Our National Communion

I love election day. I love the lines, the energy, the different people with different candidates and passions all lined up to cast their ballot.

This is a secular holiday--a celebration of our freedom and our hopes. Yes, I know it is a cliché to say that people have died for the right to vote and then to complain that too many Americans take it for granted and don't bother voting. Maybe they think that their vote doesn't mean anything or make a difference. I don't accept that cynical premise.

If I cast my ballot, I cast away my right to complain, whine and whimper. And believe me I hold my right to qvetch to be something God-given and sacred. My side doesn't have to win to give my vote meaning--though surely I want it to win. The meaning is conferred by the act, the act of caring, of getting out and putting my mark where my want our country to go.

I have spoken to three large groups this week and happened to ask them how many had already voted. I was astounded that over half of each group had voted absentee. I understand that it is easier and there are no lines or parking problems but communion is worth some little trouble I think.

Part of what makes this nation work and invigorates our democracy is a contract we make with each other when we vote. We don't have to like the results but we do have to accept them. This is not the case in much of the world. In too many paces there is one free and fair election that elects the president for life--sometimes that life is stunningly brief and sometimes it is Mugabe.

In those parts of the world, the losers often do not live to campaign another day. They are harassed, arrested and even executed. Their parties are declared treasonous and their newspapers are closed. Our social contract that we make at each election is that in exchange for granting the legitimacy of the results, the losers will be allowed to live, to organize and to campaign another day.

Tomorrow, I'm going to drive up to Bel Air Pres, stand in line with my fellow citizens, cast my ballot and receive gratefully, my sticker saying " I Voted!"