I was really hoping I could find something to write about besides the election.  But I just voted today (I live in Wisconsin so we can pull that kind of thing off), and much of what I have been absorbed with for 24 months comes down to tomorrow!  So I decided I’m not good enough to find something else to write about.

I’m curious how people are dealing spiritually with the election season?  I mean, commentaries are everywhere: blogs, late night tv, early morning tv, magazines, mailings, radio (even music radio DJs are getting into the season!).  I have found it hard not to think about the candidates, the issues, the attacks, the satirical renderings, etc.

Tomorrow, I plan on going to an Irish bar in Madison with my wife to either toast or commiserate.  I’m not sure that my day-to-day life will change no matter who wins – either way, I’ll still have to go to work, the Packers will still be 4-4, and spring weather can’t come soon enough (even though it’s oddly 70 degrees in Madison today).

My questions for all of you:

1)  Where do you plan on being when we receive the announcement for who will be our next President?

2)  What will remain the same in life for you no matter which candidate wins?  (I ask that, because it’s really unclear what will change until we are a few weeks/months removed from this – so let’s look at what we can know and predict and what gives us stable ground!)

Presidential campaigns are so popular right now – maybe too popular for our own good?  Of course it’s everywhere, on the news, incorporated into just about every website that I go to for news, even in commercials during baseball games I’m trying to enjoy.  And maybe I get an even bigger dose than most because I work with a few political junkies (myself included), so we’re always sharing articles and John Stewart video clips with each other.

However, it’s mighty frustrating for me to see some of the best people I know become so consumed by the campaigning.  Of course, this election is important.  Depending on who you ask, it ranges from being the most important presidential election since 2004, or 1980, or 1960, or 1932.

What I keep trying to tell myself is that no matter who wins, there is still much work for social and economic justice to be done.  Obama consistently talks about how McCain has no plan for the middle class, but neither candidate is talking about the most economically marginalized – the working poor, the homeless.  I figure no matter who gets elected, the community organizing profession will not suffer for lack of anything to do.

The other frustrating thing that I am observing in this election is that one of the candidates who is running is someone that ran in an election that I voted in 4 years ago.  In 2004, I was living in Illinois when Obama ran against Alan Keyes (yeah, remember that?).  Obama won in a landslide victory.  Then, perhaps 2-3 years later with 3-4 years left in his office as US Senator, he announced that he was running for president of the United States.  I see him on the road all the time, speaking in this state and that city, going to the Middle East to learn more about politics, etc.  All this is taking him away from the office of US Senator that the people of Illinois elected him to serve.

The same goes for the people of Arizona, whose US Senator is missing in action while on the campaign trail.  Alaska had their governor swooped away some 6 weeks ago.  And I’m sure that Joe Biden isn’t making it to that Home Depot back in Delaware as often as he would like since being named Obama’s running mate.

What I’m thinking is that there needs to be a serious examination of campaigns, how much resources go into them, the amount of time that candidates, their families and their staff spend on the road.  We can only do so many things at once well.  Perhaps if we decide to run for an office of this magnitude that requires so much time and resources, we should consider stepping down from an office that we were elected to serve in.  Of course, we are a country in overdrive for different reasons – parents who work 2-3 jobs to support families, parents bustling suburban kids to soccer and piano and tutoring.

I’m sure it would help with the spiritual focus of our country, starting from the top down, if we could just admit that it’s only possible to do one or two things well and not spread ourselves out too thin.