by I have to report for duty at my poll site tomorrow, at 5am. It didn’t occur to me until yesterday that I am probably expected to stay until the polls close, and a little after. We have to seal everything, and hand the ballots to the NYPD. We might be working seventeen hours straight. That can’t be right! Right?? That’s absolutely insane. I just checked the card I was sent. That is right. Good lord.
Note to all Americans: be very kind to your poll workers, especially if you’re voting late. They have been at it since 5am!!
Bleeck is hanging on Obama’s every word. Or, he’s having a nice nap.
Hi Stacy,
first off, I’m very glad that you came through the storm with flying colors. In Texas we have entire towns wiped out by tornados almost every year, and naturally, we have a lot of experience at worrying about possible devastation.
I rather imagine that Bleeck looks more like a cat who is ready to spring.
Tomorrow you will have a grueling day from the sound of it. I would like to offer a few tips from my election survival package.
Right now both the left and right are swearing up and down that they will win. However, since they’re both spinning to the point of prevarication, neither can be taken seriously, and someone is going to win.
I offer these ideas that have helped keep me sane, and perhaps they might help someone else.
1. You have to realize that American politics is not some steady stair-step to the mountain top.
It’s a seesaw. We have a binary system, and the power goes back and forth inevitably despite how vigorously we might wish it to do otherwise.
2. Survival of one’s emotional wear and tear is helped when you realize that you should not be overly invested in political concerns, because if you are you are putting all your emotional assets into a system that is going to disappoint you at least half the time.
So back your team, but don’t be too concerned about the outcome, because you’ll get another shot next time if you lose.
3. The other side is not composed of a bunch of people who are your enemies. If you are moved by low-country realism, and your neighbor likes impressionism, that does not mean that your neighbor is a bad person. It is simply a fact that people see the world in different ways, and who we are and how we care about each other supersede ideology.
4. People on the other side are not stupid. The various media providers do everything they can to convince you that the other side is not only filled with people who are evil, they are also supposedly stupid. This inevitably brings our political system down to political bullies vying for domination, and we could really use a world without such polarization and demonizing.
5. You should strive to have an investment in your own political point of view, but you should be very scrupulous about not letting your views become ideological. Most of the conversation we hear today are ideologues yelling at one another and trying to use the most reductionist and divisive language to mischaracterize their opponents into undesirable stereotypes.
Ideology is the opiate of the masses.
I am a conservative (a non-ideological one) and so I am hopeful that Gov Romney will pull it out. However, I also believe that all of the substantiating evidence demonstrates that both President Obama and Governor Romney are fine men with wonderful families, and I will not start hating or despising the other political side should my man happen to lose.
These are some of the ways of looking a politics that have helped keep my gyroscope steady through the passing years, and perhaps they are worth considering.
Greg – you should go into politics. You’re the type of sane person that the Republicans need to recruit (and I am speaking as a liberal, tree-hugging uber-Democrat).
Stacy – I voted here in NC last Thursday and the polling center was jumping with early voters. However, the TV will be off tomorrow. I don’t think I can handle the suspense and the kitty Xanax is all gone. My friends have promised to text me updates.
I noticed on your tv that Obama was in Madison (about an hour north of me) They were expecting a much larger crowd. This election could be very close. You get breaks tomorrow and there is usually plenty of food. Get your sleep, its a big day tomorrow.
Yay President Obama!!!
Greg, that was a lovely and gracious post, thank you.
I’m not anti-conservative, just anti-some of the people who express uglier sentiments than you. And I’m not really anti-them either, but I don’t know what to make of them.