We can't all be as cool as Tammy Duckworth...

...but if you live in the Sixth District of Illinois, you can vote for her today.  I hope you will give her your vote, so that after she fulfills her promise and serves you as passionately, responsibly, and effectively as it looks like she means to, she might someday run for a national office so that I can vote for her, too.

Don't vote for her because she's an amputee or a war veteran, even though it is precisely these facts of her life which have made her available to represent you in Congress at this time.  Vote for her because she has character, which it looks like she had plenty of before she got her legs blown off in Iraq, even though lots of us out here in the public at large might not otherwise have discovered this quite so soon about her.  It's not about the double amputation, you see, or the war record, though they have revealed her dramatically.  It's about her appearing to have always been the kind of person not afraid to look scary bad stuff in the eye and fight it, physically as well as intellectually, and not to let even personal loss on a daunting scale stop her or end her drive to be of service to others.

Vote for Tammy Duckworth because it looks like she's smart, brave, and really seems to care about you in her district, what you really need and want, as well as the health and future of the country at large.  Vote for her because her "Outrageous Earmark of the Week" is not only hilarious and audacious, but a very interesting dialog starter.  Vote for her because it seems as though she listens and thinks, and because she frames her thoughts on national arguments in terms of you, what she's heard you say you want and need, and what she's seen firsthand.

I've got more to say about her, and about the symbolism and sheer phenomenon of her in this race, and I may amend this post later to include it.  But for now, the polls are open in a lot of places, and you need to get to yours if you haven't already, not sit around reading blogs.

Naturally, I've already been to mine (she said smugly).

Good luck, and wherever you are and whatever races you may be looking at, may the wisest, strongest, bravest, most responsible, and most compassionate candidates win.

Comments

[Todd]

Where is she from? Not the western suburbs. She is not even from Illinois. What does she know about the voters of the sixth district. Nothing! This is such a joke, full of spin and lies to get an out of state far left liberal into office in the sixth district.

Independent Voter
Downers Grove

[Sara]

Thank you for your input, Todd. It may interest you to know that I also am an unaffiliated voter, and that my opinion of Ms. Duckworth has been formed by every time I've heard her speak on the radio and by what I've read about her over the course of months. I've never spoken to her or anyone in her campaign, nor do I know anyone who knows her, as far as I am aware. This is strictly my opinion.

I'm sorry you disagree with my assessment, which, since this is not a highly trafficked blog, you must have deliberately sought out. I also hope you voted today.

Cheers!