November 2, 2004
A BROTHERS JUDD PSA:
At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper. . . . --G. K. ChestertonWhile I'll freely admit I'd be enjoying today more if the President had a ten point lead, nothing beats Election Day. Even after the blossoming of representative governments we saw at the end of the Cold War we still encounter a world today where a couple billion people are fighting for a say in their own governance. Meanwhile, the men of our own family (if you'll forgive some self-reference) have voted in a presidential election every four years for over two centuries--and at least one Orrin Judd has voted in every presidential back to 1840. You can probably count on one hand the number of countries that have had something even approximating their current form of government for that long. America is sometimes, usually contemptuously, called a young nation, but we are really just about the oldest, because we got to history's final form so much sooner than others and have maintained it uninterrupted. When we go to the polls today we will add one more stone to the long wall that our forefathers built up before us and which our children will certainly keep adding to long after we're gone. It is a privilege that should humble us and for which we must be grateful. It is a trust that's been handed down and that we're obligated to hand on in turn.
For all the apocalyptic weight that partisans of either side wish to place upon the choice today, it's just one more decision, in a long line, about which group of deeply flawed fellow citizens we choose to have govern us for a few years. It is particularly noteworthy that we do so once again in a time of war, though not the kind of existential crisis that the Civil War was, when the election of 1864 still went forward. The talk of a bitterly divided nation is just that--talk--someone will win and someone will lose and we'll all accept the results and move on. By Friday there'll already have been a column or two on the top prospects for the 2008 campaign. Whichever party you support and whatever view you hold of the two candidates, there's comfort in the knowledge we've survived worse than these and subsequently thrived.
In all that we do at Brothers Judd we are informed by a rather simple belief, that humankind is tugged at by two competing impulses, one towards freedom and one towards security and that all human affairs are explained by the attempt to find an appropriate balance between the two. George W. Bush has certainly tipped the balance quite dramatically in favor of freedom, our own and that of the peoples of the Middle East. As is ever the case, the extension of freedom has produced uncertainty and that can't help but be unsettling to those folks who prefer security. Comes Mr. Kerry with a vision of greater stability, here at home for sure, but especially abroad. This election will decide which way we tilt the scales for now, but the balance point is ever changing; stasis is never achieved; and each of us will at different times in life and on different issues wish the balance would be struck differently than the majority decides. No one likes to lose, but to get ourselves crazy over a process that's this natural and of this duration is profoundly unhealthy. We hope and believe that Mr. Bush will win, but have to remain cognizant of the entirely understandable reasons that he might not. As Eric Hoffer put it:
Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity.
Mr. Kerry and his supporters are free men as surely as we and we're all in this grope together.
Today is not a day for partisan passion or knots in the stomach, not a day to whip yourself into a frenzy about the nation going to heck in a handcart if your guy loses, but a day to marvel at what we have here, the Republic blessed by Providence and kept by millions of hands and hearts and minds since 1789. Vote today and vote joyfully, for we are a people too favored by fortune to ever take lightly this gift, that we get to be those little men in the little booths making the crosses that determine who gets to represent us.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 2, 2004 9:30 AMBeautifully said....hopefully it will register and let us all relax a bit and watch Bush enjoy his win, for he has much to do in his 2nd term
"You can probably count on one hand the number of countries that have had something even approximating their current form of government for that long."
There are only seven countries which got through the entire 20th century with the same form of government without any intervening revolutions, coup d'etats, military occupations or other abrupt undemocratic changes —
United Kingdom
United States
Switzerland
Sweden
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Well said.
Posted by: AllenS at November 2, 2004 4:27 AMVery nicely put, OJ.
Posted by: Brit at November 2, 2004 4:33 AMWhen Kerry throws the Iraqi democrats to the wolves I wonder if they'll be quite so philosophical.
But nicely put. Here's some things I DON'T expect to hear from the conservative camp if Kerry wins:
"Americans are morons"
"Americans are brainless sheep easily led and deserve whatever disaster now befalls them"
"Democracy is finished in AmeriKKKa"
"This situation reminds me of Germany 1938"
"Today I am ashamed to be American"
I expect to hear all that and much, much worse from the left if Bush wins.
Posted by: Amos at November 2, 2004 4:48 AMWOW!!!!!
Posted by: DCJ at November 2, 2004 6:02 AM"...at least one Orrin Judd has voted in every presidential back to 1840"
Hmmm, I wonder how many are voting in this one.
Beautifully put, Orrin. Break a leg, everyone, and God bless the U.S.A.
Posted by: Peter B at November 2, 2004 6:03 AMDitto.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at November 2, 2004 6:07 AMPeter:
Three, but I'm just taking the 7 year old with me and our father has voted for Dick Gregory, John Anderson & Ross Perot, so we tremble to think who he's going with this time.
Posted by: oj at November 2, 2004 6:48 AMThanks. o.j., for a much needed sense of perspective. It's easy to forget that at heart most of us are driven by the same fears and desires. We're blessed with a country that's resilient. At times I resent the asymmetry Amos expresses above. Our side will not conclude that the world is coming to an end if Bush loses. Maybe that's because we have more faith in the American people than do our ideological opponents. May we all remember our blessings, and resolve to continue to contest the battle of ideas, whatever the outcome.
Posted by: Dave Sheridan at November 2, 2004 7:02 AMIf the movie "Voices of Iraq" had aired just one Sunday evening on a major network this Fall, Bush would deliver on OJ's hope-drenched 535-3 prediction.
Thanks for everything, OJ; good work!
Posted by: JimGooding at November 2, 2004 7:04 AMHeckuva post, Orrin.
It may be a bit of a stretch, but let's hope that "malice toward none, charity to all" is the order of the day.
Huzzay!!
Posted by: Twn at November 2, 2004 8:43 AMReading this made me feel grateful and proud.
Thank you
Posted by: Marc Schulman at November 2, 2004 9:37 AMGood words OJ. Yesterday I saw a pickup truck that had two bumperstickers. One was a picture of Uncle Sam stating "I Want You Bin Laden", the other a Kerry/Edwards sticker. It reminded me that for all the vitriol and bickering these last couple of years that in the end the overwhelming majority of Americans are united more by our common goals than we are divided by our differences. Today I will proudly cast my vote for President Bush and fervently hope that he carries the day nationwide. But regardless of who wins I'll still be proud to be a citizen of this great country.
Posted by: MB at November 2, 2004 9:55 AMJust went and voted with the boy--the two year old, his brother says he'll be exhausted after the mock election at school, where he and his sister are nearly the only Bush backers.
On the walk to school this morning a six year old girl was skipping along singins, "We get to vote today!" Her eight year old brother said she was too young to be voting, a girl, and didn't even know what a congressman is--a lad after my own heart.
Posted by: oj at November 2, 2004 10:24 AMNothing to add to the above. Well put.
Posted by: Rick T. at November 2, 2004 10:30 AMFrankly, I have a less charitable view because I see this race is the most important one in our history since 1980. While a Bush victory may not be a panacea, a Kerry victory would be a disaster on every front.
When I walked to the polls this morning, I met one of my neighbors who is a WASP and a liberal Democrat. His wife thought it was pretty funny to have an ultra-liberal WASP and a conservative Jew, it just threw the stereotypes on their ear. My reaction was it's like that great Republican, Don King, said,'Only in America, baby! Only in America!'
Posted by: Bart at November 2, 2004 11:06 AMThanks for the perspective OJ. And thanks for the site.
Posted by: curt at November 2, 2004 12:02 PM>There are only seven countries which got
>through the entire 20th century with the same
>form of government without any intervening
>revolutions, coup d'etats, military occupations
>or other abrupt undemocratic changes —
>
>United Kingdom
>United States
>Switzerland
>Sweden
>Canada
>Australia
>New Zealand
Of those seven, five are Anglo -- Brit, Brit Commonwealth, or breakaway former Brit colonies.
Beautifully done. Thank you, OJ. I really needed that today. Been WAY too stressed out lately ...
I should mention here that BroJuddBlog is like an oasis for me, a safe harbor, where I can count on intelligence and knowledge, from OJ, his co-bloggers, and his excellent band of commenters. I'm humbled to even be let into the place. I've learned so much here, and laughed, and argued, and it's all good. For my money, this blog and Roger L. Simon's are the ideal models for reasoned argument, and one of the best things about the internet itself. Don't change a thing.
Thanks to all, again. Even Harry. ;-)
Naah, not Harry. That would be just too much. Well said, oj.
Posted by: joe shropshire at November 2, 2004 1:25 PMThanks to our generous host above all, and then to the commenters. Even Bart :-\
Posted by: Eugene S. at November 2, 2004 1:50 PMOrrin:
I thought you live in New Hampshire. How can your son and daughter be the only Bush supporters at their school if the state is pretty Republican?
By the way, I am hearing that Kerry could take Virginia. I can't believe that.
Posted by: Vince at November 2, 2004 2:46 PM