That is what an American election observer said about the thousands upon thousands of individuals who stood on line to vote -- for the first time -- in South Africa.
When I read that in the late 1980's I was, well... please follow below the fold ---->
I was astonished, embarrassed and dismayed that an AMERICAN -- a political descendent of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Kennedy et al -- would snarkingly dismiss the efforts of free citizens to vote! M&M'S?? As Rachel Maddow would say: M&M's? Really?
If I were better at research I could find the photo that was attached to this comment but now I don't have to because you can see a similation of it by tuning your TV to any cable news program. Lines, long, long, lines, in Florida, in Georgia, in all the other states and locations where early voting has been implemented.
The individuals who are giving their time, their FEET, their energy, to deliberately go to a place where they KNOW that they will be on line for HOURS, these are the "real" Americans, the "real" patriots.
Our forefathers, our forefamilies, fought and died for our right to vote. It may be an instinctual act for Kossacks but for so many of our fellow citizens it is an after thought. Or, dare I hope, it WAS an after thought.
The evidence from the last few days appears to be that maybe the major benefit of the last twenty (20) months of campaigning was to awaken the sleeping giant of civic responsibility that lies buried under an onslaught of materialistic/consumeristic vapidity.
I am no fool. I know that hanging out in the left blogoshere can lull me into believing that we will overcome, that we will win. I see that at times this can be a fool's paradise. But without a doubt there is something that feels DIFFERENT this year. A difference that I have wished for since the dark ages of 1968 when I was FINALLY allowed to cast my first vote at the age of 21. (In the interests of full disclosure I must admit that I voted for a certain R named Nixon. I also disclose that I have been doing penance for it every since.)