Article October 18, 2004 Issue

VOTING 2004

Text and Photo by Rosalie E. Dunbar

When the Democratic National Committee came to Boston's Fleet Center for its convention in July, that part of the city was (and still is) in the throes of the "Big Dig" — a multi-billion dollar reconstruction of Boston's main north-south traffic artery and the downtown area. This wasn't Boston at its scenic best. As I looked at the unsightly mess, I realized that politics and elections are sometimes not very scenic either. Mental "dirt" (not to mention rocks!) can fly just as readily, although invisibly, as the dirt the heavy equipment pushed around on the construction site.

Not an encouraging visual image. "There's got to be something better here," I muttered. And then I noticed the beautiful skyscrapers that seemed to surround the construction site. Each one of them had begun as a hole in the ground with dirt and rocks flying, but had emerged as a beautiful and useful landmark. So if that was true for the skyscrapers, could it also be true of politics and elections? Was it possible that out of the dust and rocks and everything else of an election, a beautiful new vision could emerge?

To accept that as true is to lift elections above being merely an act of choosing a certain human being or political party. It also helps eliminate the sometimes vicious and very personal attacks directed at the candidates. To create something beautiful and useful in government (or anywhere, really), requires love and a vision of good not just for one's own nation but also for the world. No country dwells alone anymore. When even one nation is hurting or in financial or other trouble, the whole world feels the impact. And that's true of national elections, also.

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