early voting

Ten years ago today, Oct 24, 2008: I set foot on US soil after 6 months in China.

Six months is not a long time. And I had a blast over there, meeting wonderful folks in a wonderful place. But even then I felt overwhelmed when I walked out into the Land of the Free.

I still feel overwhelmed.

I'd watched our two political conventions, which outlined what seemed to many like a stark choice between two diametrical opposites. But, from a small apartment in a Communist country, over an illegal internet connection, I saw two very close siblings. Speaker after speaker told proudly of great-grandparents who had come to this country, and, with hard work and determination, made a better life for their children — and vowed to remove whatever roadblocks we've placed in the way of that happening now. Speaker after speaker spoke freely and openly, without fear of imprisonment or disappearance.

Today, ten years later, Oct 24, 2018, I voted. Friends and neighbors were ahead of and behind me, standing in the rain to cast their vote. Friends and neighbors were on the ballot.

Three hundred eighty years ago, Thomas Hooker and the founders of Connecticut read from Deuteronomy chapter 1, and concluded this: "The foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people."

I agree.