SOME THINGS I BELIEVE

I say that with a great candidate, it doesn’t matter how much money the opponent has. I don’t know that is true, but I believe it anyway.

It falls into the same category as believing things happen in threes, whether they do or not. My mother thought this was true, and that was good enough for me. Some convictions come to us through careful consideration, others are inherited, and somewhere along the way they become part of who we are.

Here we are, approaching another Election Day, and I am having an argument with myself. Do I wait until November 3 to vote, making my own small statement about the importance of Election Day, or do I take advantage of a gorgeous October day and go to the early voting polls? I confess to having concerns about the security of my vote, whether those concerns are justified or not. I intend to arrive with my identification in hand, ready to present it.

There was a time when Election Day was practically a religious observance in my life. In my early political heyday, I would arrive at the polls before six in the morning, work all day, and leave only when the polls closed, usually headed for some kind of vote count gather-watching. I remember those long days fueled by enthusiasm, conviction, and enough sweet tea to be going on with.

I’m not up to such heroics anymore, but I have tremendous admiration for the people who are. There is something reassuring about knowing that, election after election, dedicated citizens continue to give an entire day to the democratic process. Our elections depend on far more people than the candidates whose names appear on the ballot.

I am a lifelong Republican, but that has never required me to dislike Democrats. Growing up in Illinois, Governor Adlai Stevenson was a Democrat who commanded respect. Democratic Dean Rusk remains one of my favorite Secretaries of State. I could admire these men without questioning my own political convictions.

I wish we had not made that so difficult today. Surely our political differences are not reason enough to dismiss everything admirable about someone whose opinions differ from our own. We can believe deeply in what we stand for without insisting that everyone who disagrees must be wrong about everything. I have never believed that loyalty to a political party requires surrendering one’s independent judgment.

I miss something about those days.

We certainly had political disagreements. We argued over candidates, policies, and the direction of the country. But I do not remember feeling that acknowledging the merits of someone in the opposing party amounted to betraying my own.

Today, too often, we seem to have lost the ability to separate our differences from our regard for one another. I have strong opinions about the direction America should take, but I do not want political conviction to cost us the ability to recognize integrity, intelligence, or public service wherever we find it.

I have strong opinions about these midterm elections. I am concerned about the growing influence of democratic socialism and what it may mean for the country’s future. Others see these questions differently, and I don’t expect a lifetime of political convictions to be settled in a single conversation, much less a blog post.

But I do expect us to remember that we are Americans before we are Republicans or Democrats. We have inherited something extraordinary, and our differences over how best to preserve it should not make us forget that it belongs to all of us.

I take it for granted that everyone reading this intends to vote. We will arrive at the polls carrying different experiences, different concerns, and different hopes for America. That is as it should be. The voting booth was never intended to produce agreement. It was intended to give each of us a voice.

Pollyanna that I am, I still believe in the good sense of the American people. I believe we can disagree without becoming enemies. And I believe that the America I have loved all my life is worth the effort of understanding one another, even when we cannot persuade one another.

There are my three beliefs.

My mother would appreciate that.

And whether I can prove them or not, I believe them anyway.

— Stepheny Houghtlin

PS: Growing up just north of Chicago in Evanston, IL. the saying during the Daily machine years was ‘Vote Early and Often.’ A wave of nostalgia returns thinking about the wonderful Polish names from the days of Mayor Richard J. Daley .

1. Dan Rostenkowski — The powerful Chicago congressman who eventually chaired the House Ways and Means Committee. A major figure in the Daley machine.

2. Roman Pucinski — A congressman who later became a Chicago alderman and was a prominent Polish-American political leader.

Growing up on the edge of this political reality, and reading the Chicago Tribune, I came out the other side a political junkie. I wouldn’t miss voting!