Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Come on America, Make Me Proud...

Star Spangled Banner in stormy skies - Liberty Island Feb 08

I'm excited. I'm so excited. 

Not in my lifetime can I remember an American election being so important, and meaning so much to so many people, both in America and beyond.

I have been following the race to the White House all through my time in New York in the past year, and even more avidly since I came back. It was my link back to my second home, and I felt invested in it.

Above anything else, this election, has been so inspirational. It has made me so happy to hear reports of states predicting unprecedented voter turnouts. So many people feel so passionately to come out and queue up, in the longest voter lines, to stay in line for hours, because this matters so much. So many people are expected to vote that states are actually concerned that there may not be enough voting ballot papers, or that the lines will be too long and they just won't be able to accommodate the sheer number of people that want to vote before polling stations close. 

Obviously these resource problems aren't what is making me happy, and I hope that it all works out, but the fact that so many people are planning to exercise their right and their goddamned responsibility to vote. To change the nightmare of the last eight years, to have their say, to find their voice. 

It is such a welcome change from the voter apathy that makes me so mad.

Come on America, make me proud.

I know you can do it, make the change we can believe in....

Mr Obama's new home?... Please?

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