Today, November 4, 2008, is election day. I woke up early and hurried to the polls. I was hopeful, but also apprehensive, by what might happen before the day was done.
The Democrats had nominated a rejuvenated former Vice President Al Gore and rising star, Sen. Barak Obama of Illinois, to run against the Republican ticket of Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and right-wing author Ann Coulter, the darling of the GOP base. Yesterday’s polls had the Democrats winning in a record breaking, 3 to 1 landslide.
Over confident!! Not me. The 2006 election was still fresh on my mind when, against all odds, exit polls, and public opinion, the Republicans had pulled off a startling upset by keeping control of both Houses with one-vote margins. John Hostettler’s surprising victory over the popular sheriff candidate, Brad Ellsworth, was a huge win for the GOP.
Today would be different, I thought. The voters were going to rise up and kick those incompetent zealots out of the White House and Congress. If the Democrats lost this time, it would be a colossal failure of our democracy, or jerry-rigged voting machines, or both.
Let’s take a trip down Memory Lane. The GOP fortunes shot up in October, 2006 when our military captured and killed Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan. Before that, nothing seemed to work for the Bush boys. Attempts to privatize our revered Social Security System failed miserably. Then there was Katrina and the New Orleans disaster, the RX drug debacle for seniors, warrant less wire tapping, a culture of corruption in Congress, huge "borrow and spend" policies coupled with tax-cut giveaways to the rich, and the demise of Immigration Reform with its infamous 2,000 mile fence.
Things didn’t get much better in 2007 and 08. Our attack on Iran back fired. We now have 30,000 troops hunkered down there. North Korea continues to thumb its nose at us as it threatens South Korea and 40,000 U. S. forces across the demilitarized zone.
And then there is the war in Iraq, now five and one-half years old. Iraqis see us as occupiers, killers, and torturers-- not liberators. Demo candidate, Al Gore, has promised to get us out of this quagmire, much in the way Congressman John Murtha urged in late 2005. Just tell the Iraqis "we’re outta here" on a certain date and settle your own civil war.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, our one ally, stepped down last year after pulling out his troops. Bush has searched for other allies but his "go-it-alone" arrogance has come back to haunt him.
Rumblings of dramatic and probably unconstitutional rantings came from Vice President Dick Cheney’s hospital bed. He was in a tither about losing control of the mid-east’s oil fields. He believed he and the president had unlimited war powers from the endless War on Terror. "Elect Democrats," he bellowed, "and you invite terrorists into the country!"
I turned a corner and drove up to my voting place. I was anxious to cast my vote and do my part in restoring America to its former glory.
I noticed a small but animated crowd hovering around on the outside. This was unusual. At the entrance I saw why. Oh my!! Unexpected disaster had struck again. The big sign nailed to the door read......
ELECTI0N CANCELLED
by order of Homeland Security.
