And if my choice of the old joke from Chicago politics doesn’t let you know what I’m talking about this week, then I don’t know what to say.

As of this writing, the election is 18 days away. When this goes live, it will be a week before Election Day. We Americans stand both on the precipice of history and the edge of many dark days to come. The man we elect as president will lead our country through difficult times and circumstances. As a nation we face many challenges at home and abroad. And we will make history by either electing the oldest first term president or the first African-American president.

I am not here to tell for whom to vote.

I am only here to tell to vote.

Voting is both a right and privilege we have as Americans. We should treat it as such and participate in the process fully.

Past readers of this column will no doubt guess that I am a Barack Obama supporter. Not because I’m black, not simply because I’m a Democrat, but because I listened to what he had to say, read what he has to offer and came to the conclusion that he has the vision necessary to lead us during these rough days. And that was before the current economic roller coaster manifested itself and is taking us all for the ride of our lives.

Even if I could be convinced to go the independent route, I would have a tough time deciding to vote for John McCain. He and his campaign have appeared to be too wishy-washy, too unsure of itself and its vision, and most of all, too willing to continue playing the kind of negative politics that brought us our current president His choice of vice president, Governor Sarah Palin, did little to secure my confidence. In many ways, I feel sorry for his supporters. If I didn’t feel scared of them, that is.

But those are my thoughts and my choices.

Each of you has yours to make. If you have not made it already.

So, go vote. Go vote early if you can. And by often, I would suggest asking your friends and family if they have voted and if not, then helping them to get their asses out of their chairs and down to the voting booth. This election is too important to sit around and do nothing. Too many people have fought and died, are fighting and dying right now, for any American to not vote.

Hopefully, not too many troubles have occurred in the last week and a half since I wrote this.

Hopefully, the choice you have to make is clearer.

Hopefully, you will do the right thing. Because you should always vote your conscience and your beliefs as well as what will serve the needs of the most number. That is the balancing act each of us do when we enter the voting booth.

That is one of the coolest things about being an American. That we can vote with our hearts instead of our minds or with both, if we so choose.

When I first started writing about the campaign this year, I borrowed (or better yet, stole) the title of Hunter S. Thompson’s famous book on the campaign of Nixon. I wrote about the amount of fear and loathing on the campaign trail and on the various Main Streets of cities all across this country. I also wrote about the hope and wonder that seemed to attempt to rise above it all, especially from the Obama campaign. Our real choice is still between fear and hope. We see it nearly every time we turn on the TV news or read the newspaper or a website. We see the fear at campaign rallies and on TV commercials, from both candidates. We also see the hope in large crowds coming to see that person they feel will lead us out of the wilderness. We see that everything has come down to this moment in time, to our choices made out of fear or out of hope.

It is my sincerest wish that the best man for our country in these volatile times wins.

That is my deepest hope.

Go vote, folks.

And say a prayer for whoever wins. He will need it.

Namaste.

Vincent S. Moore

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