Super bowl parade. Super Tuesday. Fashion Week. Things are happening here in New York today, and as I stood in line to vote, I stood at the juncture of it all. From where I voted, I could see fans streaming into the subway to head for the Canyon Of Heroes for the parade to welcome home our unlikely football champions, students sprinting out of the Fashion Institute on their way to the tents of Bryant Park, and a melting pot of citizens standing in line at PS 33 to vote for an historic nominee.
Voting in New York is not like voting in Atlanta, GA. First, all the directions are in six languages. In Georgia, I think they still have an English test to allow you to vote. Second, the gymnasium in which I voted was packed with polling stations for a staggering 8 different voting districts, a testament to the dense population in the high rises around the school. Unlike in Georgia, where I always noticed polling stations were quieter than most churches, everyone here was talking, yelling, laughing, and generally in a gleeful mood. Jokes were being made about for whom we were going to pull the lever. Change was in the air, and the people of the 44th Election District seemed ready for it.
The first thing I did in New York once I had my apartment was register to vote. I have not missed an election since I was 18. This was my favorite vote casted.
This was my favorite election so far, not necessarily because of the candidate I chose, but because of the entire experience. One thing I liked was I again got the satisfaction of actually pulling a lever to vote. It feels so much more certain, participatory, and decisive. In Georgia, touching a screen to vote gave me no more satisfaction than punching in my PIN into the ATM, and at least with the ATM I am assured of getting my money. Alas, in following the new federal laws, New York will replace the 1960s-era voting machines in 2009, being the last state to do so. With all the screw ups in electronic voting in Georgia, New York staying with these machines is one time that last adapter to technology looks to be the smartest.
I also witnessed again the diversity of New York, and the feeling that universal voting is truly America's strength. In my polling station, I saw about fifteen or twenty people holding the tell tale new voter registration card I also held in my hand. I stood among many races, colors, and ages, each of them caring enough and believing enough to skip a parade, be late for work, or drag the kids to come out in the rain, and vote. I spoke to at least two first time voters, a new citizen from Britain and a young female college student. I could not help but spend a moment reflecting on the historic nature of this election, and on the long path our nation has taken to get here. From white, educated, rich landowners selecting their own to lead all others to all the others selecting from their own. It took too long to get here, but the inevitable arc of justice did it's thing, and here we are.
One thing struck me above all else, and that was our need to end this war. We are spending billions each month (remember when this was projected to cost $50 Billion, but now it is running $8 Billion a month?). George W still does not even account for this cost in his annual budget. I wish I could spend thousands of dollars, and then tell the credit card companies not to expect payment because the money is simply "not included" in my checking account. I wish my student loan companies took "oh, that money is not accounted for in the 2008 John budget" as an acceptable explanation for not having the money to pay for the loans.
But more than any other feeling, what struck me was sadness. Sadness that while we spend all these billions rebuilding the schools in Iraq, and we still point to that country's people's purple fingers from a fruitless election years ago as evidence of "success" in this war, I stood in a decrepit, 1950s-era, leaking Public School 33 with a sea of diverse people who quietly live together in a unity that most Iraqis could only dream about, and I saw people who could each, in their own way, benefit from that money being spent here. On us.
And I felt angry. So I pulled a lever. And I saw Bush's inevitable departure. And I felt certain, participatory. And decisive.
It is a Super day in New York, but Jan. 20, 2009 will be a better one for our nation.
