This election was both great for America and bad at the same time.

Great in that we have had one of the highest voter turnouts ever – I am not sure, as of this time, what the polls will report but it is expected to be well over 60%. The fact is that whomever wins this election will have received the most votes of any president elect in history – and that is due to the fact that people are going to the polls.

Great in that we have an American hero, John McCain running for office – a man who served 5 years in a POW camp. A man who literally bled for his country.

Great in that we have Barack Obama, a half-black, half-white candidate who resembles the American dream, coming from a single mother to rise to the White House. No one better, in the eyes of many, to unite America in this dark time.

And then there is the bad: the economy. We find ourselves so desperate for answers – so desperate that we put all the blame on one man and his party. We don’t let the facts get in our way – like the fact that we currently are living with a Democrat-dominated House and Senate running up one of the greatest deficits of all time. But does our Democrat leadership get the blame? The silence is deafening. And to think we will now have at least two more years of a Democratic leadership.

What is intriguing is that there are people who are voting strictly on race. That is fine because in this country, you have the right to express yourself as long as it doesn’t interfere with another’s safety. The question becomes, however, is race really the only factor that should determine the worth of a candidate? If yes be the answer, then no should be the reply you give to another asking you if you are not prejudiced. It is also the same answer that should be supplied for whether or not that is the right criteria for selecting our nation’s leader.

Instead, we should focus on policy – and which candidate should have the honor of representing our sovereignty. How does this individual stand up to our political views?

For example, a black woman I work with today told me she voted for John McCain. She knew that would be a highly controversial decision for her. There are two problems with this: one, why is a black person supposed to vote for Obama? What if they don’t agree with his policies, his views on education or the economy? And two, isn’t that inheritantly racist for that person to vote for Obama because he is black? Is it not just as racist for us to assume she will vote for him because she and he are both black?

You see, even I find myself guilty of this. I was surprised to hear she voted for McCain. Why? She felt very strongly about Roe vs. Wade and McCain was supportive of her views on that issue. I voted for McCain, but does that make me racist? And for me to assume that this colleague of mine was going to vote for Obama because he’s black – does that make me a racist?

This is the main problem that seems to be steering these elections. This only seems to devolve into further seperation – red vs. blue, republican vs. democrat, black vs. white?

Lost in all of this is the fact that Obama himself is bi-racial. He was raised by a white mother in a white household yet he saw differently when he looked into the mirror. With his impending victory tonight, lets all focus on uniting the country – regardless of who are candidate was.

Whomever wins I just hope people felt that they were able to express themselves. It does seem, however, that the Republicans are pulling out of this as quickly as they can and letting the Democrats step in. Whether or not this is wise, in that the Republicans will lose power at just the right time, remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is, people have to stop looking to the government to fix their problems. Instead, people should be commanding the government to stop creating messes and get out of the way.

The government is meant to serve its people. Whomever wins this election better hold dear to that. And it is up to you and I to remind them.