The passion of politics.

Tomorrow is the other super day. The day that carries more weight and significance than 22 players and some pigskin. Well...possibly more weight.

This election has been the most moving, exciting, challenging and involved political experience I can ever recall. Not just for me, but watching it through my sister's eyes, seeing her excitement and wondering if the education she's been giving herself about the way our country governs could potentially signal that indeed the time of change is upon us.

I've quietly made it known who I support in this election. And I'm not going to use my blog to defend it, argue it or frown on the worth or lack of worth of any other candidate. But I will say this...it's politics. And so to me, that means no candidate is without their flaws, without their mistakes, without their challenges and honestly, without their dirt. At the end of the day, it is up to each of us to identify a) our beliefs, b) our stance on what this country truly needs to do to govern most effectively, c) the candidate we feel would best represent those beliefs in office.

My blog big brother, (my BBB) has given me much to think about this election with regard to power, who truly holds it and what is at stake. I like that he's so snarky and jaded he can see through the fuckery (poke) of all of the candidates. And I do mean...all of them. While BBB and I don't always see eye to eye, I can always respect his arguments as a) objective, b) devoid of personal emotion and c) wise. If I say anything else complimentary of him, I may gag. But you get the bulk of my point.

There is a lot at stake in this election. We are a nation nearing it's tipping point. Naturally, that means there are lots of opinions, lots of emotions, lots of pressure...and lots of warring words. We've seen it in the debates...and we've see it in the OpEds and the blogosphere. I find myself, if I'm not careful, wanting to get pulled into tit for tat exchanges about this candidate versus that candidate when really, we're all still looking for the lesser of any evil. And sometimes that evil can be as simple as those who do not pay particular attention to our personal, civic or financial concerns.

Your blues ain't like mine.

And I'm okay with that. But I think it's important for everyone fighting for a stake in this election to not only think about the issues that pertain directly to you...but the issues that pertain to the greater good of this country. I was scolded recently by an older Mexican woman who asked how I could possibly declare myself a democrat when the democratic party supports abortion and any "God fearing" Christian should therefore stand passionately with the GOP. Yes...I call myself a God fearing Christian, but I also believe in a woman's right to choose - despite my own personal feelings about if I could or could not terminate a pregnancy. I call myself a God fearing Christian, but I'm not going to stand with a party that stands diametrically opposed to my thoughts about war, economics, healthcare, education, etc. I call myself a God fearing Christian...but I also believe in the separation of Church and State. I call myself a God fearing Christian, but you don't see me in church. And that's another post for another time. My point is...you can call me a lot of things. And that same rule applies to our politicians.

It is so easy to identify a "thing" and embrace that thing that defines you, then ride passionate waves of political selection to the ends of the race and into inauguration day. It is quite another to consider each candidate without the media, without the agendas, without the endorsements, without the "popularity polls" and without the mud slinging "shit on one to promote another" games that politics thrive and endure on.

It's quite another thing to release the passion of defensiveness, anger, bitterness and conviction to ask...

...who really, can take us where we need to go?

That answer remains unseen, because many of us are all still trying to go in a hundred different places based on what would agree with our lens of the world as we would like to see it, for us. We see not as a nation, but as individual "groups." We are still, very much...a nation divided. With judgment and criticism for all.