to see so many people coming out to the polls for this election, I'm also dismayed that there isn't this kind of turnout every time local and state issues are on the ballot. I've stayed on the sidelines for too long in my lifetime -- Senator Obama has made me realize that the only way forward for our country is more involvement by the electorate. I, for one, intend to do my part.

[castrochavez08]

For the first time I took responsibility for getting my own news, not chowing down the pablum served up by corporate liars, but simply pursuing the truth wherever it took me.
So I proudly voted for Cynthia McKinney. For the first time in my life I rejected the fake two party choice forced upon us by corrupt elites.

I got out and volunteered, only about 30 hours but it felt good.
I also tried very hard to express my views on this site, but was repeatedly thwarted by mooooderators who have no more respect for truth than the average FOXNews zealot.
I was fooled, punked and suckered by Pelosi and pals in 2006. Never again.
This election was the first time I ever voted for someone I was sure would not win, but I am proud of my vote.

[TexasDem0]

Rachel Maddow correctly calls the long voter lines the new poll tax.
This is due to unequal distribution of voting machines, resulting in long lines in Democratic districts and short lines in Republican districts.

Restoring the ballot box has to be a priority.
That means honest elections with verifiable results.
That also means, as you rightly point out, prison time for those who undermine the electoral process.
Tampering with election results, destroying election records, voter disenfranchisement, voter intimidation, and malicious campaign lies have become standard practice for the GOP. These offenses should all carry a 10 year minimum sentence with no chance for parole or early release.

[luzcannon]

Absentee ballot. I voted last week from the comfort of my couch. I started this 5 years ago and will never go back. It's effortless, and I have a ballot receipt. The only reason to stand in line is because you haven't thought about it in advance.

[MarciL]

I disagree. It should be a life sentence because it is TREASON.

[knowBuddhaU]

Beautiful! Your words move me to tears, o brother my Brother RJ. "We're Poseidon's horses." Hair-raising--and I'm damn near bald!

I bow deeply and sincerely in your virtual direction (hold still a sec, k? I'm north of Seattle, Ethereal Net traffic is heavy today).