The Armies of the Dawn

Like armies throughout history, this one will begin to stir at first light. It will prepare itself for the day of battle and march forward with determination to do its duty.The issue will be decided by night.

OK. A bit of overwriting, but it contains more than an element of truth. After almost two years of intra and inter political party battling, after almost two years of seeing the worst and, rarely, the best of our politicians, tomorrow morning, what appears to be an almost unprecedented number of American voters will march to the polls and stand for hours to use the only weapon they possess, their vote, to change the government of this country. Not with bullets, and not with bombs, and not with murders and kidnappings, the government of what is still the most powerful nation on earth will peacefully transform itself yet again.

Faced with perhaps the clearest set of choices between two competing political philosophies, the American people will determine the course of this nation for the next four years. Already, this has been a campaign without precedent as one major political party has nominated a black man as a candidate while the other party has nominated a woman for vice president.

Tomorrow evening, millions of Americans will be glued to televisions as they watch the results roll in and as they root for their candidate to win. Victors will be crowned. Losers will concede. In both cases, some will perform in their rolls with grace, some less so. All will accept the decisions of the voters.

On January 20th, in Washington, D.C. oaths will be taken, cannons will fire and soldiers will march. But those cannons will be firing salutes, not shells. And those soldiers will be on parade, not on heir way to do battle.

Such is the transfer of power in this nation.