Tedger.com

I’m absolutely exhausted right now. I spent 16 hours working at Ames Ward 4 Precinct 3 today. I helped register ~100 people, and gave ballots to probably another 90. I was the first person to vote this morning (being a poll worker has perks) and one of the last to leave. More than physical exhaustion I’m mentally exhausted. After months of reading fivethirtyeight.com, politico.com, and realclearpolitics.com I was in a near blackout when polls started closing around the country (thanks to Scott and Rachel for alleviating some of that). But it’s finally over, and America has just elected a new President.

To say that I am proud doesn’t do justice to the way that I feel. Joy, excitement, pride, and love are only a few words that I can use to attempt to describe the way that I feel about my country right now. I don’t necessarily mean the people (although they are surely part of it) but also the institutions that make up our state, the shared ideals that make us a nation, and the Constitution that defines our government. For the last eight years America has endured a President of the people that voted for him, and just those people; a President unversed in the patriotism of politics, and ignorant of pride of all people, not just those who swagger and tote a gun.

For the last eight years I’ve felt just as much anger for the people that wanted to move to Canada as those who would tell me disagreeing with my President was unpatriotic. I sincerely believe that this election would have been far more of a landslide had it not been for the divisive anti-politics of President Bush and this is just the first step in healing that wound. America has a gaping gash that must be healed, and it will take years for it to be completely whole again, but we’re on the right track to recovery.

There is no picture to accompany this post, I can’t think of one fitting enough.

Edit: Corrected a sentence in the second paragraph (needed “mean” to be a real sentence structure) that should have even made sense to exhausted me.