The Vision of Election Day

 

America

–Walt Whitman

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time.

America

--Leonard Cohen

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that it ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

America is a country and a vision. Too often people reduce this great country to simplistic notions and personal ideas of citizenship without realizing that this land, endowed with freedom and liberty,   represents the positive dreams of all. Despite strife and conflict, time allows the nation to move closer and closer to its grand ideals. America is ever changing and ever finding its true identity.

This is election day in America. Using our votes, we insure our democratic government represents the will of the people. We vote as a commitment both to ourselves and to one another. Abraham Lincoln once said: “Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

After this contentious, blistering campaign season, the time has finally come to decide who will lead America as President of the United States. Whoever wins the election deserves the support of the American people. However, often the losers in an election believe so strongly that their party or candidate is the best one, that they refuse to accept the results of the election.

This rejection is against democratic principles. The consequences of not accepting the result of an election may be a government that is ineffective and cannot make decisions. It may even result in violence which is also against democracy.

Election day must be the beginning of reconciliation -- a time when Americans once again drop their monikers of "Democrats" or "Republicans" and find meaningful common ground. As difficult as accepting defeat may be, about half of the country must respect the outcome of the election.

Whoever wins the election deserves support for platforms that move America forward. Stalling and playing partisan politics hurt the nation while defeating compromise and solution. Four years of inaction in Congress serves no citizen. We, the people, should demand that Republicans and Democrats accept the challenges of working together for the public good.

After the election results are in, will you support the majority rule and find the grace to congratulate the next President of the United States? Will you respect the Office of the President, and will you appreciate the system of government that must work not as party members with separate agendas, but as accommodating United States legislators bound to find solutions to America's most serious problems?