My final thoughts...

This election has been intense, passionate, horrifying, exciting and above all, promising.

I feel as if I am coming out of one of the most intense college semesters I have ever had. Yes, this election has made me feel like a student again. I hope anyone following the election closely has also felt like a student because there was so much to learn; about the candidates, about history, about policy, about what the vice president actually does, and about the American mood.

The American mood has been pretty somber these last eight years. We've watched our country be the target of a heart breaking attack, we've watched our country drop all notions of division, even if temporary, to unite against fundamental hatred. Then we went shopping. We watched our government lie to us and send our troops into an un-winnable war. We watched our president and vice president blur the lines of checks and balance, take a sharpie to the constitution and close the doors to government dealings shutting out the people. We have watched greed and risk take over our financial markets, exploding the housing market, credit market and stock market only to have the bubble burst. We have watched our national debt grow so large we ran out of zeros. We have seen national disasters wipe out communities with government response proving to be as big, if not a bigger disaster. We have witnessed an honorable man sell out his principals in a race for high office. We have watched divisive politics draw invisible lines and measures of what was "American" and was not.

But we have also watched something else. A movement. A peaceable assembly as diverse as our country. Young, old, black, white, Muslim, Jewish, men, women, conservatives, liberals, elite, rural, christian, atheist, gay, straight and even Collin Powell have all come out and endorsed positive change.

We have watched discussions take place that have been lurking in the shadows just waiting for the daylight to expose them. Most hateful thoughts lose their meaning when put out into the open. Race, religion, sexuality...a new civil rights movement. The days of oppressing one group to protect another are coming to an end. The days of acknowledging all groups as equally human are here.

I hope with all my heart that Barack Obama wins tomorrow but if he does not, it will not change the movement he has started. It will not erase the efforts of the millions of people that have campaigned for hope. No matter the outcome we have changed as a country. There are still battles to fight, division to overcome and friendships to mend. But the mood has changed and people are paying attention.

There has never been anything false about hope and there has never been progress without change.

Please vote tomorrow and no matter how you feel about this election please remember that the "other side" is made up of Americans that love their country too.