As this hits the Inter-Web, there will be 199 hours until the polls open on the East Coast.  With any luck, approximately 12 hours later, one of the worst chapters in US history will come to an end.  (I apologize, in advance, for all future rants on the next worst chapter that will almost immediately thereafter ensue).  Here’s my synopsis:

Although we have made some very pertinent progress, inching toward the glorified and unicorn-elusive goal of, “One nation…with liberty and justice for all”, the bubbling hatreds and suspicions and intolerance that remain unpurged in the DNA of too many of us, have brought us to the very brink of declaring, once and for all, our irreconcilable differences.  The common civility and inherent desire of most, to be their best selves, began to overtly erode with the election of Barack Obama, (for context, he’s at least half black, maybe Kenyan and too smart for his own britches).  Republicans, having been blindsided by the Tea Partiers, (misinformed religious zealots and unapologetic racists), vowed, from day one, to grind the wheels of government to a virtual halt…aka, Ted Cruzing.  Supposed Conservative leaders openly proclaimed the most preposterous, unfounded, disrespectful allegations against our President, giving rise to an unprecedented, tacit permission to borderline treasonous behavior.  Voila, nearly eight years of inaction, at a time in history when it was to everyone’s best interest to pull together.  History will duly note that the disintegration of that party and a lack of any reasonable voice within it, has thrown our country in chaos.  That this election cycle has elevated an unqualified, unseemly, irrational buffoon to the top of a two-party ballot, even at this eleventh hour, still does not seem possible to any cerebral being, (including domesticated animals and the deep-thinking dingo).  At this point, I can only trust The Force that the worst possible outcome just can’t happen.  Is it even possible to hold your breath for 9 days?