What Will You Do?

This Great Experiment began 232 years ago when a group of educated farmers, merchants, shippers and lawyers gathered in Philadelphia and pledged "to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." These men voted to reject a government that offered them no reprieve from crippling taxation and authoritarian rule. It was an act of extraordinary courage for these few men to stand up to the might of the British Empire. All of them were sentenced to death by King George for their actions. All of them put their wealth into the new country in defense of her shores, and nearly all of them were poorer men by the end of the fight. But these men changed the course of the planet with just 56 signatures on a Declaration of Independence.

Their few votes in 1776 ignited a passion for freedom and independence for which a million Americans have sacrificed their lives in defense of the premise that we the people are capable of governing ourselves. Tomorrow, America will once again show the world that we are a government of the people, by the people. The men and women who have died in defense of that idea suffered the many long hours and incredible brutality of war when their country needed them so that you might have the privilige to make a choice in how that country is governed.

Tomorrow is expected to be the highest voter turnout in generations with some polling places expecting waiting times up to 10 hours to vote. Our day of national elections should be a national holiday, but it's not. Many American citizens, particularly the working poor and middle class voters, cannot take that much time off work for fear of their jobs or the financial pain of missing those hours. But we must not let our heroes die in vain. Our country needs us tomorrow. It is our duty as free Americans to vote.

If a soldier can fight in the snow for weeks on end, freezing and hungry and tired so that we can vote, then we can sacrifice one day standing in line. If you are an employer in this nation, your country needs you to give your employees the time to go and vote. Close the doors for one day if you have to. Your country needs you. If you are an American citizen, your country needs you. Take a book, pack a meal, play cards, carry a chair with you, your country needs you. If you are a teacher of voting age adults in one of our nation's many great universities, your country needs you. Excuse your students for one day so they can exercise the civic duty necessary for a free and unfettered people. If you are a parent, a grandparent, an uncle or aunt, then help your family get to the polls, your country needs you.

I am asking all Americans, whether conservative or liberal, moderate or radical, to stand beside me for one day, not as my enemy, but as my countrymen, for as long as it takes to have our votes counted. And then we the people, the beneficiaries of this Great Experiment, must rally behind a new leader elected fairly by our votes and work together to rebuild this nation into the shining example of freedom and democracy that our brothers and sisters have died to protect, a country for which, like those 56 men in Philadelphia, we are all proud to pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. If you will stand beside me, then please forward this message to all you know. Your country needs you.