Who's Watching?

When we vote today, there will be many by our side we cannot see, but they will be watching us. Some will have front row seats but, for the most part, history is standing room only.

Walt Whitman once wrote that for all we know he may be looking over our shoulders now, and he may be right. If we're especially quiet, we may hear the urgent whispers of gratitude from Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and the good grey poet himself, as well as everyone who marched in Alabama, and who gave their lives for the cause of civil rights.

We know, too, that off in the distance are Arthur Miller, Paul Newman and Studs Terkel, as well as all those who stood up to Joe McCarthy, and the blacklisters.

Doing the right thing always costs more. Why that is, who can say, but it does. Rest assured that butchers sleep better than most of us. All too often, humankind has been most unkind. Nothing we do today will change that, but can only present the promise of change, and cast an urgent light on the transgressions of those who think that justice can be bought, and sold.

For too long, we have allowed ourselves to live in a land where opportunity is a commodity obtainable by some, and denied to most. Our actions, this November 4th, may just change that.

The Brahmin of supply-side economics have finally met their destiny in the dungheap that is the financial market.

More importantly, we are coming to see that the movement for world peace can never be separate from the movement for world prosperity. We are hoping Mr. Obama will fix that, but we must see to it that he does.

When we go to the polls today, we may also hear the urgent whispers of gratitude from the rest of the world. We can no longer afford to disappoint them.