Vote Anyway

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series.  On a Monday night.  In Texas.  For some reason, I felt it was anticlimactic.  I was happy, but. . . I don't know.

Today is election day.  Somehow, I fee it will be anticlimactic.  My mother said she and her friends don't know who to vote for because everyone is so awful.  I agreed with her but said that we must choose, and the choice is between the Haters and the Ineffectuals.  It is disheartening.

Talk to younger voters about the election, though, and you will hear something else.  I won't tell you what.  As Glinda says, you wouldn't believe me.  You have to learn it for yourself.  It is difficult to remember that the world was not made for you.  It is a shocking bit of information that can be devastating in the wrong hands.  Some are forced to impose their will on it whenever an opportunity appears.  Others don't wait that long.  Our culture rabidly celebrates those who impose their wills.  If they succeed, we call them heroes.  Later (and not that much later--could be weeks), we will deconstruct their actions and turn them all upside down.

I'm in the mood to ask people what they think made this country "great."  That is what we are told, and it is a narrative that was once spread around the globe.  But the idea has been deconstructed. . . you know the rest.

Still, I like to hear people's stories.  I think it would make good cinema.  Just set up a camera on the street and ask people the single question: what made this country great.  Go to different streets representing the economic and cultural diversity of the country.  Put the answers in contrasting pairs, then develop a documentary.  Anyone from PBS or HBO reading this?  I'll be your boy.

In a little bit, I'll go do my patriotic duty.  I will wear my "I Voted" sticker to work, stop at the gym on my way home, decide what I will have for dinner, come home after dark, shower, make a salad while I drink a glass of beer, and then sit in front of the television to make sure my vote was counted.  Chris Matthews will be foaming at the mouth (you ever notice that he always has dried white spit in each of its corners?) and I will tire of it quickly and try to rent "Howl" once again.  And for $6.99, I will fall sitting up on the couch before it is over, then turn back to the news channels to see how different the country is going to be.

I think I'll ask younger voters what their evening will be like on this election day.  I have a feeling it will be nothing like mine.  Hey, that might make good cinema!

For all those who are not going to vote the same way I will: