It's Almost Over ...

Actually, it seems to me that the real work begins after the votes have been counted.

After the long political campaign, there's a natural tendency to feel a sense of relief as Election Day arrives.

"Whew!" we all say individually. "I'm glad that's over!"

But, aside from the fact that we'll know who won and who lost — if not Tuesday, then hopefully by Wednesday — and the talking heads on TV will have to find something else to occupy their time, what else will be different?

The new Congress must convene and the new president must take office in January. At that time, the elected leaders need to start earning their salaries and focus their energy on resolving the problems facing this country.

History tells us that real change doesn't come from within the system.

Even when Franklin D. Roosevelt and Democrats from across the country were elected to go to Washington and deal with the Depression, it took pressure from the outside to achieve real, lasting change — and some of those efforts, like the one to implement the Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act, took decades to achieve.

To mark the occasion, Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation at the Truman Library, in the presence of former President Harry Truman (pictured at right). Truman was in the Senate when the Social Security Act was passed 30 years earlier.

The conventional wisdom today is telling us that Barack Obama is on his way to an historic victory over John McCain tomorrow.

But the conventional wisdom is not always right.

Whichever kind of change you desire, it's not going to happen if you don't do your part. Decisions are made by those who show up.

Vote.

And it's worth remembering — today of all days — that

• it was 60 years ago today that the Chicago Tribune published its famous edition with "Dewey Defeats Truman" as its banner headline, and


• today is the 75th birthday of Michael Dukakis, the man who was nominated by the Democrats 20 years ago — and looked like he had an almost insurmountable lead over George H.W. Bush ...
  
  ... until he took some time off from the campaign to attend to his duties as governor of Massachusetts (giving Bush the opportunity to set the agenda for the general election campaign), and then was captured on film riding around in a tank, wearing a helmet and generally looking silly.

Both President Dewey and President Dukakis would advise you not to take anything for granted.