There can be only one...

The campaign signs decorate yards and roadways. Daily and hourly polls are recounted continuously and published instantly across the world. Television ads populate the airwaves of radio and television. Devoted supporters make their rounds, dropping of flyers and encouraging people to get out and vote. The hands of every clock drives inexorably the American people relentlessly forward–even the recent falling back of an hour did little more than momentarily stall the inevitable.

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, sometime after the polls close at 8:00 p.m., barring unforeseen circumstances, the United States of America and the world at-large will have discovered who it is that will become their leader during the tenure as the next President of the United States of America. For better or for worse, America will be wedded anew to that President.

Both candidates proclaim themselves to be the proverbial Best Man, best suited to restore America to its former days of glory and prestige on the world scene. Both have spent massive amounts of money in order to ensure that their campaign promises are heard near and far. Both have raised sometimes audacious claims about one another in an attempt to elevate their own suitability. Indeed, both men have a distinct vision on how they want to save the United States.

But in the end, there can be only one. One will win the 2008 Presidential Election, the other will concede defeat. It’s possible, of course, that the results of the election will be contested, much as has happened in the previous two elections. The stakes are so high that such a possibility may even be inevitable. This will serve to delay a final determination, of course, as to who won the election.

But, someone will win and someone will lose. For the supporters of the losing campaign there will doubtless be feelings of being disenfranchised and cheated. For the supporters of the winning campaign there will be elation and hope and a renewed conviction that Democracy has once again won the day.

It’s impossible to say at this point how long the healing will take, when both sides are able to look at one another from across their respective sides and speak with a united goal and purpose. In fact, it may not happen at all. Many lines of decency were crossed during the course of this election, and it will be a seriously difficult task to somehow then act as though such things were only said in the heat of a passionate campaign run for the highest office of this country.

There is an unsettled air in this country that has been fertilized by the unceasing rhetoric and often acrimonious speeches, complete with a cacophonus backdrop of epithets and shouts from the attending masses that has gone unchecked by the one delivering the speech. Even if the losing presidential candidate somehow manages to portray themselves as accepting of the other’s victory, there is a moral obligation to continue in their role as a former presidential candidate to act as a leader to hopefully assuage the high, heated emotions that have been stirred up during the course of this presidential race. To fail to exhibit leadership at this delicate stage would be tantamount to moral irresponsibility. Again: the losing candidate must make the time to continue in their role as the leader of their campaign, and work hard to wind down the emotions of their ardent supporters. To do any less than that is to invite potential conflict–possibly even tragedy. Loyal supporters that are stirred up will undoubtedly be willing to go to extensive lengths to show their support for their candidate–and for the “cause” that has been promoted by that candidate’s campaign.

The fact that Americans are, for the very first time, looking at their first potential African-American president has surely reawakened deep-seated fears and resentments that typically only find their way into the open through regional cultures and subsequent dialogue. But nobody should think for a moment that such bitterness and resentments can remain buried and guarded forever. The conflicts and social unrest that were borne from the late Martin Luther King Jr.’s appeal for real equality has only been subsided. But only insofar as it is just beneath the veneer that we all socially operate behind. Privately, longheld views make their way to the fore, making it clear that there remain a great many issues that have yet to be resolved when it comes to differences in skin color and culture.

It is equally certain that this election could very well be the spark that reignites the conflict, opening up old wounds and deep-seated prejudices to such an extent that we will see an enormous social upheaval on the heels of this election. Indeed, there are indications that this may be more of a reality than even I suspect.

Regardless, the times are changing for us. We find ourselves standing in a momentous time in history. Cataclysmic events are rocking the financial and corporate world, people are turning to their governments for a way out, and the majority are clinging to a way of life and status that no longer can work in this ever-changing world. We are being dragged kicking and screaming into that change. We may have to make great sacrifices in order to ensure that our children have a future. We may finally realize that national boundaries are no longer a sufficient division between Men, that we must act as a cohesive whole and stop holding onto outdated and outmoded philosophies. Rather than defining our prosperity by the amassing of goods and products, we should define our prosperity by a determined intent and focus to stamp out the very causes of poverty, disease, and yes, even war.

That’s a pretty lofty goal, some may say. A pie-in-the-sky dream that does not match reality. And they would be correct. But should that stop us from at least trying? I mean really trying.

The candidates talked a pretty good game. But once it’s time to make good on those campaign promises and hours of rhetoric, will they have the wherewithal to truly induct change into the world?

A part of me hopes that they will, but another part of me is convinced that it will be business as usual once the ballots are counted and the winner is declared.

What, then, will this election mean? It will mean the potential for true change, but the lack of true, cohesive  determination to actually try to make it happen. Humankind’s history is replete with what starts off as “good intentions,” but then fails utterly and miserably. My heart goes out to those who really are placing their hopes in what they have been promised by their respective candidates. I say so because every time we are disappointed, it becomes a little hard to believe the next time that it will be any different. And, if you are disappointed enough times, you begin to just settle for what meager portions you can get. After all, we console ourselves, something is better than nothing.