November 4, 2008 is anticipated to be one of the most significant days in America’s history. It will be the day when Americans will be challenged to put into action the very ideals that are mixed in the mortar of America’s foundation and articulated in that sacred document we know as the Declaration of Independence (1776).
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
For the past eight years, many people—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike—have suffered tremendous threats to their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness under the Bush oligarchy. And, we have witnessed time and time again the most egregious abuse of power and disgraceful disregard for the public’s trust (in terms of both dollars and faith); the insane $700 billion bailout to stop the economic bleeding on Wall Street while doing what amounts to next to nothing to alleviate the hemorrhaging on main street is just one example. There has been “a long train of abuses and usurpations” for which prudence dictates that the time is right and it is our duty as Americans to “throw off such government and to provide new guards for the future security” of our great nation.
For these reasons and more, this election is much too costly for any one to renege on their duty to go out to the polls and vote on November 4 (if not earlier). While I am impressed with the massive campaign efforts on the ground that have resulted in record-breaking new-voter registrants and with what the recent polls are predicting, I am still a bit skeptical and nervous. My trepidation is for several reasons:
(1) If I may be candid, Black folk, young folk, and poor folk, those who have the most to gain and to lose have often been unreliable when it comes to turning out to the polls. Voter records provide the evidence to support this claim.
(2) While I am not afraid of what the Republicans will do because they have never tried to hide their hand. What I am afraid of is that we will allow them to play their hand as usual. The Republicans have always counted on those on the Left and the liberal Independents to take them for granted and to underestimate their power of persuasion at mobilizing their base—who by the way rarely benefits from their policies. Who I am most afraid of are the lukewarm Independents and the Jessiecrat democrats; those who publically profess to support the Democratic candidates but when the curtain is closed behind them change their minds.
(3) And, finally we can not ignore the empirical evidence and realities that time and time again indicate that race is still a major unresolved issue in America and that many people have yet to truly embrace the notion that “all men” are absolutely unequivocally “created equal.” I, along with many others, have said it many times before: it will not be intellect, leadership skills, experience, integrity, sound judgment, respect, morality or any of the other characteristics we think are crucial for a president to have, but race that will be the deciding factor for many people, Democrats, Republicans and Independents a like.
(4) And, with all eyes on North Carolina as a “Battleground state,” let’s not forget our political history. We can not forget the Helms-Gantt senatorial campaign in the 1990s or the 1972 presidential race between Governor Terry Sanford and Alabama Governor George Wallace or the fact that a Democratic presidential candidate has not carried North Carolina since Jimmy Carter’s successful bid in 1976.
The bottom line is this is an election whereby we can not assume any thing, take any thing for granted, sleep, forget, underestimate, ignore or send some one else. This election simply can not be like the last two, our children’s future, our future, and our nation’s future are at stake and this time the stakes are too high.
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