Racing to Election Day

I firmly believe we should treat every day as a gift and take nothing for granted.  This is a standard I often fail to live up to, but I am not the first person to struggles to live up to their ideals.  When it comes to election day (2 days away), I wish I could hit the fast forward button and get it over with.  I find myself prepared for either the joys of victory or bitterness of defeat.  So much of what I believe in is at stake, but the constant turn and anticipation of this process has started to wear me down.

On a national level, I am both jealous of and have pity for the people of Ohio.  It matches how I feel about Iowa every four years leading up to the Caucuses.  I am sure the constant bombardment of commercials is horrible, but having the chance to see the candidates and surrogates on an almost daily basis and know that your involvement in the democratic process will matter more than just about any other state in the union is extremely lucky.

The last couple days of each election cycle always brings me great frustration that I would rather avoid.  This is when we typically hear about some GOP Secretaries of State trying to use their power to limit or suppress the vote.  There are also individual and coordinated conservative efforts to provide misinformation about voting days, times, and locations to poor, minority, and elderly communities.  The last couple years the voter intimidation at the polls has increased dramatically as trained "poll watchers" seek to harass and intimidate Democratic voters.  While these behaviors do not represent all of the GOP, it is widespread and coordinated enough to be a stain that they are responsible for and should be ashamed of.  For a group that claims to love this country and the principles it was founded on, there seems to be a cynical disdain for the democratic process at the heart of it.

I also find myself inspired by the honest and sincere volunteers for all candidates, issues, and parties.  Whether you are with me or against me, there is something to be said for engaging in the process with your most precious resource, time.  This year I was introduced by Brene Brown to the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.  It has stuck me in so many ways and is especially true of those fighting these last weeks and months for what they believe.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

To all of those in the arena I am beyond grateful for the work you do, especially those fighting for the causes that I believe in.  Everything good that has ever come from the political process has required people to step up, put themselves out there without knowing how it will end, and drive hard towards their hopes, dreams, and ideals.  It has been an honor when I have been able to join you and a gift to know that some of you will always be there.

Good luck to all in these final hours leading up to election day.  It cannot get here soon enough.