I’m in Minneapolis this morning because I had to come back to get my car. Lizzie drove me to Sleepy Eye last night so that I could work and then drove me back early this morning. The car is doing good, the brakes feel a little funny seeing that it’s a completely brand new brake system, but hey at least the car stops.

So today is a big day. I think that James Lileks put it best in his today’s column in the Star Tribune when he said:

“I think I speak for many when I almost wish I was utterly clueless. Regardless of your party, chances are you’ve spent too much time pacing around chewing on a wet towel, wondering how it will all come out. Because if your guy loses WE ARE DOOMED and fire will fall from the sky and winged monkeys will erupt from the ground and carry off our children and perhaps the fine china, as well.”

Kind of a humorous way of looking at it, but it’s very true. We’re all very anxious about this election, and many of us have a feeling that we’ll be completely doomed if the other side wins. I recommend reading his whole article, because as usual for him, it’s a very good reading. But anyway, I personally don’t think we’ll be doomed. Obviously I will feel that my personal beliefs won’t be represented in this country very well if my choice loses. But if more people in this country disagree with me than agree, then I guess I have to move on and hope for another chance four years later.

Let’s hope that the people who’s candidate doesn’t win can accept it and just move on like good Americans instead of fighting for the next four years. Let’s hope this election is decided tonight, instead of 6 months from now. Even more than I am hoping that the candidate I support wins, I am hoping it isn’t close. Because if it is, this country is going to be an ugly place for a while, and I really just want this all to be over.

Post-2000 election was pretty ugly, but it could be even worse this time around. A lot of people were pretty upset about the electoral college system in 2000. The attacks on the electoral college system continue on into this election. I see bumper stickers asking for a “fairer” system. I don’t think they understand some of the purposes of the electoral college. A big one for me, being from a small state like North Dakota with only 3 electoral votes, I like that it protects North Dakota and makes sure they have a voice against the more populated states. It still may not be a very big voice, but it’s still better than the alternative of taking the popular vote. The views of the largest 9-11 states do not represent that of the whole country. Every state needs to have a say. We don’t want states like New York and California controlling this country any more than they already do.

If not for the electoral college, the 2000 election would have been even uglier. Bush and Gore would have both realized that either of them could demand recounts and challenge ballots in every precinct, in every county, in every state of the Union with the real hope of finding enough votes that the election could have been overturned. Thousands of lawyers would tie up hundreds of courts around the nation with little hope of any clean or clear conclusion. Rather than Bush vs. Gore, we likely would have had hundreds of lawsuits winding their way to the Supreme Court. In 2000 the electoral college saved us from a national nightmare much worse than that which we suffered. It was a bad deal, and I really hope that we don’t find ourself in the same fight when tomorrow morning comes.

Either way, I’m glad I had the opportunity to vote. This was my first election that I was old enough to vote in, I was very involved, and I feel like I made an informed, intelligent decision. I hope that you go to the polls today with a similar kind of confidence, if not I hope my words over the last few months have helped you not feel so bad about being confused, because I too have been confused. I think it’s been okay to be confused, it opens up your mind and frees you from all of that partisan intransigence that plagues so many people. That really brings out the worst in some people who are otherwise good people to have around.

Regardless of how the day ends, today is still a fine example of what makes this country so great. Seeing the parking lots of polling stations packed with cars as I pulled into Minneapolis today makes me very proud. The bumper stickers and yard signs have been annoying over the past few months as they remind me of the partisan bickering, but today they mean something else. They remind me of how truly blessed we all are to be Americans.

Have a happy today, and tomorrow, and days after. I’ll talk to you again this weekend.