You've voted, now take a step back.

I've been thinking about an old Disney movie. Somewhat obscure, although Disney Channel aficionados should recognize it: "The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band." It's a gripping tale set in the turbulent election year of 1888, a pivotal election in our nations history where voters chose between Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. Which as we all know led to the climactic political event of... umm... granting statehood to North and South Dakota.

Yes I'm being facetious. At the time, though, it was pretty momentous for everyone involved. It was the first time that the popular vote went to one candidate but the Electoral College vote went to the other. (Excluding the 1876 election which was decided in Congress, rather than the Electoral College.) To quote Homer Simpson: "They're both losers! Losers!"

Maybe you're thinking "Why did they make a movie about that?" Hold your horses, at the end of the movie, we get the real message. Buddy Ebsen's character, Calvin Bower, is the level-headed father who doesn't make a big deal about politics. He's even planning on performing at the Democratic National Convention with his family, even though he himself is a registered Republican. A full-on riotous fist-fight occurs when the Electoral College announcement is made, and he calms everyone down by playing "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Then he makes a short speech. 10 bonus points to anyone who can find this speech, I haven't been able to find it anywhere. The gist of it was: losing an election is a disappointment, but ultimately it's not about our team versus their team. We're all Americans, and whoever wins will be president over everyone. Including a lot of people who didn't vote for him. At the end of a similar election in 2000, Al Gore said "George Bush is my president."

Did our nation take a completely different direction under Harrison than it would have under Cleveland? Well, who knows, but ultimately we never hear much about them any more. Whoever wins, it's not going to be the end of the world. We'll still get up in the morning and go to work just as we have before.

(To whomever wins: don't prove me wrong now...)

Edit (Jan 28, 2011):   Yay!  Sarah and I checked the movie out of the library.  His speech is as follows:

“Apparently, the next President of the United States has been chosen, and the future of Dakota has been settled.  And nothing we can do here now is going to change things one iota.  I know some of you have been bitterly disappointed.  I want to pass along to you something that was told me many years ago by a man whom I have respected and admired more than any man I have ever met, a man who never wavered in his conviction that we here together can build the greatest united country in the whole bloomin’ world if you’ll just remember one thing.  ‘There’s a time to stand up and fight for what you believe in... and there is a time to join hands and work together, or all the fighting doesn’t mean a thing.’  I know that this man swallowed more disappointment than any of you did tonight.  This was back in [18]65 when he had just returned home from Appomattox... my father, Rensselaer Bower.  And so I suggest that this is a time for joining hands, a time for making up.”