Election Day 2 - 5:00 a.m.

My back is getting cold - a wind has come up from the direction of the water - lights coming on inside the Expo.  At 5:15 or so the busses leave the garage on St. John Street, a line that breaks up at the corner (shown here), some heading left out Park, some straight to Woodfords, some turning right toward me, heading intown on Park, no riders.

The driver waves at me while passing, seems a little bemused.

I'm hoping this election becomes something transformative.  I called my Dad last night, told him to vote and thanked him for serving in WWII so that I could do so.  Driving down by the American Legion Post, thinking of the old drum corps that used to practice here.

All of it driven by a shared experience of overcoming a threat - everyone working toward a common, agreed goal - even if the motivations and experiences that defined it were radically different.

I've gotten phone calls, emails, chatted on the street, with friends from here and all over the world.  All of them committed to electing Sen. Obama, all of them desperate to have a representative government they could be proud of.

As I've been fond of quoting "it's not that America isn't ready for a black president - is it ready for an intelligent president?"

My hope is this - we will be a different, more committed society because of working together for this critical event.  We will know each other better, trust each other more, work together more effectively to solve whatever problems we are given to face.

Despite its kneejerk conservatism the American Legion and other groups got their strength from the common experience, common mindset of their members.  That lasted a long, long time until the changes of society and reality - and their incapacity to evolve - doomed them to fade into history.

Perhaps a society committed to adaptation to change will have the flexibility to grow and nurture itself.

I've been joined by someone ....