Emotions are running pretty high over this election. Partisans on both sides are convinced that it will be the end of the world if the other side wins. Perhaps the reason so few Americans actually vote, though, is that beyond the partisan rancor most people have seen how much the parties are in agreement and how little they really differ. For instance, there is very little difference in the economic plans of the two major candidates beyond one wanting a modest tax increase on less that 2% of the population. On National Defense, despite months of trying to distinguish themselves, there is little space between both candidates policies and intentions. On social issues, there is a bit more room, but the reality is that little really changes for most Americans when parties change places at the top after elections.
Imagine if people had the same passions in their hobbies-collectors of United States stamps scornful of collectors of German stamps. In our hobbies and interests we have our preference but we don't imagine that the world will come to an end if our hobby has more collectors of stamps other than the ones we collect. How, and by whom, we are governed is far more important than what we and others collect, but it is important to remember that a country, like a hobby, rises and falls together. Naturally, we all have the person we would like to see win in November. But as I look over the sixty years of my life, and the eleven Presidents that have been elected, there have been good ones and bad ones and every election has seemed like the future of America depended on it. And both sides have won and lost and still the country has thrived.