The Keys to the Kingdom

The stakes are high, and the margin is razor thin. According to CNN today, nearly 15 million votes were cast yesterday, with Ms. Clinton taking 50.2% and Mr. Obama getting 49.8%. The delegate count is nearly even after a solid month of contests on the Democratic front. There are no visible signs that this race will not come right down to the wire, and could be decided by something called super delegates, brokered conventions, and backroom dealing, which in all honesty I can't pretend to comprehend. Unless one of the candidates goes Howard Dean, gets a swiftboat surprise, or comes out with some crazy notion, say an idea to allow citizenship to undocumented migrants without fees or penalties, or before we secure the border, it will be awhile before we know who will be going up against Mr. McCain and his merry band of warmongers. And as much as common sense would dictate that after a decade of bad governing the Republican party would be booted out of office without a second thought, the race for the grand prize figures to be competitive and unpredictable. Whether due to strong ideological and partisan sentiment, or to the concern that Democrats in charge will mean higher taxes, more Mexicans, and countless attacks by Islamo-fascist-Jihadis, the Democrats will have to take the reigns of power the old-fashioned way. They'll have to earn it.

To do so will mean that they need to hammer home their message of change, of increased social and economic justice, and the promise of ending the seemingly endless and by now pointless war in Iraq. The latter point will be helped a great deal if their candidate is Obama, who doesn't have the residue of blood stains on his hands that is sticking to Hilary like a club stamp and a dull hangover on Sunday afternoon. Regardless of who the nominee is though, it will take every ounce of strength the Democrats have to convince the voting public that they deserve a shot to run things for awhile. It will also take every single voter with liberal and moderate sympathies to cast a vote, especially those who historically have been content to let others cast in their stead.

The keys to the kingdom then lie in the hands of two particular groups that have historically been denied access, namely Blacks and young people. Black Americans received the vote in the 1860's due to the 15th Amendment, but didn't really get true voting rights until the 1960's and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was spurred by the activism of the Civil Rights Movement. Yet for a myriad of reasons, ranging from lack knowledge of the process, to apathy, to a slave mentality that still exists to some degree, Blacks don't vote in numbers that correspond to their proportion of the population as a whole. That must change if the levers of power are to switch hands. The second group, young people, have historically been underrepresented in relation to their overall numbers as well. 18-21 year-olds received the vote in the early 1970's, but have yet to utilize it fully. And while it is encouraging to see and hear young people becoming more engaged in the process, especially in support of Obama, being engaged only really matters if they finish the deal. In other words, it's time to put down the bong and the joystick, at least long enough to find their local polling place in November and cast away. If these two historically disenfranchised groups excersise rights that have been won for them by previous generations, perhaps future generations will know good government and a sense of hope for the future that has been sorely lacking and is very much in need for our society as a whole.