Election Eve

Every four years it seems we are told that we face the most important election yet in the American experiment. In fact, it often does seem like the most important election. It’s difficult to be objective about the present though – it’s all we seem to have a clear view of.

But why should this or any election be important? It shouldn’t really matter who gets elected. We should be able to count on a reasonable, constitution-loving American to be our president, shouldn’t we? And (in what some still remember is a federal republic) the president should have very little impact on our day-to-day lives. It’s never quite felt that way to Americans, however – ever since Adams and Jefferson fought to head the executive branch. Still, as bitterly as they fought and as critical as their differences must have seemed to them, who today wouldn’t wish that the country would be headed by his least favorite of our 2nd and 3rd presidents?

Then again, maybe I’ve got it all wrong and we’re just fighting the same battles over and over throughout history, with each generation playing its part and weaving itself into the fabric of a longstanding argument. Indeed, we have good evidence that not much has changed since 1964 when Ronald Reagan gave this speech which sounds like it could have been written yesterday except for the specifics.

I know, at least, that I don’t know how important the elections of 2008 will be. Maybe they will be a critical turning point as everyone seems to think. Or maybe, no matter who gets elected, we will all claim that it was a turning point – even if we had started down the path long ago. Indeed, it does seem like we are on our path already.

We should keep in mind that on some level the president is only an expression of our collective will and not an all powerful ruler. Although we like to blame and praise our presidents for our country’s fortunes, maybe that’s only so we feel that there is someone in control of it all. After all, the alternative is that we have no one to blame but ourselves.