Polls

I was recently asked in a poll if I think this is the most important election of my lifetime. Since "undecided" was not one of the possible answers, I concluded - at the time - that my answer was "no" and moved on. As I am likely to do, I have since spent considerable time pondering the question.

"My lifetime" begins with my parents and their peers electing Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. Truman: the only human being ever to order and complete a nuclear strike. Eisenhower: how many people realize that the "Eisenhower Interstate System" was actually conceived and built as an evacuation route, in the case of nuclear attack? (And how naive were we then, to believe such attacks would continue to be limited to the scope and size of those Truman ordered?) Kennedy: I don't even know where to begin with him. He inspired a generation to patriotism and to reach for the moon and beyond...yet, if he had been asked the same questions asked of Bill Clinton, would he also have been impeached? And Johnson...well...we won't even go there, okay?

My generation came of age by staying "Clean For Gene". Yet what we got as nominees was HHH and...well...Nixon. (And my favorite bumper sticker in recent years remains "I never though I would miss Nixon".)

Remember the campaign of 1968? (Okay - some of you can't, because you weren't born yet. But try to keep up!) It was a time when elections were won or lost based on principles. The party platform was actually written and set at the convention, and it frequently took vote after vote to determine the candidate. Young people rioted in Chicago, in an effort to change the system. And the hope of the generation - Bobby Kennedy - was assassinated (see above comments about his brother - who knows what the whole truth really is?)

If you took a look at the playlist on my iPod, you would see several songs from that era. "This Land Is Your Land"..."Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream". The popular weekly television series "The Smothers Brothers Show" was instantly pulled off the air because Pete Seeger had the balls to sing "The Big Muddy" (from the refrain: "The big fool said to press on..."), after he had been told not to. We actually thought that music was somehow important (and not just syncopated pornography, as it is now...but I digress.)

But something happened. It was more than just the assassination of RFK, the riot in Chicago, Nixon's Watergate. Something hardened us as a people. Turned us inward. Made us cease to care about the bigger picture.

I really, really wish I could figure out what it was, and fix it. Maybe I am just deluding myself, but life seemed more important then, than this self-abosrbed world we now inhabit. In a recent discussion with a government employee, I even said "What's in it for me?" Because I can't find the words or the will to describe what "patriotism" would look like in this millennium.

So my answer to the poll question changes a bit. This could be the most important election of my lifetime. And here's how:

If McCain and Palin are elected, the world will go on as it has for the last 30 plus years. While I am very sorry that John McCain was a prisoner of war and a victim of torture, our generation still can't talk to each other about whether or not it was a good idea that he was in Vietnam at all. Their focus is on maintaining the status quo - don't give me the "maverick" b.s., okay? If life on Main Street is okay, life is okay. There is nothing beyond me and my own personal comfort.

I have to admit to being uncertain of whether or not Obama and Biden could pull off the kind of cultural shift necessary for this to become the most important election of my lifetime. But at least I see the possibility there. More global thinking. More "reaching out" vs. the "acting out" of the petulant crowd currently inhabiting the White House.

Some of my friends and acquaintances call me "The Queen of Cynicism" or "The Queen of Conspiracy Theories". So be it. But the 1960s-style patriotism never completely died in me. I want to love my country. I want my country to be the envy of the world again...not because of what we have, but because of who we are: hard-working, honest, and willing to help people in need.

It's crunch-time in this election, and all indications are that these next few weeks will be some of the most negative ever seen in US political history. So here's my plea to both sides:

I don't care why you hate the other side. Just tell me how we are going to become more than we have been lately.