Oh say can you see?

Editor’s note: the following piece was written by Judith Gayle, a regular contributor for Planet Waves via her blog, Political Waves and the weekly subscriber edition: Planet Waves Astrology News. –RA

Dear Friend and Reader,

Pundits have it that the youth vote, no matter how often it is encouraged, is not dependable; well, times have changed. Look at this video clip from Penn State — similar is happening across this nation. In every state, turnout: young and old, black and white, gay and straight is huge; people are engaged. Apathy has disappeared. Politics is personal.

Over at the Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan is posting voter’s commentary and you can feel the high in their tone! You can add your own thoughts and a picture from your polling experience over at Planet Waves.

My son reports a wait to vote in the Pea Patch; this doesn’t happen in S. Missouri villages like ours. My daughter is working the polls today in S. California, and she just called to say the lines are into the street and have been since they opened; old timers she’s working with say they’ve never seen this before.

I’m not entirely rational today — it’s not that my brain isn’t working, it’s that my heart is too. It occurs to me that I’ve spent the last five years, day in, day out, cataloging Bush’s crimes and encouraging readers to keep the Vision.

FIVE YEARS. And all that energy is converging in this one moment in time; solidifying in a pregnant moment of bright-blooming change. My brain can’t hear itself for the loud thump of my heart.

I’m sure … make that absolutely sure … that we are all in that kind of haze at the moment; we do not truly realize how much Bushian PTSD we’ve suffered. We are hesitant to hope, wary of promises. We’ve lived in the twilight zone between bitter acceptance and a kind of fight-or-flight adrenal overload. If it is, indeed, over now — tomorrow we will wake up not knowing how to react.

When prisoners are let out of jail, they are unfamiliar with sunlight, squinting against it like an enemy. We’ve been psychic prisoners for eight years — sunlight may seem confusing and unfamiliar. Try to remember when life wasn’t a series of incoming arrows to dodge, and turn your face up to the sun.

The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson gave me a thrill this morning, waiting until the last minute to issue their endorsement. Here’s the first line of their editorial:

We see America the way Barack Obama sees America.

Tucson is one of the many spots on the map I call home; it’s a university city and liberal enough, spiritual certainly, and Republican, absolutely. It’s also John McCain’s home state, and the one he’s been forced to campaign in to hold on to his numbers. ‘Zonies are an interesting and laid-back species — they live in hostile climes, accommodating weather and topography by adopting its patterns. They’re traditional by nature — and their political tradition is conservative.

But not today. Today they see America the way it CAN be. Today they have the Vision!

George Bush has done his best to kill this nation off — to isolate, neglect and denigrate Her … and now comes a man who says he remembers what She was and what She can be again. It’s no wonder they call him The One … he’s like a voice in the wilderness. He has kept the memory of the nation that produced him; he asks us to remember who we are.

Do you? Can you recall how we took for granted being American? How we assumed our civil liberties would be in place forever, unshakable? How we took pride in being a nation of ethical rules, like the Geneva Conventions? How we simply assumed that things would be righted, not ignored? That we would be protected, not exploited? That we could count on Constitutionality, not fall prey to signing statements?

All these long years after 9/11, bin Laden is still free; surrealistically, I read recently that he’s writing his memoirs (and not surprisingly, that link is no longer available.) WRITING HIS MEMOIRS! What? He’ll have a book-signing at yer local Borders? He’ll autograph a copy for you?

All these years after Abu Ghraib, we’re still holding political prisoners in Iraq and other covert spots and Gitmo remains open for business. We have Chinese Muslims there nobody wants — so we’ll keep them locked up forever?

All these years after Katrina, there is less restoration in the Big Easy than crime and violence. Levy’s have not been fixed to withstand another hurricane and much of the city lies smoldering. Refugees have still not returned home.

Obama is a referendum on Bush’s terms … and on the conservative model back to Nixon and Reagan. Put a fork in ’em — they’re done.

If Libby Dole loses her campaign — and it appears she well may — it will be the first time since 1952 that a Dole or a Bush haven’t had their fingers in the American pie, pulling strings, priming cronies and setting covert agendas … the kind that came to roost in the improbable heir-apparent and first-born of Barbara Bush.

It’s a new day. And the question of how you see America is what’s driving people to stand for hours to vote — some in the rain, as here in California today. It’s what’s driving elders to think they have the wherewithal to stand in line longer than their legs can hold them, and depend on strangers to help them do it. It’s what’s allowing parents to deal with their impatient little one’s as they stand in long lines, telling them how important this task. It’s encouraging people of color, as a friend reported in Virginia, to endure questions about their eligibility from snippy poll workers.

This is the day we put our faith in the God/dess of liberty and equality and ask her to beat the pants off that old lightning-throwing, thunder-belching, partisan God of the Old Testament; it’s past time He took his place in antiquity.

It’s time to move along — no matter who wins this election, we’re moving along.

Today we define our future. It doesn’t end up in our hands very often … don’t miss this opportunity. VOTE!

Just one read, today — it took my fancy and pleased my heart.

Yours and Truly,

Jude