THE QUIET HOURS

By Edwin Cooney

Late tonight will come those quiet hours between midnight and dawn. The campaign speeches, personal attack ads, and political rallies will cease. Barack Obama and John McCain will return to their homes to listen to what you and I have to say on the morrow.

The rude, noisy, and sometimes intrusive political campaign season will be over. Both hopeful and discouraged campaign workers and political candidates will slip into bed and, for the first time since early 2007, there will be political quiet—-if not political peace--in the land.

Two northern New Hampshire villages, Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location will cast their votes at midnight, thus becoming the first two precincts in the nation to report their total vote. It might be well for Senator Obama if he loses Dixville Notch. The only Democratic candidate to win in that tiny GOP village just twenty miles south of the Canadian border was Hubert Humphrey. HHH carried Dixville Notch in 1968 by a vote of eight to four over Richard Nixon, but RMN carried the nation.

More conclusive results will begin to come in late Tuesday afternoon. Usually the states of New Hampshire, Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana report first followed by Connecticut and Delaware. Should Senator McCain win New Hampshire, Kentucky and Indiana, the election may well be a tight one. High voter turnout could indicate an Obama victory. Should Senator Obama win New Hampshire and Indiana, the chances are good that there’ll be a Democratic sweep.

However, the question for millions of conscientious Americans will be: Does it all really matter?

History tells us that indeed it does matter how you vote. Beneath all of the political charges and counter-charges, there is a fundamental difference between the two parties.

The Republicans sincerely believe deep in their souls that the government has absolutely no right to be a factor in determining the outcome of domestic and social affairs. Freedom, they insist, can only flourish when it’s fueled by unfettered capital—today we know it as “trickle down economics” or “Reaganomics.” They believe that the only legitimate objective of government is our national defense against foreign attack. Education, health care, joblessness and even private greed are correctable by what they call: “The free marketplace.”

They insist that local government and even state governments may legitimately regulate human behavior, but federal Government that involves itself in social matters is “socialistic”. They genuinely believe that a truly free society will prosper by the example of the successful. Success, they believe, is the reward of hard work. Hard work, they assert, is the only legitimate path to success.

Democrats on the other hand, believe that government has a legitimate responsibility to affect the lives of the people. Democrats see the prosperity of the “middle class” as its agenda. Prosperity, they assert, comes from the bottom up rather than from the top down. If people don’t have the money to purchase the goods and services of private enterprise, business can’t prosper.

In the area of foreign affairs, Republicans see the world as ungrateful for past American protection against Nazism and Communism. Hence, our old allies selfishly are unwilling to face the realities of international terrorism. Furthermore, they see a changing world as requiring America to be strong militarily and dogmatic in its diplomacy.

Democrats see the changing world as ultimately pliable and responsive to intelligent and far-sighted American diplomacy. After all, they point out; we live in a world of diverse cultures and experiences. One of the major causes of war stems from a lack of knowledge of conditions and situations in sensitive parts of the world on the part of our leaders. If we were diplomatically proactive rather than reactive, the chances are we could negotiate our way out of most crises.

Exactly twenty-eight years ago, during those quiet hours of election eve, the American people decided that Ronald Reagan’s conservatism could best lead us out of the uncertainties of inflation and high interest rates at home and the threat of Communism and radicalism—in the form of hostage taking in Iran—abroad. They knew that President Jimmy Carter had worked diligently for domestic prosperity and international security, but they weren’t seeing the results of his efforts.

Just over the horizon, Americans saw a handsome, magnetic and silver-tongued hero riding to their rescue and they beckoned him forward with their votes.

Exactly what Americans see in their dreams over the horizon, as they slumber this night, is tomorrow’s story.

In the dreams tonight of two worthy men, Barack Obama and John McCain, shimmer the pillars of the White House. For which man this dream will come true will depend largely on how closely his dreams match yours and mine!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY