Remember, remember: The 4th of November

I've been thinking about this for a while now. Here we are, a little more than a week after the election and I'm not sure what I want to discuss.

Sure, I could drone for entire paragraphs about any number of topics. Not the least of which being the sheer importance of this election. Putting my politics aside for the moment, we were all involved in a vital change in leadership last Tuesday and that's worth keeping in mind as we progress toward the new year.

Part of me would love to talk about McCain's and Obama's awesomely respectful concession and acceptance speeches.

I'm sure I could amuse some with a commentary on Palin's sorta-kinda-almost-but-not-really bid for future high office. For now, anyway, she's too much of a punchline to have a prayer.

Goodness knows I would love to try and refocus attention to the potential hornet's nest we've elected into our highest office. When the Taliban leadership (such as it is) makes specific demands that the United States do almost exactly what Obama's campaign platform promised, it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth and more than a little concerned for our future. Then there's all the likely hiccups that come with enormous spending plans with a foundering economy.

The selfish part of me wants very much to mention my nigh-uncontrollable excitement knowing that my recently-deceased Xbox 360 should arrive at my doorstep sometime between the convenient hours of 8am and 7pm tomorrow.

I also need a job.

More than all of that (though by the slimmest of margins in the latter three cases) I want to impart my surpassing relief that the campaigns are over. No more speculation. No more annoying damn commercials. No more stump speeches. No more "debates." No more pollsters sitting on my doorbell. No more awkward phone calls from the friendly, neighborhood campaign office. And, at long last, the tacit acknowledgement that there is something else happening on the planet.

I hate campaigns more than I hate movie-talkers. More than politicians in general. More than Christmas commercials before Thanksgiving. More than chick-flicks. I am thrilled that the process is over for three years or so.

That said, I am even happier that so many went to the polls. We are a democratic republic, but fancy ourselves the be-all and end-all of democratic knowledge. We love controlling our own destinies (to a point) and often encourage others to follow suit. But we try to ignore the nagging incongruity that it is a good year when some 35% of the population finds six minutes of their day to elect the next leader of the free world. That's atrocious. Millions more came out and voiced their opinion. For better or worse, most voted for change. The vital part to remember is that they voted and it mattered.

If an annoying 20-month campaign is what is takes to get our people off their asses and fulfill their duty, then so be it. More than anything else right now, I am pleased to know we are waking from our comfort-induced stupor to see how much trouble we are in and how strong we are when united.

For too long we've been flirting with the prospect of "United States" becoming oxymoronic. The threat still looms, but it remains firmly in the realm of "possible" instead of "inevitable." Remember this feeling, ladies and gentlemen. Someone once said, "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men (and women) to do nothing." Always fight for what is right, for we are the good.