Collective Wisdom

One more day. Then it's all over except for the counts, recounts and challenges. Meanwhile, back on the campaign trail both sides are busy trying to keep the momentum among their followers at a fevered pitch. So are the partisan guests on the news shows. It has been interesting viewing.

I find it interesting how divided the nation is in a campaign that has promoted change and a united front. Not that it's unexpected. Each candidate has radically different approaches to the same problems. Hopefully the collective wisdom of the voters will be crystal clear. No more elections decided by the Supreme Court.

After the results are in and the complexion of the incoming Congress is revealed I will have something to say to them, especially the old war horses who have seemed distant from the Presidential side of things. The pronouncements made by Barney Frank and a number of others is bothersome. Are they deaf? But as I said, that's for an upcoming post.

I browsed some blogs this morning and found a couple of things of interest. One is how many are agonizing over the outcome. That's partially because there is no clear cut winner yet in sight paired with a desperate desire to see real change.

The other is how partisan and derogatory some of the posts remain. I've been watching the behavior of the members of Congress who are "safe" . I haven't paid nearly enough attention to the attitudes of the citizenry. Here I find many of us as guilty of the sins of partisanship to which we claim we want an end.

To have a preference and a strong one is good. I certainly do. But to have such vehement, scathing criticism of the opposition, at this point in time, is not constructive.

Obama has been claiming, on the economic level, that the trickle down theory doesn't work. That prosperity and change has to come from the bottom up. There is a broader point to be taken from this.

He, by the very nature of who he is and what he has accomplished, would seem to be the starting point for trickle down. He doesn't have the burden of his age nor his length of service to create questions about the sincerity of coming late to that mantra. However, I by no means believe, no matter his age and coming late to the "change" sound bite, that John McCain is any less sincere nor cognizant of the need for it.

To bring it full circle, however, it does have to start from the bottom. With us. We have to be willing to accept the outcome of this election and be willing to work with those we elect to achieve change or it will never happen. We are the ones who will have to shout, "Stop. Enough of the bickering. Get to the business of the people!"

Whoever wins will have the burden of leadership. No easy task. We will have the burden of keeping them on track. Again, no easy task; perhaps even the more difficult of the two. After all is said and done, if we lapse back into apathy, those who will take advantage will resurface and we will have gained nothing.

Two years of campaigning and millions upon millions of dollars spent. For what? Maybe there is some merit to the saying, "Lead, follow or get out of the way."