Well, I’m glad that’s over. Two years of anticipation led to 10 minutes of waiting in line pushing some buttons. All that work, and what did I get out of it? A lousy sticker.

Oh, and a new president, too.

Whether your vote really counts is a delicate issue. I try to keep a positive perspective on the matter. This is a country where regular people can go out and make a difference, voice their opinions and even complain about it. But let’s be honest; does their choice for president always matter? I have to wonder what it feels like to be in line to cast a vote in Alaska when a winner for the presidency is already declared on every major news channel.

You can blame the mass media or you can blame the Electoral College. The fact is that by 9 p.m. when Ohio went in Barack Obama’s direction, anyone with a statistics book and a recollection of American history could probably guess how the final outcome would turn out.

Why does the Electoral College still exist? Because you run the risk of throwing off an election thanks to a collection of strategically placed idiots who don’t know what they’re voting for in the first place.

Theoretically, all you need is a quick invasion of Ohio, California and Florida, then brainwash the majority there into believing your agenda. All you have to do after that is just sit back, sip on some Kool-Aid and watch one state potentially have five times the significance as another. After a while, you’d wonder why Montana would bother even finishing counting. It’s certainly a lot easier and cheaper than dealing with all 200 million registered voters. Right?

The results speak for themselves. McCain received less than half the number of electorate votes as Obama, yet still managed to pull off 46 percent of the popular vote. So naturally, this can either be interpreted as a landslide, a close call, or a perfect example of how obscure the American political process can be. The last two presidential elections may have been worlds closer than this after the final ballot counts. However, it’s still disheartening to know that the potential is still there for a candidate to lose the popular vote and still win a first-class ticket to the White House in January.

My only concern with popular percentages is the realization that out of that 46 percent John McCain garnered up, there still must be a sizable portion of those voters who still believes Barack Obama is a black terrorist who wants to kill babies and let the gays take over. Strong feelings like these are not unusual, but extremist feelings – those can be dangerous. The same people who put bombs in abortion clinics might be of concern to President-elect Obama.

A black president may have been elected, but this country is a still a far cry from being free of discrimination. ‘English Only’ establishments might as well be a reincarnation of the separate-but-equal rule. Meanwhile, constitutional bans on gay marriage are further proof that some of us are too preoccupied with issues that don’t matter. We seemed to have finally looked passed color and race, but forgotten the fact that we’re all still human – combinations of all the same molecules with the same basic needs, all living on the same big circle of rock.

All I ask is that the next four years bring a new sense of pride in the power we all have to make a difference. Plenty of issues are at stake for my generation’s future, and what we all need most right now is intelligent decision-making and leadership we can relate to. This is why America did indeed make the right choice.

Garrison Ebie is a senior electronic media production major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].