Health and dis-ease

What excitement would result if we could have the level of enthusiasm that we witnessed for this year’s presidential election on every Election Day.  What created it?  What magic did we spin to get people to the polls?  I witnessed a few differences this year which contributed to the increased turnout.  (For a fuller account of my experience, see http://hubpages.com/hub/Volunteer-on-Election-Day-2008-USA .)

First, there was a concerted effort by many organizations to register eligible voters.  The Democratic Party perceives that increased voter participation is favorable to it.  Therefore, it supported registration endeavors.  In addition, organizations such as Rock the Vote and Move On tackled the cause by setting up registration tables in stores, along the streets, at workplaces.  With our incredible computer-empowered “click-it” world, citizens won’t tolerate difficult processes.  By going to them, the nation was served.  More citizens became empowered to participate in elections.

Also, the presidential candidates and their running mates were extremely interesting.  This was not another boring white men’s race.  Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, was a fountain of energy.  She is young, good looking, and was a huge surprise to most voters.  Furthermore, her life experience growing up in Alaska is not familiar to most of us.  Therefore, she has novel perspectives and verbal expressions which kept the American audience coming back for more.  On the Democratic side, there was a viable black candidate.  This was history making – just to have Barack Obama running.  Obama also had an unusual upbringing – one to which most of us cannot relate.  He lived in several countries (and continents) as a child and authored several books.  The possibility that a black person could make it to the White House in our lifetime kept many citizens engaged in the election.

I also credit Obama’s race with hooking many citizens of color into voting for the first time.  If someone who “looked like” them could be the chief executive of the land, they were interested.  If the quintessential “American dream” that any of our children can grow up to be president was possibly true, citizens of color were doing their part by registering and voting.  And what a glorious outpouring occurred at the polls.

Now, the reality is that we will not always have fascinating or entertaining presidential candidates.  We may not always have women or minorities on the ticket.  Nevertheless, I hope we will sustain the energy level of registering new voters.  If we succeed in doing that, no matter which party prevails, the country will win.

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