Note From Norm: The American Future At The Ballot Box
And so the great American Experiment begins again as tomorrow millions of Americans will begin to cast their votes for the candidate, the government, and the future of their choice. They will join millions of other Americans who have already cast their ballots to express their hopes, dreams, frustrations, anger, dissatisfaction, satisfaction, and most of all, their right to be heard and determine the direction of their nation.
The candidates will continue to speak from now through the end of each state’s election deadline. Volunteers by the thousands will be scouring every neighborhood for votes, calling every voter so many times that their number will eventually be blocked, and waving banners and signs of messages of support for those they have toiled for over the past many months.
It is the great “Who we are as Americans” moment in this nation that defines the very existence of our common belief that it isn’t the government, the media, political parties, or any other institution that determines who we are as Americans – it is “We, the People.”
There are clear choices to be had at virtually every level of government in America. Regardless of your party affiliation, ideological leaning, or lack thereof, you can make the choice because our Constitution bestows upon you that right.
We’ve been besieged in this country for the past two years by a relentless chorus of voices telling us our Democracy is at risk and yet millions of Americans who go to the polls to vote will offer a different narrative to those voices of doom and gloom.
They will offer a narrative that belies the hysterics of those in the media who demand candidates publicly announce before an election has been completed that they will “honor” the results.
What the hysterical fail to grasp, or willingly choose to ignore, is that the final results of an election aren’t complete until all the votes have been counted, challenges completed, legal disagreements settled, and an election certificate awarded.
Voters and candidates have rights and recourses when it comes to an election and every right to challenge the results until the extent of their challenges ends when the process is completed within the law.
Let’s be honest: The media and Democrats want us to believe that Republicans are out to steal elections and destroy Democracy in America. When, in fact, their rhetoric does more to undermine the confidence in the results of elections than Republicans who are committed to fight to preserve American confidence in the results of elections.
They want us to believe that anybody who doesn’t kowtow to their definition of “accepting the results” is an affront to Democracy. The President of the United States who has thus far failed to understand that this election, like every election, isn’t about what the President says it is about – it’s about what the American people will say it’s about.
The economy – their jobs – their paycheck – their children’s future. It’s about public safety for every American, regardless of their economic class – the color of their skin – or what neighborhood or community they live. This election, like every election before it, is a national expression of the will of the people and what they want for themselves, their children, and their country.
Every election cycle we are told that this is “The Most Important Election In History.”
And, yes, I suppose it is. Just like I suppose every American in the past 230 some years has believed that the election they were voting in was “The Most Important Election In History.”
There’s something powerful about that notion that every vote cast in every election in every cycle has that singular capacity and ability to determine the outcome of the most important nation on Earth.
Imagine the power that is in that single vote. Imagine how that single vote can change the course of history. Imagine the billions of people around the world who do not have access to the power that each of us have as Americans.
Imagine the world we would live in if free elections and democracy were the law of the land rather than the oppression and repression that billions of humans across the world wake up to every single day.
Winston Churchill said, in some form, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others.”
No truer words were spoken.
And tomorrow, no truer expression of our freedom can be exercised than the one that is in the ballot free Americans will cast for the future of the most indispensable nation on Earth.