Every Four Years in a Place Called America

     I've stood before Mr. Lincoln in his granite chair several times, I've strode the flanks of Monticello, spreading out like loving arms to the Shenandoah Valley below. I've Looked into the never-ending torch that recalls President Kennedy, I've sat on the hillside lawn at Mount Vernon and watched the Potomac slowly pass by.
     Because my parents were fans of history, and of their country, I've been to many more Presidential boyhood homes than I've missed and seen every state in the Union except a handful. Because a grandfather I never met went to every stump speech he could find in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, I've become a political wonk.
     I watched this week's DNC as I have every National Convention that has occurred in my lifetime, and every State of the Union speech, every Inaugural, and a ton of important floor votes, pointing out my heroes over the years: Barbara Jordan, Hubert Humphrey, Pat Moynihan, Tip O'Neill, Paul Simon, Sam Ervin, Jerry Brown, Dennis Kucinich, and Bernie Sanders to name a very few. And there are this week's heroes: Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and of course, President Barack Obama, but again, just to name a few.
     If after watching the 2012 version of politic's olympics you cannot tell which party is wearing the white hats, then I'm afraid you're not only misinformed, you are unteachable. If, after watching, you cannot discern the difference between the message of the RNC and the DNC, then I fear you may have lost your internal discerner-thingy. And if you can come away from what we just witnessed in Charlotte and not feel that 1970s pride in the red-white-and blue that I grew up under, then we don't just have a difference of opinion, we have a difference in DNA.
     I have no problem with honest disagreements in policy, I just haven't seen any lately; I have all the problems in the world with not telling the truth to the American people. But the thing that bothers me most, that I just will never fathom, is how anyone could choose to be a member of a party that does not taut the glorious strength of the American worker, the promise of our SHARED future, and the sacrifice of our courageous troops. Not to be too critical, but I just didn't see any soul in what happened in Tampa.
     You see to me, politics is personal. I have my favorite causes and my beloved people; I collect the memories of those great faces the way some kids collect baseball cards. I may be willing to use the bathroom in my house with the door open--you moms understand--but I will not watch a political convention in a crowd. I'd love to be a delegate sometime--I've never been to a convention of higher stature than that of my home county--but some things are between me and them. Some things are just too important to be "fun".
     When I had my conversations with Mr. Lincoln, they were just between us two. When I walked Statuary Hall, I walked with the presidents alone. Never mind the Rotunda was filled with tourists, when I stood there looking up, I was in the Capitol Building alone. I was alone with my country and all that it means to me.
     But that is where the aloneness stops. For when I get out to live my part of the body politic, when I go out to carry my piece of the American Dream, I walk in the steps of all who have trod this land, all who do, and all who ever will. I am on the Trail of Tears, I am on the Oregon Trail, I am on Route 66.
     I'm glad that our President talked tonight about citizenship, for that is what being an  American boils down to; we are one people, united together by a way of life, and by a way of viewing ourselves in the world. Just as Barack Obama wants to rebuild our economy from the middle out, I want to remind those among us who might have been talked into forgetting it that we used to sing "Look for the union label" together, we used to pray for a new President at his inaugural together, we used to ask every single person who could do so to vote together. We knew the value of citizenship and didn't look for a scapegoat group to blame for our problems. We were bigger "back then".
     As President Kennedy often said, "Let me say this about that": Vote for whomever you honestly think would be best for our nation--but vote, cheer for whomever you trust with your dreams--but cheer, and help whomever around you needs it--but help. We are not separated by invisible lines of entitlement, we make our own destinies in this life. There are not winners and losers, there are those who can help and those who need help and those roles can be reversed overnight. And now with the rhetoric (including from me) about to heat up in these final 60 days of the 2012 election cycle, let us try never to forget that at the end of the day, the road, and at land's end of our nation, we are an us. We are THE US.
     USA, USA, USA! Let the games begin...