You know, what Lincoln said. . .

As everyone  knows, an immensely energized electorate is moving today in this country. Even though millions--millions more than ever before--have already marked their ballots, more millions will take their places in line to take up the task today. Even the most polished of pols and pundits are wary of guessing what's in store.

Republicans are counting on the President to have beat the bushes, bringing his Republican bandwagon to strongholds last night, accompanied by a bevy of his most visible female supporters--Sarah Sanders and Ivanka, for starters, hauling along some giant conservative media men too: Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Yesterday alone, three mega-MAGA rallies.

Meanwhile, the Democrats--smaller venues--lined up their own celebrity, Barack Obama, in Virginia, Oprah having done her thing in Georgia earlier in the week. But then, late last night, it was time for both sides to put all the rah-rah to bed because this blessed challenge we call democracy has to do its work today, in the privacy of millions of voting booths. 

The hoopla is over. By tomorrow at this time, millions of us will be angry, millions more will be disappointed. Will it be the reds or the blues? No one knows. Lots of those-in-the-know on both sides are armed with the best, most current, most researched opinions; but the truth is that what happens in the privacy of the voting booth is as personal and as secret as anything we carry in our lives.

Last night at one of his campaign stops, President Trump asked his loyalists if what happened in November of 2016 wasn't one of the greatest moments in human history? They screamed their joy. But tons of people, myself included, thought the exact opposite late that night. Not much has changed on either side.

Chances are we'll be just as split tomorrow morning as we are this morning, because the totals will undoubtedly thrill as fully as they offend, no matter who wins. 

It's a shockingly unstable system, but nobody's ever done it better than this country has, incorporated gadzillions of foreigners--my stubborn Dutch Reformed ancestors among 'em--into something like a community, despite our often immense particular and powerful differences. Really, it should not work, but it has, and chances are, the Lord and the citizenry willing, it'll outlive the moment's immense divide too. We've done it in the past.

It's not the first time an election offered two distinct views of government and future. Nor is it the first time both sides promised Armageddon if the nation chose wrongly. On the Monday before a national election, doomsday scenarios are everywhere. 

But in a democracy there's always reason to hope. As crazy as it seems and as cliched as may be, the truth remains: we live together by way of a government, as Lincoln said, of the people, for the people, and, today especially, by the people. We choose.

Today, we will.