Election Day
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, November 02, 2010 1:30 PM
Win or lose, I love election day!
I come by the love of politics honestly: my grandfather wrote a political column for the LA Times, my dad’s a life-long journalist, and I was a pro-life lobbyist for a number of years in my early “career” (such as it is).
More than that, I enjoy the limited opportunities we have to mingle together as citizens.
Even during the last presidential cycle, knowing that the incredible crowds at the polls were there to vote against me, I enjoyed being with my neighbors: the cheerful chit-chat, the seriousness of purpose with which we were all there.
Nothing changes your fear and frustration like actually being with your fellow citizens. Then you realize how basically wholesome everyone is, how much they are committed to the common good, even if you think their understanding of the common good is woefully defective. I felt good about the country, and happy, even if by my lights we were going to be in for a long slog.
I keep on my fridge a clipping from the Washington Times from several years ago.
It shows an election official in Afghanistan taking a ballot box up on mule-back up a narrow mountain path. That one photo encapsulates for me the desire of the human heart to be free and the risks to life and limb some people in the world still take in order to be self-governing.
There’s something awe-inspiring about an election I can never take for granted.
Being political junkies, the Tetis usually gather with the like-minded for celebration or stiff drinks on election night.
Does your family have election-day traditions?
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